Wenshu Temple (wén shū yuàn 文殊院), situated in Chengdu (chéng dū 成都), in the northwest Sichuan Province (sì chuān shěng 四川省), is a famous monastery. It was originally known as Xinxiang Temple (xìn xiàng sì 信相寺) in the Song Dynasty (sòng cháo 宋朝), but destroyed by fire. It is said that in the Qing Dynasty (qīng cháo 清朝), people saw Wenshu Buddha (wén shū pú sà 文殊菩萨) in the red light, and the government then set people to rebuilt the temple and enthrone the name Wenshu.

  
Wenshu Temple is the best preserved Buddhist temple in Sichuan, covering an area of 11600 square meters. The temple is surrounded by thick walls. On the upper place of the front gate, there inlayed the three Chinese characters “文殊院"(wén shū yuàn). Together with the characters on the wall, it makes the temple solemn.

The temple consists of the Heavenly King’s Hall (tiān wáng diàn 天王殿), Great Buddha’s Hall (dà xióng bǎo diàn 大雄宝殿), Guanyin Hall (guān yīn diàn 观音殿), Sermon Hall (shuō fǎ táng 说法堂), and Depositary of Buddhist Texts (cáng jīng lóu 藏经楼). These five halls are lining on the axle wire, together with the front and the back screen wall (zhào bì 照壁). All the halls are wide and of primitive simplicity. The upturned eaves are with the unique characteristics of the Qing style. The halls make a distinction between the important one and the lesser one. All of them are well-proportioned.

In the temple, there are two Bell Tower opposite to each other. Both of them are with triple eaves. In the tower, there is a bronze bell, weighs more than 4500 kilos. There are more than 300 statues of Buddha in the temple, some are made of wood, some are made of steel, and some are made of earth. While for its origin, some can traced back to the Liang Dynasty (liáng dài 梁代), some are from the Tang (táng 唐) and Song dynasties (sòng 宋), and some are from the Qing Dynasty. Among them the most valuable one is the statue of Skanda (wéi tuó 韦驮). It is molded by Master Benyuan (běn yuán fǎ shī 本圆法师) in 1829.The carvings of the boots, armature, and the hammer are delicate and are with exquisite workmanship.

Wenshu Temple
Location: Wenshuyuan Street (wén shū yuàn jiē 文殊院街), Chengdu City
Admission fee: CNY 5
Opening hours: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Transportation: you can take bus No. 16, 55, 64, and get off at Wenshu Temple