Baolian nunnery

Baolian nunnery

Baolian nunnery is located in Jiefang village, Gaoxing Town, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. It was built in 1577, the fifth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty. There is a square pavilion with four pillars in front of the gate, which is convenient for pedestrians to drink when they rest. There is a well in the Pavilion (now in the nunnery), so this nunnery is also called "Jingting nunnery". It was burned twice in the 11th year of Kangxi (1672) and the first year of tongzhi (1862). In the fourth year of tongzhi (1865), it was rebuilt by the abbot Bi qiuni kunzhen. In January 1992, it was reopened with approval. Master Jiezhi and master Renqing, who graduated from Shanghai Buddhist College in 1995, have been working hard for more than ten years. They are now solemn, majestic, rigorous and full of believers.

historical origin

Baolian nunnery, also known as Jingting nunnery, is located in the east of xiajiazhai, Gaonan village, Gaonan Township, Chuansha County, Shanghai. It is close to the Qiujiang River in front of Gaoqiao port in the lower reaches of Huangpu River. It covers an area of 700 square meters and has a building area of 400 square meters. According to the reliable materials such as scriptures, plaques and steles seen by the abbot of this nunnery, the abbot of chasi temple, and the elderly residents, it is recalled that this nunnery was originally built in the fifth year of Wanli (1577) of Ming Dynasty to build the temple It covers an area of more than 10 mu. The main hall is dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva and the Sutra collection building. The nunnery has been abandoned for many times. Now it is a two chamber nunnery with three rooms in the East. In front of the nunnery, there is an ancient well with four stone pillars and square pavilions, about 9 square meters. Stone benches are set up for walking and resting. Now the ancient well is still there, so the nunnery is also called Jingting nunnery From the east of xiajiazhai to xiajinhe of xiaoyangjiazhai in the west, it has been called Jingting since Tongzhi of Qing Dynasty. All the Scriptures, plaques and steles in the nunnery were destroyed during the cultural revolution. All the halls and buildings were borrowed by the production team. After the policy was implemented and returned in the spring of 1988, the religious believers in charge of the Dharma benevolence movement raised money to repair them.

development history

Ben'an was originally established to protect the local people's life. The reason is as follows: as early as the song, yuan and Ming Dynasties, there were a lot of boatmen in this township, Gaoxing Town, Gaodong town and Gaoqiao Town. However, in the early years of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, the Japanese invaders did not dare to come and go. It was only after the 36th year of Jiajing that the Japanese invasion was calmed down and the shipping prosperity resumed. But at this time, the lower Qingjiang River appeared“ The "water demon" engulfed countless ships, so the port of hudu was left in the cold. Chen Heng, the navigation supervisor of the port at that time, was afraid of being punished by his superiors because there were few merchant ships passing by and he could not collect taxes. So he tried every means to join five giant ships. Full of soldiers, he bravely raised his bow and fired poisonous arrows to kill the "water demon". It turned out that he was an inexplicable giant fish that looked like a whale but not a whale. Although the flood was eliminated, people were afraid of getting rid of the "water demon", and they were afraid that they would be retaliated by the aquarium because of the violation. The boatman still did not dare to sail. Chen Heng was seriously ill. In his dream, he clearly saw lotus lying in Guanyin's plain clothes and sitting in the lotus pond with his hands folded. He said, "if you have a heart disease, you need to treat it with medicine. If you are sincere, you will get a good result. Now, the goddess of navigation and protection in Fujian, Tianfei, comes to Qingjiang for a visit and stays in Shiliupu. You can pray for the goddess to save the victims." When Chen Heng woke up, he immediately built Tianfei palace in Shiliupu. He personally led the people to burn incense to pray for heaven. Then he ordered them to go down the river to salvage it. As expected, he picked up a white jade statue of a young girl. Chen Heng learned that it was the incarnation of Guanyin Bodhisattva and offered it to Tianfei palace to protect the river and the sea forever. So the people were convinced that the navigation was smooth. Later, the palace was moved to the north of Henan Road and bridge. Since then, many Guanyin nunneries have been built along the river. This is based on the intention of "distressing all living beings, wholeheartedly claiming fame, Guanyin Bodhisattva can get rid of suffering" in the wonderful Lotus Sutra.

At that time, there were a lot of boating people in our village. They often met with shipwrecks. Orphans and widowed mothers lived in misery. They were disciples of Master Lianchi, the eighth generation patriarch of Pure Land Sect of Buddhism. In order to relieve the distress of all living beings at sea, they built Baolian nunnery here. The so-called Baolian is one of the 32 Avalokitesvara worshipped. It sits in the pool with its palms closed. The lotus lies in the Avalokitesvara. In the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Baolian nunnery was destroyed in 1654 and rebuilt the next year; After the failure of the Taiping Rebellion in 1862, Baolian nunnery was falsely concealed and the female soldiers of Xiaodaohui were set on fire. In 1865, kunzhen, the 15th abbot of the nunnery, came here from Hangzhou to inspire the gentry and believers to rebuild Baolian nunnery. Ji Yidi built two chamber houses. Later, he built three houses in the East and dug a well in front of the nunnery When the nunnery was rebuilt again and the well was dug, two big flying Bodhisattvas came to the nunnery with two square stone pillars to celebrate. Shen Hequan, a local believer, built a square pavilion with stone pillars on the well for pedestrians to drink and rest. The well has never been dried up since it was dug. It can provide drinking water for residents of six towns at most during drought. Because the water in the well is refreshing and sweet, the water in this well is still drunk by monks in temples.

Address: No.36 Jingting, Jiefang village, Gaoxing Town, Pudong New Area, Shanghai (ting'an Road near Zhangyang North Road)

Longitude: 121.596433

Latitude: 31.323591310669

Tel: 021-58619884

Ticket information: free.

Chinese PinYin : Bao Lian An