Foguang Temple 佛光寺Fóguāng Sì

Why go to Foguang Temple

On a west-facing hillside near Doucun, about 50 km by road south-west of Taihuai, Foguang Temple forms a separate part of the Mount Wutai World Heritage Site. Climb its terraces to the East Hall, a seven-bay timber hall built in 857 under the Tang dynasty, where some three dozen Tang clay statues stand on a long altar beside patches of Tang mural. Back in the courtyard are the Manjushri Hall of 1137 and Tang stone sutra pillars, one of them dated 857.

The story

Early 20th-century Japanese scholars had concluded that no Tang timber buildings survived in China. In 1937 Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin, guided by a Dunhuang cave mural that marked 'the Great Foguang Temple' on a map of Mount Wutai, reached the temple by mule and found faint ink on a beam naming a woman donor, Ning Gongyu. The same name and the date 857 on a stone pillar outside confirmed the hall's age.

What to see at Foguang Temple

• East Hall 东大殿: The 857 timber hall is seven bays wide, with bracket sets under deep eaves that reach out about 3.7 metres. On the altar stand some 33 Tang clay statues, with Ming arhat figures along the side walls.
• Manjushri Hall 文殊殿: This Jin hall of 1137 on the lowest terrace is seven bays wide, yet built with only four of its eighteen inner columns. Ming murals show 259 arhats, some playing musical instruments.
• Tang Sutra Pillar 石经幢: An octagonal stone pillar in the lowest courtyard is carved with Buddhist dharani and dated 877. An earlier pillar, dated 857, helped confirm the East Hall's age.
• Patriarch's Pagoda 祖师塔: A small hexagonal brick pagoda beside the East Hall, built as a tomb for the temple's founding abbot. Scholars have dated it anywhere from the Northern Wei to the Tang.

How to visit Foguang Temple

After the gate hall you reach the lowest terrace, with Manjushri Hall on the north side and the stone pillar in the middle. Steep steps then climb a retaining wall about 13 metres high to the East Hall on the top terrace, with a view back over the courtyards. Allow an hour or two; the site is compact and most people combine it with the drive to or from Taihuai.

How to get to Foguang Temple

Public transport is sparse, so hire a car or taxi from Taihuai, about an hour each way on mountain roads. The temple lies off the western road into the Wutai area, so it also makes an easy stop on the drive in from Xinzhou or Taiyuan.

Where to stay

Most visitors base themselves in Taihuai, the temple village at the heart of Mount Wutai, and make Foguang a half-day side trip by car. If you are driving in from Taiyuan, an overnight in Xinzhou breaks the road.

What to eat

• Wutai mushrooms 台蘑: Mountain mushrooms stir-fried or stewed with vegetables, a speciality of the Wutai area.
• Braised tofu balls 烧豆腐丸子: Fried tofu balls braised in a thick savoury sauce, a Wutai county dish.
• Oat-noodle rolls 莜面栲栳栳: Rolls of steamed oat dough, shaped by hand and dipped in a mutton or vegetable sauce; a northern Shanxi staple.

Tips for visiting Foguang Temple

• Come in the afternoon: the temple faces west, so the front of the East Hall is best lit later in the day.
• Look into the Manjushri Hall on the north side of the courtyard for its Ming murals of arhats, the Buddha's enlightened disciples.
• With a car, continue to Nanchan Temple, about an hour to the south-west, whose small main hall, dated by a beam inscription to 782, is regarded as China's oldest surviving timber building.

Nearby

• Mount Wutai 五台山 20 km
  Temples, a towering white stupa and yellow-tiled roofs below five flat-topped holy peaks
• Yanmen Pass 雁门关 60 km
  A Ming fortress gate on the Inner Great Wall, its ramparts running up the mountain ridges
• Yingxian Wooden Pagoda 应县木塔 80 km
  A Liao-dynasty timber pagoda of 1056, five storeys outside and nine within
• Hanging Temple 悬空寺 90 km
  A wooden temple pinned to a sheer cliff, seemingly propped up on stilts

Also within 30 km: Zunsheng Temple 尊胜寺 (under 10 km), Eighth Route Army Headquarters Site, Nanru 南茹八路军总部旧址 (20 km), Fanshi Glazed Pagoda 繁峙琉璃塔 (20 km), Guangji Temple, Wutai 五台广济寺 (20 km), Nanshan Temple, Mount Wutai 南山寺 (20 km), Bethune Model Ward, Songyankou 白求恩模范病室旧址 (20 km).

On the map

Open Foguang Temple on the illustrated map to see the terrain around it, what else is close, and to add it to a trip and plan the days.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• UNESCO World Heritage
• Wikipedia (Chinese)