Qingyuan Mountain’s Jingju Temple: A Traveler’s Guide to a Thousand-Year Zen Retreat
Introduction
When morning mist drapes the foothills of Qingyuan Mountain and the bell tolls through ancient pines, a gray-tiled, vermilion-walled temple appears and vanishes in the clouds. This is Jingju Temple, the birthplace of the Qingyuan lineage of Chan (Zen) Buddhism — a sacred site where ink calligraphy, ancient pagodas and Zen spirit intertwine. Stroll its courtyards and you can still read the Tang dynasty vigor in Yan Zhenqing’s inscriptions and feel the silent teaching of the True-Body Pagoda of Master Xingsi. If your travel seeks historical depth and inner clarity, this oldest Zen ancestral temple in Jiangxi invites your discovery.
1. Lingering Soul: A Millennial Chan Lineage
“A mountain, a stream of Chan, a pure land.” Jingju Temple’s uniqueness lies in being both the origin of the Qingyuan Chan line and a living relic in China’s cultural history. After Chan Master Xingsi taught here in the Tang dynasty, Jingju became one of the “Three Great Zen Ancestral Sites of Jiangxi,” joining the ranks of masters like Mazu Daoyi and Baizhang Huaihai in shaping Southern Chan. The temple preserves a rare Tang-era true-body reliquary — a silent testament to Chan’s teaching of “seeing one’s true nature.”
2. Historical Flow: From Flourishing Tang to Present-Day Preservation
• Tang echoes: Founded by imperial decree in 705 CE, Jingju once housed a thousand monastic rooms at its height. During the An Lushan Rebellion, scholar-official Yan Zhenqing carved the “Ancestor’s Gate” stone inscription while serving in the region; the tablet remains a treasured relic.
• Rebirth after calamity: Though many buildings were rebuilt during the Qing dynasty after the wars of the Song and Yuan eras, the Tang-era axial layout and monastic rules are still legible in the temple’s spatial grammar. The plaque by patriot-poet Wen Tianxiang bearing the name “Qingyuan Mountain” reflects Southern Song literati’s loyalty to nation and culture.
• Modern status: Designated a national key temple and protected cultural site, Jingju Temple serves both as a place for monastic practice and an open-air museum for studying Chan history and calligraphy arts.
3. Architecture and Art: A Spatial Poem of Zen
• Brilliant layout: Built along the mountain slope with ascending courtyards, the main axis runs through the Mountain Gate, Heavenly Kings Hall, Mahavira Hall and Pilu Pavilion. This sequence symbolically guides visitors from the secular toward awakening. Though Qing-era reconstructions lack Tang opulence, the eaves, bracket sets and carved sparrow panels still convey the honest strength of southern Chan architecture.
• Light and shadow: In the Mahavira Hall, sunlight filters through carved lattice windows onto the gilded Shakyamuni statue, mixing incense smoke and gold in a slow dance. The Pilu Pavilion’s scripture cabinets fill the air with the warm scent of nanmu wood — a perfect place to sit, listen to wind and the monks’ chants, and breathe into stillness.
• Artistic treasures:
– “The Four Qingyuan Masterpieces”: Yan Zhenqing’s bold stele carvings, Huang Tingjian’s poetic stele, Li Gang’s ink scripts and Wen Tianxiang’s commemorative plaque bring together Tang-Song literati spirit.
– The Seven-Patriarch True-Body Pagoda: A Tang-style stone pagoda carved to resemble timber houses the relics attributed to Chan Master Xingsi. Its bas-reliefs of flying apsaras and lotuses subtly hint at the image of awakening.
4. Immersive Practices: Touching Zen with Morning Bells and Evening Drums
• Observing rituals: Each morning at 5:30, monks hold dawn recitation of the Diamond Sutra in the Mahavira Hall. Visitors may quietly observe. Full-moon and new-moon ceremonies (first and fifteenth of the lunar month) are particularly solemn.
• Acts of merit: At the incense burner you may take three complimentary incense sticks and place them with your left hand (left is considered pure in Buddhist ritual), offering a silent wish. Oil-lamp donations are welcome; a butter lamp costs about 20 RMB.
• Practical notes: The temple kitchen serves a vegetarian lunch daily at 11:00 for about 10 RMB per person — a humble meal that embodies the unity of Zen and tea.
5. Atmosphere: A Monastic Retreat in the Woods
Jingju is rarely noisy; most visitors are local pilgrims or seekers of silence. In spring azaleas frame the eaves; in autumn ginkgo leaves carpet the stone steps. Sit beneath the ancient pine before the Heavenly Kings Hall and watch monastic robes sweep the moss — a moment that reveals why the mountain’s green is also its Dharma body.
6. Travel Guide: Planning Your Zen Visit
• Recommended time: Allow 2–3 hours for an in-depth visit; extend to a half-day if joining lunch or a meditation session.
• Best times: Early morning between 7:00–9:00 when mist lingers, or after 15:00 to avoid the busiest hours.
• Suggested route: Meditate at Jingju Temple in the morning, visit the Qingyuan Mountain cliff inscriptions in the afternoon, and end at the Bailuzhou Academy in Ji’an to feel the Confucian literary heritage by dusk.
7. Practical Tips: Respect and Convenience
✓ Dress code: Avoid sleeveless tops and shorts; remove hats before entering halls.
✓ Prohibited behavior: No photography of Buddha images inside halls; do not step on thresholds; circumambulate pagodas clockwise.
✓ Opening hours and fees: Open 8:00–17:00 with free admission (policy current as of 2023).
✓ Transport:
– Bus: From Ji’an Railway Station take Bus 60 to the “Qingyuan Mountain” stop, then a 15-minute walk.
– Car: Free parking at the south gate; navigate to “Jingju Temple Gate.”
✓ Facilities: There is limited English signage, but a bilingual audio guide is available via QR code for 20 RMB.
Conclusion
At Jingju Temple time seems pressed into stillness by mountain clouds. When you trace Yan Zhenqing’s weathered inscriptions or meet the timeless expression preserved with Master Xingsi, the temple’s true gift is not its titles or artifacts but the gentle way it asks modern visitors to release attachments. If you can visit only one temple in Jiangxi, make it Jingju Temple on Qingyuan Mountain — some insights arrive only on that wind.
