From all the photos I’d seen of Jiming Temple, I thought it was basically just a pagoda. But China is full of surprises – it’s far from a single building. It’s actually a series of temples, buildings and shrines dedicated to the Buddhist faith. I’ve been to many such temples all over China, from one-room shrines with cold cement walls to grandiose architectural and aesthetic marvels, and so I can tell you from all this experience that, if you’re new to the country, Jiming Temple is a very worthy introduction to the cultural and aesthetic wonders of Buddhist temples in China.
The most curious aspect of this whole place is its name – Jiming translates as “chicken call”. How did that name come about? Well, according to one person I asked, the story is this…there’s a small piece of land between the city wall near the temple, and Xuanwu Lake (which will be mentioned later). Apparently years ago there were some peasant villages on this strip of land, and they had, well, chickens. So every morning, the emperor who lived here during the Ming dynasty was woken up by, well, chickens and roosters. When abouts this became the name of the place I don’t know, but that’s the story. Apparently…
After paying a mere five kuai to get in (for those new to China, “kuai” is the local slang word for yuan – it’s exactly analogous to calling dollars “bucks”), you walk up some steps and find yourself in the first of many beautiful courtyards, with little buildings housing individual shrines, complete with kneeling cushions before all of them. I couldn’t help but notice there was a cat fast asleep on one of those cushions, which was a rather funny sight to see. Buddhist kitty.
Continuing your journey uphill, you find another courtyard, and you can hear Buddhist chanting as you approach it. With a drum tower to your left and a bell tower to your right, you find the source of the chanting – it’s a full-on Buddhist worshipping ceremony in the “Jeweled Hall of Vairocana”. Unfortunately, the doors were closed, but you could see the proceedings through the doors. Everyone’s back is turned away from you, but because of the nature of what’s going on inside, you kind of assume it’s rude or at least inappropriate to come in. So you just look through the doors, and wow, what a sublime, magnificent hall it is.
Looking into this flamboyantly decorated room, with a truly grand golden Buddha in the centre, with statues of a dozen other figures bookending the room, with bona-fide Buddhist monks chanting and bowing in unison, you can’t help but think, yeah, this is the China that I came here to see. Maybe the doors were shut because it was a (very) cold day, maybe not. But you could see enough from the outside to be impressed. Oh, if this means something to you, this room had “Bodhisattvas images of Manjushri Bodhisattva and Samanta-Bhadrayuh Bodhisattva”, according to the bilingual introduction to it. It was built in 1994, and the main Buddha is called the “sacred image of Vairocana Buddha”. Then you proceed uphill again, up to the main pagoda, which is called the Bhaisajyaguru Pagoda (note that none of this language is Chinese, it’s clearly Indian). You pay another five kuai to get into this place, and you get a ticket with information in Chinese and English, although the Chinese introduction is clearly more informative than the English translation – you don’t even need to be able to read any Chinese to figure out that the pagoda dates back to 300AD, and has had a few significant dates in its life. This information is neglected in the English version (I found out from the aforementioned friend that this building was one of the many places levelled by the bombings of the Japanese army in 1937). Regardless, it’s a very cool seven-storey pagoda with another huge statue of Buddha in the first floor (apparently this statue used to live in Beijing, and it moved here in 1972), with the walls surrounding him being covered in miniature versions of him in small glass cases.
Going up floor by floor, you are greeted with more Buddhist effigies, and once at the top you are presented with not just a great view of not just Xuanwu Hu (Xuanwu Lake), but also a huge section of the remaining city wall, stretching from the temple below you to another small hill a few kilometers away. There’s a few other things in the temple, like an art gallery full of paintings and calligraphy, and “The Great Mercy Hall”, which is adorned with four identical, truly impressive twenty-four armed Goddesses of Mercy (Sahasrabhujasahas Ranetra). I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a sucker for Buddhist temples – they always look so damn good, and the ones in the cities always have the dichotomous foible of being tranquil, Zen-ed out zones surrounded by urban chaos. So if that interests you, or any other aspect, whether it be aesthetic, religious or just plain curiosity, this is well worth ten kuai and an hour or two of your time.
UPDATES…during warmer months, the general entrance fee goes from five to ten yuan. Also, there’s a back entrance out of the Temple that leads to the Nanjing Historical Museum of Ming Dynasty City Wall , and also there’s a vegetarian restaurant within the temple. Check them out.
Ashley Brown is an Australian arts journalist currently teaching in Nanjing.
