Baima Temple

Baima Temple	Baima Temple

Baima (White Horse) Temple is situated in the east of Luoyang City, Henan Province, and is the first Chinese place where Buddhist rites were performed. In 1983, it was designated as one of national key temples in the areas of the Han nationality.
Baima Temple is the earliest place where Buddhist scriptures were translated during the initial stage of dissemination of Buddhist doctrines in China. Here, Kashyapamtanga and Dharmaraksha, two accomplished Indian monks, translated the first Buddhist Scripture into Chinese from Sanskrit: The Sutra in Forty-two Sections Spoken by the Buddha. Afterwards, Dharmakala translated the first commandment into Chinese from Sanskrit: Buddhist Disciplines for Monks. Since then, China has had formal Buddhist disciplines.
Now Baima Temple covers an area of 40,000 square meters. Its main buildings include Heavenly King Hall, Great Buddha Hall, and Main Hall. Among these halls, the Main Hall is the most magnificent one and houses statues of three Buddhas (Maitreya, Prabhutaratna and Sakyamuni) and 18 arhats. At zero o'clock midnight of New Year's Day each year, people always come here to ring the bell.