Daxingshan Temple sits just outside the old city wall in the Xiaozhai direction, surrounded now by offices, apartment blocks and universities, but the walls enclose a compound that has not changed its purpose in well over a thousand years. It was founded in the Jin dynasty and reached its peak in the Tang, when it served as a translation centre for Buddhist texts and as the base for the three Indian masters who established the esoteric school in China. It was damaged repeatedly and rebuilt, and the present buildings are Qing and modern work, but the site is continuous.
The layout and the halls
The temple is larger than it looks from the street, with several courtyards in sequence: a hall of heavenly kings, a great hall with a seated Buddha, a hall of the three sages, and further halls to the rear for meditation and for the patriarchs, along with a drum and bell tower, steles recording donations and restorations, and a pair of old trees in the central court. Because it is a working monastery rather than a museum, you will find monks, worshippers, volunteer attendants and a small shop selling incense and religious goods, and there is usually incense burning at the altars.
The Quarter around it
The temple anchors one of the more interesting parts of modern Xi'an. Within a short walk there are university campuses, the provincial museum complex to the west, and a dense commercial district with student food, bookshops and electronics malls. It is a part of the city with its own rhythm, busy with students in term time and quiet in the holidays, and it sits well with a visit to the museum or with an evening in the district rather than as an isolated stop.
Practical notes
The temple is open daily from early morning to late afternoon, charges no admission or a nominal one, and is a few minutes' walk from a subway station. It takes about forty-five minutes to see at a relaxed pace. There is a vegetarian restaurant attached to the temple serving simple food at low prices, and the temple also runs a tea room. As with any active religious site, ask before photographing people or ceremonies, and check whether photography is permitted inside the halls, since rules vary from one building to the next.
