The White Horse Temple is a Buddhist temple, one of the first temples built in China. The temple was founded in the city of Luoyang under the tutelage of Emperor Ming-di (personal name - Liu Zhuang) in 68 AD.
There are interesting beliefs about the origin of the name of the monastery. Liu Zhuang had a dream, waking up after which he immediately sent his loyal subjects to India to find out everything about the mysterious teachings, rumours about which continued to spread among the population of the Celestial Empire. The envoys returned, but not alone, but together with Buddhist monks carrying their sacred books on white horses, in honour of which the temple was named.
Another belief is directly connected with the origin and spread of Buddhism in China. Emperor Chau Wan, ruler of the Tang Dynasty saw an unusually bright halo of light in the sky. Court astrologers predicted the birth of a holy man. And also that the teachings this man would follow would spread throughout China. The prediction was recorded in the royal registry book. Later, as it turned out, this was the year Gautama Buddha was born in India.
The temple, though small in size, is considered by most believers to be the "cradle of Chinese Buddhism". The temple's territory is 13 hectares. The facades of the temple face south. There are statues of stone horses in front of the temple entrance.
There are several halls in the temple, namely: "Hall of the Six Founders", "Hall of Mahavira", "Hall of Greetings", "Hall of the Jade Buddha", "Hall of the Heavenly Kings", and a repository of ancient scriptures. Behind the main hall is the "Cool and Clear Terrace", which is also known as the "Qingliang Terrace". The four sides of the terrace are lined with green bricks. The terrace also has the Kunlu Pavilion, to the east and west of which are halls with statues of two prominent monks, She Moteng and Zhu Falan. These two were buried at the temple gate.
In the main hall, three statues are placed on the altar: in the centre stands a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha between statues of Manjushri and Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. A huge bell weighing over a tonne, which was placed near the altar during the time of Emperor Jiejing of the Ming dynasty, is still used by the monks.
