Xuanzang Temple Introduction
Continuing west along the Circular Lake Road for about 4.8 kilometers, you can reach Hsuan Tsang Temple. Master Hsuan Tsang was a high monk of the Tang Dynasty who, realizing the significant differences among the Buddhist texts already translated at the time, aimed to seek the true meaning of the Buddha's teachings. He disregarded the prohibitions of the time and undertook immense challenges to travel to India for scriptures, spending seventeen years abroad before returning to China with 657 texts and collaborating with his disciples to translate 75 of them into 1,335 volumes, making an outstanding contribution to the development of Buddhism in China. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese stole Master Hsuan Tsang's top bone relic from Nanjing and enshrined it at Kannon-ji Temple in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. In 1955, the relic was brought to Taiwan and temporarily enshrined at Hsuan Guang Temple by Sun Moon Lake. After the completion of Hsuan Tsang Temple in November 1965, the relic was then enshrined there. Hsuan Tsang Temple is built in a Tang-style architecture, featuring green tiles and red columns, simple and unadorned, set in a tranquil environment that embodies the elegance of a Chinese garden. It faces Sun Moon Lake in the front and is nestled against Qingshan Mountain in the back. Landscape consultants consider this temple occupies a "Qinglong Playing with Pearls" auspicious site, making it the best location for enshrining Master Hsuan Tsang's relic. The Hsuan Tsang Cultural Relics Memorial Hall has been opened for public viewing since March 28, 2014.
