It has China’s first official temple, China’s first Buddhist pagoda, and China’s first Buddhist temple.
Introduction White Horse Temple was built in the 11th year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 68). It was the first temple built by the government after Buddhism was introduced to China. It has always been regarded as the "ancestral hall" and "source of Buddha" of Chinese Buddhism.
It is said that the name of the temple comes from the allusion of "White Horse Chanting Sutra". White Horse Temple has gone through wars and has been rebuilt several times. Today's White Horse Temple is not large, and it is no problem to walk around the entire scenic spot. Visitors enter the temple through the mountain gate. The mountain gate was built in the Ming Dynasty, and the stone horses on both sides of the gate are relics from the Song Dynasty. There are five major temples in the temple, located on a central axis. The main temple is the second largest Buddhist temple and the main place for spiritual practice. The third main hall, the Main Hall, contains the "treasure of the temple" of the White Horse Temple, which is the only remaining statue of the Yuan Dynasty in China.
There are 23 "zhuqianqi" statues from the Yuan Dynasty in the hall, all made of silk and with different shapes. The quantity of each side is only 3 to 5 kilograms. It has not been repaired for more than 700 years since the Yuan Dynasty, and the color is still as new. There are more than 40 stone tablets existing in Baima Temple since the Tang Dynasty. Among them, "The Records of the Ancestral Court of Luojing Baima Temple" written by Zhao Meng_, a calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty, is the most precious (on the east side of the mountain gate). There are also three cemeteries worth seeing in the scenic area: the tombs of two Indian monks, Moten and Zhu Falan (on the east and west sides of the mountain gate), and the tomb of Prime Minister Di Xu Renjie. But there is also a saying: What is buried in the "Emperor's Tomb" is not the emperor, but Wu Zetian's "true face". Xue Huaiyi once presided over Baima Temple.
About 200 meters southeast of the mountain gate, there is a Yunqi Pagoda, which was first built in the Eastern Han Dynasty and rebuilt in the Jin Dynasty. It is the first pagoda in China and one of the few ancient Jin Dynasty buildings in the Central Plains. It is also the first bhikkhu monastery (nun) in China. Now, a "World Buddhist Temple Expo Area" has been built next to the White Horse Temple, displaying Buddhist temples from India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Japan, South Korea and other countries.