This temple in Hubei is a rare combination of five religious buildings and is known as the first wonder of the Han Dynasty Buddhist Temple

Wuhan, Hubei, has been a military and commercial center in southern China since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It has a history of 3,500 years. Rich historical and cultural resources have left a large number of natural and cultural attractions in Wuhan. When traveling to Wuhan, in addition to the famous East Lake and Yellow Crane Tower, there are also many historical sites worth seeing in the urban area, and Gude Temple is one of them. Gude Temple, located on Huangpu Road in Hankou, was founded by Master Longxi in the third year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1877). It was originally named Gude Maopeng, which means “good spirits of the ancients, Pudu with virtue”. The temple building we see now was rebuilt and expanded in November 1926 by the later Master Changhong, which lasted 5 years. Since then, the Gude Temple has experienced wars and natural disasters, and only the Yuantong Hall has been preserved intact. Today’s Gude Temple covers an area of ​​nearly 30,000 square meters and has a construction area of ​​nearly 8,000 square meters. Together with Guiyuan Temple, Baotong Temple, and Xilian Temple, they are collectively called the four jungles of Wuhan. Although this large hidden temple in the city is not as famous and area as the Guiyuan Temple, and there is no endless stream of worshippers, it has become the only one in the religious world in Wuhan with its rich exotic architectural style, and it is also rare in the country. Buddhist temple. Many people would think it was a mosque or a Western church when they first saw Gude Temple, but would never have thought that it was actually a Buddhist temple. The architectural style of the temple is ingeniously mixed with the elements of the world’s five major religions. It is completely different from the traditional temples with yellow tiles, red pillars and angled cornices. It is known as “a great wonder of Buddhist resorts” and “the first wonder of Buddhist temples in Han Dynasty”. The beautiful-looking Yuantong Hall is the core building of the whole temple. The temple is modeled after the Ananda Temple in Myanmar. The architectural structure combines ancient Greek and Roman, medieval Catholicism, South Asian and Southeast Asian Buddhist architectural styles, especially the round windows on the walls. It is very similar to the long window and the Christian church, and the pagoda on the top of the pagoda is no different from the cross. In addition, the Yuantong Palace also maintains certain Chinese elements. In addition to the windows inlaid with Eight Diagrams, the eaves also erected the twenty-four gods in Buddhist mythology in accordance with the custom of enshrining ridge beasts in ancient China. The top of the building represents the nine pagodas of the five Buddhas and four bodhisattvas. No matter which direction you look at, you can only see seven of them, which coincides with the Taoist saying of “the seven beaks show and two are hidden.” The Yuantong Palace covers an area of ​​more than 1,000 square meters, and the architectural structure adopts the processing method of traditional Chinese architecture with the shape of “jian” as the space unit. The eighth-level lotus seat enshrines the Buddha Shakyamuni, Amitabha and Medicine Buddha. The architect skillfully used natural lighting to make every beam of light refract just right, presenting the golden light and auspiciousness. As a jungle of Mahayana Buddhism passed down in the Han Dynasty, Gude Temple integrates the three Buddhist schools of Mahayana, Theravada and Tibetan Buddhism. Exquisitely carved lions, white elephants, golden-winged birds, peacocks and other gods and beasts of Southeast Asian Hinayana Buddhist temples can be seen everywhere in the temple. Among them, one of the four-faced Buddha, which was invited from Thailand at a huge investment in 1997, is one of the Buddhas enshrined in Theravada Buddhism. It is said that the wish is very effective. Openness and integration are the foundation for a nation to maintain its vitality. The Gude Temple fully demonstrates the characteristics of Chu culture’s aggressiveness, innovation, and non-rejection of foreign culture. It is worth it whether it is a friend interested in Buddhism or a photography enthusiast. Come here and have a look. Transportation: Take bus No. 3, No. 4, No. 30, No. 509, No. 707, No. 802, and No. 2 city tourist line.