Jingju Temple (Xinyang)

The Jingju Mountain where the Jingju Temple is located was a place for Maitreya Buddha to sermon. It is the birthplace of Tiantai Sect of Buddhism. There were many famous monks here in history of Buddhism. Based on ancient literature "Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty of China", "Dictionary of Chinese Names", "Chinese Temples and Bodhisattvas", "Guangshan County Chronicles" of the Ming, Qing, and Republic of China, respectively, and relevant materials at China and abroad, the famous monks here included but not limited to:

Huisi (515–577 AD) was a monk of the Northern and Southern dynasties, the founder of Jingju Temple, the third ancestor or patriarch of Tiantai Sect in China, and the teacher of Zhiyi, the actual founder of Tiantai Sect (ranked fourth).^[5]

Zhiyi, a monk in Sui dynasty, was the heir of Huisi and the actual founder of the Tiantai sect. He was known as "Tiantai Buddha". According to the Dictionary of Chinese Names, Zhiyi's family surname was Chen, and his style name was De'an. He lost his parents at the age of eight, and became a monk at Guoyuan Temple in Xiangzhou. In the first year of Chen Tianjia (560 AD), at the age of 23, he came to Dasu Mountain in Guangzhou to worship Huisi as his teacher. He learned Zen and practiced the Dharma Samadhi.^[6]