Temples in Chengdu: the Buddhist monasteries worth visiting, and the Taoist ones too

Five temples to start with

Wenshu Monastery is the one most visitors see first: a working monastery in the old centre, with its own metro station on Line 1. Its halls date from a rebuilding that began in 1697, and every winter on the Laba festival it hands out free porridge, as it has for more than 300 years.

Daci Temple (大慈寺) is the other great city-centre temple, with its gate facing the Taikoo Li shopping district. The Tang monk Xuanzang, the pilgrim of *Journey to the West*, received full ordination here in 622. Together with Wenshu Monastery and Kuanzhai Alley it is counted among Chengdu’s three major historic quarters.

Zhaojue Temple (昭觉寺), in Chenghua District, was founded in the Tang dynasty and belongs to the Linji school of Chan (Zen). Its halls include a mountain gate, a Hall of the Heavenly Kings, a Mahavira Hall, halls for Guanyin and Ksitigarbha, and a sutra library.

Baoguang Temple (宝光寺), in Xindu about 18 km north of the centre, is worth the trip for two things: its 13-storey Tang pagoda, whose upper storeys, rebuilt in the Ming dynasty, lean visibly to the west, and its Qing-era Arhat Hall with 500 clay arhats, each about two metres tall.

Qingyang Palace (青羊宫) is Chengdu’s great Taoist temple, near its own metro station. Its name means ‘Green Goat Palace’, and two bronze goats stand in front of the Hall of the Three Pure Ones, one donated in 1723, the other in 1829; by long-standing popular custom visitors rub them, which has polished them bright. Further out, Mount Qingcheng, where tradition says Zhang Ling founded the Taoist teaching in 142 CE, has eleven important Taoist temples.[1][2][3][4][5][6][10][11][12][16][18][19]