Foguang Temple

Foguang Temple
佛光寺
The Dongda Hall of the Foguang Temple
Religion
AffiliationBuddhism
DeityŚākyamuni, Amitābha, Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, Samantabhadra
Location
LocationFoguang Village, Doucun Township, Wutai County, Xinzhou, Shanxi Province
CountryChina
Shown within Shanxi
Foguang Temple (China)
Coordinates38°52′09″N 113°23′16″E / 38.86917°N 113.38778°E / 38.86917; 113.38778
Architecture
Completed857 CE
Tang dynasty
Foguang Temple
"Foguang Temple" in Chinese characters
Chinese佛光真容禪寺、佛光寺
Literal meaning"Temple of Buddha's Light"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinFóguāng sì
IPA[fwǒ.kwáŋ sɹ̩̂]
Wu
SuzhouneseVéh-kuaõn zŷ
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationFaht-gwōng jih
JyutpingFat6-gwong1 zi6
IPA[fɐt̚˨.kʷɔŋ˥ tsi˨]
Southern Min
Tâi-lôPu̍t-kng sī (col.)
Hu̍t-kong sī (lit.)

Foguang Temple (Chinese: 佛光寺; lit. "Temple of Buddha's Light") is a Buddhist temple located five kilometres from Doucun Town, Wutai County, Shanxi Province of China. The temple complex covers approximately 8.4 acres and contains over 120 structures dating from the Northern Wei dynasty to the Qing dynasty. The temple is inscribed as part of the Mount Wutai UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The major hall of the temple is the Dongda Hall, built in 857 AD, during the Tang dynasty (618–907). It is the third earliest preserved timber structure in China. The Dongda Hall is the only building to contain Tang-dynasty architecture, sculpture, mural painting, and calligraphic inscriptions in a single structure, known as the "Four Supremacies", and the temple is regarded as China's foremost national treasure of ancient architecture.

The temple was rediscovered by architectural historians Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin in 1937, while an older smaller hall at Nanchan Temple was discovered by the same team a year later. The temple also contains another significant hall dating from 1137 called the Wenshu Hall. The temple grounds also contain one of only two surviving Northern Wei pagodas in China.