Ta-hsing-shan-ssu temple
Ta-hsing-shan-ssu temple
[大興善寺] (PY Daxingshansi; Jpn Daikozen-ji)
Also known as Hsing-shan-ssu temple. A temple built in Ch'ang-an in 582 by Emperor Wen, the founder of the Sui dynasty and a restorer of Buddhism, to serve as the center of Buddhism in China. During the reign of Emperor Wen, Indian monks such as Narendrayashas and Jnanagupta engaged in the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese at this temple, and many other eminent priests visited or lived there. It was the largest temple in China during the Sui and T'ang dynasties. During the reign of Hsüan-tsung (r. 712-756), the eighth emperor of the T'ang dynasty, Pu-k'ung (Skt Amoghavajra), who had brought Esoteric Buddhism from India to China, resided at this temple, and thereafter it prospered as a center of Esoteric Buddhism. In the ninth century, Jikaku and Chisho, later respectively the third and fifth chief priests of the Japanese Tendai school, went to China and studied Esoteric Buddhism at Ta-hsing-shan-ssu temple.
