What is the origin of Nanjing Linggu Temple?

Linggu Temple is located 1.5 kilometers east of Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing City. It was originally called Jiangshan Temple and was located at the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. Linggu Temple was built in the 13th year of Liang Tianjian (514) in the Southern Dynasty. It was a temple built by Emperor Wu of Liang to bury the famous monk Baofan. According to Volume 10 of "Biography of Eminent Monks", Baozhi was also known as Baozhi, his common surname was Zhu, and he was from Jincheng (Lanzhou, Gansu). After becoming a monk, he studied under Seng Jian, practiced Zen, and gained profound attainments in Buddhism. Legend has it that after the first year of Taichu in the Southern Song Dynasty (453), his words and deeds were magical, and his "hands and feet were all bird claws." He often carried ancient mirrors, scissors, rulers, fans and other things with him, and walked barefoot with his hair loose. "Sometimes he would compose poems. Words are like prophecies." Emperor Wu of Qi, Emperor Wu of Liang, and the princes and scholars regarded him as a "divine monk" and admired him very much.

After Baozhi passed away, Emperor Wu of Liang built a five-level wooden pagoda at Dulongfu, the southwest slope of Zhongshan Mountain, where Baozhi was buried, and gradually expanded it into a temple, named Kaishan Jingshe. At that time, Buddhism was very prosperous. There were more than 70 Buddhist temples in Zhongshan area, but Kaishan Jingshe was the largest and was known as the first Zen forest in Zhongshan. It is five miles from the mountain gate to the main hall. There are free life pond, King Kong Hall, Tianwang Hall, Wuliang Hall, Wufang Hall, Pilu Hall, Guanyin Pavilion and other halls in the temple. Behind the temple is the Baofanggong Pagoda, which is very majestic.

During the Qianfu period of the Tang Dynasty, it was renamed Baogongyuan. During the Kaibao period of the Song Dynasty (968-975), it was renamed Kaishan Taoist Temple. In the fourth year of the Taiping Xingguo reign (979), Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty inscribed the temple as "Taiping Xingguo Zen Temple". Later it was changed to Shifang Chanyuan and Jiangshan Temple.

After the Ming Dynasty established Nanjing as its capital, it chose the west side of Zhongshan Mountain with dragons and tigers as the royal cemetery. Taizu of the Ming Dynasty moved the temple to the southeast foot of Zhongshan Mountain. Here, there are "mountains on the left and steep ridges on the right, with stacked barriers leaning against the sky in the north, and high domes to drain the air. The mountains are spread out like a pile of snails on the horizon." After the temple was built, Taizu of the Ming Dynasty bestowed the name "Linggu Zen Temple" on his forehead. In the forty-sixth year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1707), Emperor Kangxi visited Zhongshan Mountain during his tour to the south. He gave the temple a plaque with the words "Linggu Zen Forest" and a couplet with the words "The fragrance of the sky spreads across the hall, the mountain air stays in the sky".

The current Linggu Temple is a cemetery for fallen soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army built on the original temple site from 1928 to 1935. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was renamed Linggu Park, but it is still customarily called the gate of Linggu Temple. There is a three-arched entrance hall, covered with green glazed tiles, with red walls on both sides. The middle door is inscribed with the words "Linggu Scenic Spot", and the side doors on both sides are written with the words "Songsheng" and "Quantao". There is a long door to the south of the door. The 100-meter-long crescent-shaped Freeing Pool, also known as the Wan Gong Pool, was dug by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty with tens of thousands of military workers. Entering the gate and crossing the rain path is the Wuliang Hall, which was originally named Wuliang Hall because it worships Wuliang Buddha. It is the only remaining building of the original Linggu Temple. Because the entire building is made of bricks and stones without beams or rafters, it is also called the Beamless Hall. It is 22 meters high, 46.7 meters wide and 37.9 meters deep. There are three arches in the north and south, with windows on all sides. The structure is solid and majestic. It has a history of more than 600 years. In front of the hall, there is a memorial archway with five couplets and a roof, with "Da Ren Da Yi" engraved on the forehead and "Da Ren Da Yi" on the back. "Save the country and save the people." In front of the square is a pair of white marble Pixiu. On the wall inside the hall are inscribed Sun Yat-sen's "Prime Minister's Testament" and a list of fallen soldiers in the National Revolution. Behind the Wuliang Hall is the first cemetery for fallen soldiers. The second and third cemeteries, located 300 meters east and west respectively, bury 1,029 soldiers who died in the Northern Expedition and the Anti-Japanese War. Behind the curved tomb wall is the Songfeng Pavilion, which is built on dozens of steps. The pavilion is 10 meters high and wide. 41.7 meters, with two floors of nine couplets, a corridor outside, surrounded by red columns. The second floor is hollow, covered with green glazed tiles and blue eaves. There is a tripod with "Mingding Chuixun" inscribed in the middle of the corridor behind the pavilion. Four characters. About 100 meters to the north is the Linggu Tower, the iconic attraction of Linggu Temple. The tower is 66 meters high, with nine floors and eight sides. The bottom floor is 14 meters in diameter and the top floor is 9 meters in diameter. It is a mixed structure of granite and reinforced concrete. It was built in 1933. It was called the Memorial Tower at the time and was commonly known as the nine-story tower. There are 252 spiral steps in the tower that go up around the central stone pillar. Each floor is covered with blue glazed tiles. Outside the tower is a circle of corridors. It is surrounded by stone railings for visitors to lean on and overlook. There is Linggu Temple in the east of Wuliang Hall. In the temple, the Mahavira Hall is dedicated to the Tathagata Buddha; the Daojue Hall is dedicated to Master Xuanzang’s bones; the Guanyin Pavilion is dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva; there are also the Sutra Library, Maitreya Hall, and Ancestral hall and other buildings. Opposite the temple gate is a covered yellow screen wall. There is a quality monument about 5 meters high, with the four characters "Linggu Shensong" engraved on it. Crossing the small bridge to the east is a five-year-old monument. The ancient building named "Liu Shang Hall" is now a foreign-related restaurant.

Less than 100 meters southeast from the Liushang Hall is Deng Yanda's tomb. In the middle of the tomb door is a circular flower bed. There are open-air verandas on both sides, with cement bars and wisteria plants as canopies. There is a square pavilion at each end of the verandah. In front of the tomb are cedars and cypresses, with lawns on the ground floor and surrounded by stone walls on the east, west and north sides. There is a granite tombstone in front of the tomb, engraved with "Tomb of Martyr Deng Yanda" written by He Xiangning. The tomb is round and built on a platform. It is 4.5 meters high and 9.5 meters in diameter. It is a provincial cultural relic protection unit.