寒山寺英语导游词

Ancient Hanshan Temple

It was in 2002 that monks of Hanshan Temple warmly celebrated the 1500th anniversary of the founding of the very temple. The event indicated that temple was established in 502 AD in the Liang Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties with its earliest name being the Wonderful Beneficial Universal Illumination Pagoda Temple. Its present name was given during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when two famous monks named Hanshan and Shide came and stayed in it. Since then, Buddhist believers have had the faith in the fact these two monks are the personifications of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom and the Bodhisattva of Universal Benevolence respectively. Therefore the temple’s name was changed into Hanshan Temple in memory of the monk Hanshan.

Also in the Tang Dynasty did a well-known poet, Zhang Ji by name, arrive at Suzhou with his boat mooring near the Maple Bridge in the Maple Bridge Town.

A slight being so touching, he composed on the spur of moment a poet to describe both the scenery and the bell echoing around the temple. The poem was entitled “Night Anchoring at the Maple Bridge” which made and still makes the temple renowned both at home and abroad.

The temple’s long history and culture make it be the admiration of visitors and Buddhists from all over China. And it is a must for sightseers from Japan because legend has it that once the monk Shide landed in Japan and spread both Buddhism and Chinese culture there.

The ancient temple faces the world-renowned Grand Canal with both the Maple Bridge and the Jiangcun Bridge flying over the tributary of it. Numerous classical buildings inside the temple are imposing and trees growing luxuriantly. Passing the entrance hall, visitors can command a nice view of the Mahavira Hall, the 500 Arhats Hall, the Sutra-storing Building, the Bell Tower, the 42.2-meter-high Universal Illumination Pagoda, the Stela Gallery, many other chambers and mansions as well as beautiful garden courts.

It is worth mentioning that in the center of the Mahavira Hall sits Buddha Sakyamuni with two attendant Bodhisattvas standing piously at the both sides, who are Sakyamuni’s first generation disciples. The younger one is named Ananha and the elder one is called Kasyapa. And the gilt Eighteen Arhats are installed alongside the side walls. Shown in the right rear corner of the hall is a bronze bell hung on a wooden stand. This is a Japanese bell which Yamada Kanzang, a friendly Japanese personage, cast and sent to Suzhou’s Hanshan Temple in 1905, symbolizing the cultural exchange between China and Japan in history.

Near the bell ate two stelae, or stone tablets, set in the white walls, one displays the monk Hanshan and the other portrays both Hanshan and Shide who are vivid and full of fun, clapping and laughing like real persons.

Located behind the Mahavira Hall is the Sutra-storing Building, at the side of which lies the hexagonal Bell Tower. On its second floor hangs an enormous iron bell cast in 1906, i.e. in the 32nd year of the reign of Emperor Guanxu. This is a