Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t9: Asoka Temple
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s3.t9
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Asoka Temple
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Asoka Temple (Asoka Vihar) is one of the time-honoured temples in the history of China, located on Mount Asoka in Yínzhou district of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.
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According to legend, during the period of King Asoka (3^rd^ century BCE), the legendary emperor who created the Maurya Dynasty in India, held the third Samgiti, also the greatest in size in the history of Buddhism in Pataliputra (present-day Patna) during which the *Tipitaka* was compiled and organised. His children and some monks were sent to the different places in the world to disseminate and promote Buddhism. By the records of Buddhism scriptures, King Asoka also took out Buddha Sarira from Limnophila Aquatica (Grand Pagoda) in Rajgir and divided it into 84,000 parts. Then he ordered a spirit which could fly to establish a total of 84,000 pagodas all over the world in one night. It was rumoured that he built 19 dagobas in China, one of them located in Yin County, Zhejiang province. Now, the only history relic saved till today is the dagoba of King Asoka.
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According to historical records, in the Taikang third year of the Western Jin Dynasty (282 CE), an eminent monk, Huida, looked for the dagoba at the foot of Mount Mao and then built a cottage room there to live and protect the dagoba. This is the original location of Asoka Temple. The temple was originally built on the Yuanjia, second year of the Southern Dynasties (425 CE) and expanded twice in the Yuanjia 12^th^ year (435 CE), thus laying the solid foundation for the development of the Temple. In the Putong third year of the Liang Dynasty (522 CE), the emperor bestowed a horizontal inscribed board with the words, Asoka Temple on it and then the name of the temple was officially established. Another saying goes like this - in the Yixi first year of the Jin Dynasty (405 CE), people established a pavilion on the dagoba in a
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*Archway at the Asoka Temple, Yinzhou, Zhejiang, China*
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bid to protect it and this was the origin of the Asoka Temple. In later dynasties, the temple was rebuilt and repaired repeatedly, thus forming into the size we see today. In 1983, the temple was selected by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China as the National Key Temples of Buddhism in Han Nationality Regions. Asoka Temple is very famous since it is a remarkable dagoba. It covers an area of more than 60,000 sq m with more than 600 rooms and the area of structure is around more than 30,000 sq m. In 1987, there were over 70 monks living there. The temple treasures some very valuable historical relics such as the calligraphy by celebrities in various dynasties and in the Depository of Buddhist Sutras, there are the Qing Dynasty version of Longzang which totals 7,247 volumes and Qishaban Tibetan Tripitaka, both of which are rare collections. In 2006, Asoka Temple was listed by the State Council into the Sixth Group of the National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.
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(*Xue Keqiao*)