Baima Temple in Luoyang

The Baima Temple, or White Horse Temple, in Luoyang was the first government-funded temple built after Buddhism was introduced into China in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The temple once housed the earliest Sanskrit Buddhist scripture introduced to China, which was written on pattra leaves, and its Clear Cool Terrace served as the earliest scripture translation workshop. It is also where the Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters was translated into Chinese, the first Chinese version of a Buddhist scripture, and where the first Han monk, Zhu Shixing, was initiated into Buddhism. This is why the temple is honored as the ancestral temple and the place of origin of Chinese Buddhism.

It is recorded that Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty assigned special envoys in AD 64 to India in search of Buddhist scriptures. On their way, the envoys came across two eminent Indian monks, Kā?yapamāta?ga and Dharmaratna, and invited them to China to preach Buddhism. The team returned to Luoyang, the capital then, with white horses carrying Buddhist sutras and statues on their backs, so the emperor had a temple built and named it Baima Temple in honor of the accomplishment. Later, a couple of other eminent monks from the Western Regions came to the temple and translated Buddhist scriptures here, making it the well-deserved "first scripture translation workshop" in China. It was from here that Buddhism spread to the Korean Peninsular, Japan, and Southeast Asia and further to Europe and America, and the Baima Temple therefore became a place worshipped by Buddhists around the world.

Since the end of the 20th century, the governments of Thailand, India, and Myanmar have successively built Buddhist halls at the Baima Temple, turning it into the world's only international temple embracing the styles of China and the three countries.

洛陽(yáng)白馬寺

白馬寺位于河南省洛陽(yáng)市，始建于東漢時(shí)期，是佛教傳入中國(guó)后興建的第一座官辦寺院，占地約4萬(wàn)平方米，有大小建筑百余間。最早傳入中國(guó)的梵文佛經(jīng)《貝葉經(jīng)》收藏于白馬寺，最早的譯經(jīng)道場(chǎng)在白馬寺的清涼臺(tái)，第一本漢文佛經(jīng)《四十二章經(jīng)》在白馬寺譯出，第一位漢族僧人朱士行受戒于白馬寺。因此，白馬寺被尊稱為“祖庭”“釋源”，即祖師之庭院、佛教之發(fā)源。

據(jù)記載，公元64年，漢明帝遣特使赴天竺求佛法，途中他們遇到印度高僧?dāng)z摩騰和竺法蘭，便請(qǐng)二位高僧東赴中國(guó)弘法布教。一行人用白馬馱載佛經(jīng)、佛像回到國(guó)都洛陽(yáng)之后，漢明帝敕令在洛陽(yáng)興建僧院，為紀(jì)念白馬馱經(jīng)，取名“白馬寺”。之后，又有多位西方高僧來(lái)到白馬寺譯經(jīng)，這里成為當(dāng)之無(wú)愧的中國(guó)“第一譯經(jīng)道場(chǎng)”。佛教由此傳播到朝鮮、日本和東南亞，在亞洲得到普及，后來(lái)又進(jìn)入歐美，白馬寺因此成為世界各地佛教信徒參拜的圣地。

20世紀(jì)末以來(lái)，泰國(guó)、印度和緬甸政府相繼出資在白馬寺建造佛殿，使之成為全世界唯一擁有中、印、緬、泰四國(guó)風(fēng)格佛殿的國(guó)際化寺院。