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Home China Travel Guide Luoyang Luoyang Attractions White Horse Temple

Located 12 kilometers east of Luoyang city, the White Horse Temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in China and is renowned as the cradle of Chinese Buddhism. Although it is neither the largest nor the most beautiful Buddhism monument in China, this temple, with the large number of Buddhism items housed there, is well worth a trip.

History states that the site was originally used by the second Han Emperor, Liu Zhuang, as a summer resort and for study. Legend has it that in 68AD, when Buddhism reached its height in India, two Indian monks on the back of a white horse brought the first Buddhist script to Luoyang. The emperor, a devout Buddhist believer, built the temple to house the scriptures and named it the White Horse Temple. It is said that there were once thousands of monks living in the temple, which was also used as a refugee sanctuary during the social turmoil of Wang Mang during the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The two monks who brought the scriptures from India are buried at the temple. Many monks from outside China have visited the temple, and many have spent the rest of their time in the temple. The famous Tang Dynasty monk, Xuanzhang, started his 17-year-long pilgrimage trip to Indian from the temple. After returning, Xuanzhang became the abbot of the White Horse Temple, where he disseminated the scriptures of Buddhism for the rest of his life.