Xianglin Jingyuan Temple is located in front of Dacheng An, adjacent to Yueling An and the walking path leading to Fayu Temple. It was originally established by the monk Miaoquan during the Qing Daoguang period. Over time, the temple fell into disrepair and was later rebuilt by the monk Jue Fan during the Guangxu period. At the beginning of the liberation, monks De Hui and De Ming resided there. After the land reform, both monks and laypeople lived together in the temple. However, after 1960, the monks left, and the temple was repurposed as a local power plant. In recent years, the Buddhist Association of Putuo Mountain has carried out renovations on the temple.
The reconstructed Xianglin An now has over 30 halls with a construction area of more than 600 square meters. The main hall features a golden plaque in the center with the words ‘Jile Bao Dian’, which still shines as brightly as ever. The main hall enshrines the ‘Western Three Saints’, with ‘Amitabha Buddha’ in the center, a plaque reading ‘Xiang Guang Zhuang Yan’ above, ‘Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’ on the left, and ‘Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva’ on the right. According to the head monk, Shi Jing, from the ‘Sadhu Flower Sutra’, it is said that there was a wheel-turning sage king in the past, whose eldest prince was Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, the second prince was Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, the third prince was Manjushri Bodhisattva, and the eighth prince was Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. Later, the wheel-turning sage king practiced and became Buddha, known as Amitabha Buddha of the Western Pure Land, with Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta as his father’s attendants on the left and right.
