Renshou Temple located in Chancheng District, Foshan. It is one of the four renowned Buddhist temples of Qing Dynasty. Now it is also the base of Foshan Buddhist Association. Built in 1656 of Qing Dynasty, it was founded by the monk of Zongtang.
History of Renshou Temple
The temple went through many renovations during different period. In 1669, during the reign period of Qing Emperor Kangxi, the Chan Master - Yulin hosted a fundraising and rebuilt the main gate of the temple. In 1714 and 1756, the monk Benyi rebuilt the temple again. In 1851, during the reign period of Qing Emperor Daoguang, the Monk Renji, the abbot of Hualin Temple in Guangzhou, was invited by Foshan officials to reconstruct Renshou Temple, due to the lack of food and wealth for the monks in Renshou Temple. The project was finished in 1851.
In history, many famous monks has been related to Renshou Temple, such as Zongtang, Yulin, Gion and Ciyun.
Highlights at Renshou Temple
After several renovation works, the scale of Renshou Temple has been expanded than ever before. In addition to the four main halls in the temple, the back hall, the left and right partial halls, the Longhua Hall, the Qi Hall, the guest room, the garden and 99 monks' rooms are added gradually. Now, the whole architecture has a construction area of 500 square meters.
The Ruyi Pagoda in Renshou Temple was donated by Foshan Buddhist Li Peixian and others in 1935. In 1938, the extremely popular and famous monk Xun Yun personally presided over the opening ceremony of the pagoda. This pagoda is quite distinctive and unique. The pagoda is a seven-story and octagonal in shape. Some exquisite Tibetan plaques were decorated on the pagoda. There are dozens of porcelain Buddha statues in the pagoda. Among them, the engraved red and green Buddha statue is the famous Shiwan-style pottery work, which was hand-made by the artist Pan Yushu.
There is an ancient tree over 100 years old in the Temple. Two splendid Ganoderma lucidum have grown here, which is a natural wonder attracting many tourists. One Ganoderma lucidum grew in the roots of the tree and the other grew in the hole of the tree respectively. One shows the golden yellow color while the other the bright red color. The one growing at the roots is about 10 centimeters long and about 8 centimeters wide. It is very graceful and vivid like a floating colorful cloud. It is said that every time there is a great event in Renshou Temple, this vigorous and clumsy tree will grow Ganoderma lucidum magically.