Kaiyuan Temple ( zh, t=開元寺, p=Kāiyuán Xì), is a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple located in North District,

Tainan City Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of hist ...

, Taiwan. The grounds were initially a residence for

Zheng Jing Zheng Jing, Prince of Yanping (; 25 October 1642 – 17 March 1681), courtesy names Xianzhi () and Yuanzhi (), pseudonym Shitian (), was a 17th-century Chinese warlord, Ming dynasty loyalist and ruler of the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan. Bio ...

, the ruler of

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning (), also known as Tywan by the British at the time, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly Han Chinese state in Ta ...

and the son of

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...

(Zheng Chenggong), until the kingdom's downfall and subsequent transformation into a temple.

History

Disheartened after several defeats to the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

forces in Mainland China, in 1680,

retreated back to Taiwan and backed out of politics by relegating more responsibilities to his son,

Zheng Kezang Zheng Kezang (1662–1681), birth name Qin () or Qinshe (), was the crown prince and regency of Kingdom of Tungning. Kezhang was the eldest son of Zheng Jing and Chen Zhaoniang, and his grandparents were Koxinga and Princess Dong. Biography ...

. Zheng Jing constructed a new residence called Beiyuan Villa (北園別館) for his aging mother,

Queen Dong Queen Dong (17 October 1623 – 30 July 1681), birth name Dong You, posthumous name Chaowu Wangfei,''Haiji Jiyao ()'' by Xia Lin was the princess consort of Koxinga and mother of Zheng Jing. Biography In 1623, Dong was born in a Jinjiang f ...

, and himself to live in peace. The Zheng family did not live in the residence for long: Zheng Jing fell ill and died on March 17, 1681, Zheng Kezang died in a coup in the villa immediately afterwards his father's death, and Queen Dong died on August 1 the same year. After the Kingdom of Tungning was conquered by the Qing in 1683, Beiyuan Villa was largely abandoned, except for an attempt at restoring it by in 1686 only to desert the project halfway. In 1690, Qing officials and turned the former residence into a Buddhist temple on the basis that no Buddhist institutions existed in Tainan at the time. The two named the new temple "Haihui Temple" ( zh, t=海會寺, p=Hǎihuì Xì). In 1777, the governor of Taiwan, , renovated and expanded the temple into its current layout and renamed it "Kaiyuan Temple". Between 1796 and 1859, the temple was briefly known as "Haijing Temple" ( zh, t=海靖寺, p=Hǎijìng Xì) to celebrate

Jiaqing Emperor The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, born Yongyan, was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, fro ...

's coronation. During the

Japanese era The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...

, several academics in Tainan formed Nanshe (南社) to write and recite poetry, but was shut down in 1930 under the colonial government's

Japanization Japanization, Japanisation or Japanification is the process by which Japanese culture dominates, assimilates, or influences other cultures. According to ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'', "To japanize" means "To make ...

campaign. The 1951 37.5% Arable Rent Reduction Act heavily decreased the temple's source of income from loaning out farmland, which led to the temple being seized by the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

government in 1958 for tax evasion. On August 19, 1985, Kaiyuan Temple was protected as a "level 2 monument", which is currently known as a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

Architecture

Kaiyuan Temple is a rectangular complex with four central halls and two side halls, a layout that is unchanged since Jiang Yuanshu's renovation in 1777. Outside of the main complex, there is an outer ''shanmen'' built in 1960 that faces the street. The inner ''

shanmen The Shanmen (), also known as the Gate of Three Liberations, is the most important gate of a Chinese Chan Buddhist temple. Etymology The origins of the name "sanmen" are debated. One theory is that "''Shanmen''" takes its literal meaning of "Mo ...

'' serves as the main entrance to the temple complex itself. The gate was repaired in 1912 by De Yuan (得圓) and 1953 by Yin Ming (印明). It is five ''kaijian'' wide (six columns) and has three doors. There are ''

menshen Menshen or door gods are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pair Shenshu ( ) and Yulü () under the H ...

'' painted on each door by and

couplets A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

on each doorframe by . On the middle door,

Sangharama Sangharama (Sanskrit: संघराम ''Saṃgharāma'') refers to a "temple" or "monastery." It is the place, including its garden or grove, where the Sangha, the Buddhist monastic community dwells. A famous sangharāma was that of Kukkutara ...

and Skanda are painted as ''menshen'' instead of

Qin Shubao Qin Qiong (died 638), courtesy name Shubao, better known as Qin Shubao, was a Chinese general who lived in the early Tang dynasty of China. Along with Yuchi Gong, he continues to be worshipped in China as a door god. He is also known by his post ...

and

Yuchi Gong Yuchi Gong (尉遲恭) or Yuchi Rong (尉遲融) (585 – 25 December 658), courtesy name Jingde (敬德), also known by his posthumous name Duke Zhongwu of E, was a prominent general who lived in the early Tang dynasty. Yuchi Jingde and another ...

typically found in other temples. Inside the complex, the first is hall is the Mile Hall (彌勒殿). The hall is subdivided into smaller rooms for

Maitreya Maitreya (Sanskrit: ) or Metteyya (Pali: ), also Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha, is regarded as the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. As the 5th and final Buddha of the current kalpa, Maitreya's teachings will be aimed at ...

, the

Four Heavenly Kings The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods, each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. In Chinese mythology, they are known collectively as the "Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn" () or "Sìdà Tiānwáng" (). In the a ...

Kṣitigarbha Kṣitigarbha ( sa, क्षितिगर्भ, , bo, ས་ཡི་སྙིང་པོ་ Wylie: ''sa yi snying po'') is a bodhisattva primarily revered in East Asian Buddhism and usually depicted as a Buddhist monk. His name may be tr ...

, and

. Behind the Mile Hall is the Daxiong Hall (大雄寶殿), dedicated to

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lu ...

Samantabhadra Samantabhadra (Lit. "All Good", or "Always Auspicious") may refer to: * Samantabhadra (Bodhisattva), a bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism associated with practice and meditation * ''Samantabhadra'' (Tibetan: ''Kuntu Zangpo''), the name of a Buddha, ...

, and

Manjushri Mañjuśrī (Sanskrit: मञ्जुश्री) is a ''bodhisattva'' associated with '' prajñā'' (wisdom) in Mahāyāna Buddhism. His name means "Gentle Glory" in Sanskrit. Mañjuśrī is also known by the fuller name of Mañjuśrīkumārab ...

. This hall used to be five ''kaijian'' wide (six columns), but in 1972, the hall was rebuilt with only three ''kaijian'' wide (four columns). The hall contains the oldest bronze bell in Taiwan, which was crafted in 1695. At the very back is the Dashi Hall (大士殿), which houses

Guanyin Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...

. Unlike the rest of the temple, this hall is a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

building completed in 1967. The flanking halls contain altars for

Bodhidharma Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century CE. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to a 17th century apo ...

and several monks, lodging for worshippers, and spaces for meditation.

Gallery

台南開元寺 (1).jpg , The inner ''shanmen'' as seen from inside of the complex. 臺南開元寺彌勒殿.JPG , Mile Hall 臺南開元寺大雄寶殿.JPG , Daxiong Hall 臺南開元寺大士殿.JPG , Dashi Hall 臺南開元寺古鐘.JPG , The bell inside Daxiong Hall, which is the oldest bell in Taiwan. 臺南開元寺詩魂碑.JPG , A stone memorial left behind by Nanshe. The text translates to "poetry spirit".

References

{{authority control 1690 establishments in Taiwan Religious buildings and structures completed in 1690 Temples in Tainan Buddhist temples in Taiwan

History

Architecture

Gallery

See also

References