Temples stand the test of time

NANJING: Located on a hillslope in the northwestern suburb of Yangzhou, an ancient city in Jiangsu province, Daming Temple boasts a 1,500-year history.

The temple is equally renowned in Japan due to monk Jianzhen, a name familiar to many Chinese and Japanese.

From AD 742 (in the Tang Dynasty), at the invitation of the Japanese, the superior of Daming Temple began venturing across the sea to Japan in a bid to spread Buddhism. After five failures, he finally reached Nara, then the capital of Japan.