Wenshu Monastery (Chengdu)

Best Preserved Buddhist Monastery In Chengdu, With A Celebrated Teahouse And Vegetarian Hall · Chengdu, Sichuan

The best-preserved Buddhist monastery in Chengdu and one of the most pleasant places in the city to spend a slow morning. A temple has stood on the site since the Tang dynasty; it was rebuilt in the 1690s after a fire, and named for the monk Cidu, whose meditation was said to have been lit by a flame in which the bodhisattva Manjushri appeared. Five halls run along a central axis behind a screen wall, their courtyards planted with ginkgo and bamboo and thick with incense smoke, and the monastery holds a serious collection of relics and calligraphy, including painted scrolls and a jade Buddha brought from Burma. What makes it distinctive is that it is not only a monument: monks chant in the halls, families come to pray and burn incense, and the enormous teahouse in the grounds fills every afternoon with Chengdu residents drinking jasmine tea, playing cards and getting their ears cleaned beneath the trees. A well-known vegetarian restaurant occupies one wing, and the lanes outside are lined with snack shops and a pedestrian street of restored buildings.

Wenshu Monastery, 66 Wenshuyuan Street, Qingyang District, Chengdu, Sichuan, China

Daily, about 8:00-17:00, free with no booking required; the teahouse stays busy through the afternoon.

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