Kaifu Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Kaifu District of Changsha City, Hunan Province. It includes the Entrance, Hall of the Great Heroes, Assisted Dnyana, Dining Room, etc.

Kaifu Temple is built within a 16,000 square meters (170,000 sq ft) area of land. For the reason that it was first built earlier than Changsha city, so there is a saying that "there comes first the Kaifu Temple, then the Changsha city".

History

In the late Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960), Ma Yin (852–930) built a nation named "Chu" (907–951). In 927, Ma Yin's son Ma Xifan (899–947) gave Huichun Park to monk Baoning who built Kaifu Temple.

Since then, the temple has undergone several rebuilt for it was destroyed multiple times in the wars.

In 1965, Kaifu Temple was listed as a provincial culture and relics site.

In 1983, Kaifu Temple was listed as a National Key Buddhist Temple in Han Chinese Area.

In 1994, the abbot Nengjing built the Monks Dorm, the Free Life Pond, Bell Tower, Drum Tower, rebuilt the Grand Buddha Hall, Meditation Hall, Praying Hall, Monastic Dining Hall, Monastic Reception and the Depositary of Buddhist Texts.

In 2004, Kaifu Temple extended new buildings.

In 2011, the Kaifu District People's Government extended Kaifu Temple, recovered the sixteen scenic spots.

Introduction

The existing building of Kaifu Temple was mainly rebuilt during the region of Guangxu Emperor (1875–1908), and the buildings were mostly in Ming and Qing architecture style. In front of the temple is the gate. There are three halls lined up at the central axis, namely the Maitreya Buddha Hall, the Main Shrine Hall and the Pilu Hall. There are east and west wing-room and many other attached buildings, and has functions including dining hall, warehouse, library and lecture hall. 

The gate is a stone decorated gateway with four columns and three entrances and attached with three towers, reaching a height of 10 meters (32.8 feet). On the gateway there are relief and paintings of people, trees and flowers. a pair of stone lions and elephants are at each side of the gateway. 

Three main halls

The main building of the Kaifu Temple are the three main halls.

The front hall also known as the Maitreya Buddha Hall or the Three Saints Hall. It has three rooms, and its columns are all made of granite. The hall used to be dedicated to the three saints of the west before the figures were destroyed. It is now dedicated to rebuilt figures of the Maitreya Buddha, the Vitasoka and the Four deva-kings. 

The middle hall is the Main Shrine Hall, with a height of 20 meters (65.6 feet). In the middle of the hall is a white jade figure of the Shakyamumi Buddha, and figures of Ananda and Kashyapa are on each side of the Buddha. At the reverse side of the Buddha is a golden figure of the thousand-hand and thousand-eye Avalokitesvara Buddhisattva. There are also other 16 golden figures of Ananda on each side of the hall.

The back hall is the Pilu Hall, and is dedicated to the Vairocana. There are the Five-hundred Arhan with height of 0.4 meters (1.3 feet).

Address: 136 Kaifusi Road, Xinhe Sub-district, Kaifu District, Changsha City, Hunan Province

Ticket: 10 yuan/person

Opening Hours: 9:00-18:00