Tayuan Temple

Tayuan Temple stands in the centre of Taihuai Town, south of Xiantong Temple, and takes its name from the great white pagoda in its yard. It began as the stupa court of Xiantong, and the pagoda was built in 1302, the sixth year of the Dade reign of the Yuan, to a design by the Nepali craftsman Aniko. In 1589 the Wanli emperor granted the temple its own plaque and it became a separate monastery. The compound covers 15,000 square metres and holds more than 130 halls and houses, among them the Great Compassion Hall of 1578, built so that the Wanli emperor's mother, Empress Li, might live long. It is counted among the mountain's five Chan temples and its ten temples for lodging monks.