Yongguo Temple in Yongping County, Dali

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Yongguo Temple (永国寺) is located midway up a pristine forested mountain behind Shanyang Town (杉阳镇), Yongping County (永平县), Dali (大理), Yunnan Province. To the lower left lies Bonan Town (博南镇), and to the lower right is Shanyang Town. The temple has a long history and sits along the essential Bonan Ancient Road (博南古道). It was originally founded during the early Ming Dynasty and was first known as Ningxi Chan Temple (宁西禅寺).

Overview

This ancient temple thrived during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The renowned Ming Dynasty scholar Yang Shen (杨升庵), after being demoted and exiled to guard the frontier at Yongchang Garrison (永昌卫), frequently traveled along the Bonan Ancient Road and spent considerable time residing at the temple, writing poetry and reading. In his memory, locals later built the Yang Shen Shrine (杨升庵祠) on Bonan Mountain (博南山) to honor this once-disgraced champion scholar from Xindu, Sichuan (四川新都).

A famous couplet was written by Zhao Fan (赵藩) in his honor:

“Calling himself the man of Bonan Mountain, exchanging poems and thoughts with Master Zhang from afar;
This place is close to Ningxi Chan Temple, where the heroic soul lingers with Prince Li Jin.”

Historical Context

The “Prince Li Jin” mentioned in Zhao Fan’s couplet refers to the well-known Ming loyalist general Li Dingguo (李定国). During the late Ming Dynasty, when Emperor Yongli (永历皇帝) and Li Dingguo fled Wu Sangui (吴三桂) and escaped to Myanmar, they spent a prolonged period in hiding at Yongguo Temple.

According to a preserved restoration stele inside the temple, Li Dingguo led peasant rebel forces and fought battles in this area while retreating with Emperor Yongli into western Yunnan. A 1912 inscription written by Zhao Fan from Jianchuan (剑川) and calligraphed by Ouyang Ju (欧阳榘) reads: “The Yongli emperor and his ministers offered a wooden plaque with the characters ‘Ningxi Chan Temple’ (宁西禅寺), which still hangs in the main hall; the stone plaque ‘Throne of Vairocana’ (毗卢宝座) retains only the middle two characters.”

Later, the renowned scholar Li Genyuan (李根源) from Tengchong (腾冲) restored the missing characters “Throne” (毗座), adding small annotations beside the large characters to explain the restoration. To honor both the emperor and the prince, the temple was renamed Yongguo Temple (永国寺), taking one character from each of their titles. Although the original wooden plaque of Ningxi Chan Temple has been lost, the restored “Throne of Vairocana” inscription remains preserved in the temple to this day.

Temple Significance

Legend holds that Yongguo Temple once enjoyed great religious popularity, primarily due to its famous giant bronze Buddha statue. According to Li Xiaoyou’s account in Yunnan Overview (《云南概况》), in the section “Yongguo Temple of Yongping,” the temple was located on the mountainside of Bonan Mountain (博南山), with five courtyards, towering halls, expansive platforms, and winding corridors.

Its architectural scale was impressive, but the true marvel was a massive bronze Buddha statue in the main hall. This hall had three bays, lofty and grand, comparable in stature to Yuan Tong Temple (圆通寺) in Kunming (昆明). The statue, representing the Buddha of Reception (接引佛), was entirely cast in bronze and stood over twenty feet tall, rivaling or even surpassing the famed Giant Vajra (丈八金刚). The Buddha stood upon a lotus pedestal, with a single foot over three feet long. The lotus base, also made of bronze, measured six to seven feet wide and over four feet high, painted in vivid colors and covered in gold leaf.

It is said that over 20,000 jin (approximately 10,000 kg) of raw copper were melted to cast the statue—evidence of the advanced metallurgical skills in Yunnan at the time.

Cultural and Religious Influence

Despite being located in a remote southwest frontier, Yongguo Temple attracted pilgrims and worshippers from afar. Venerable Master Xuyun (虚云和尚), a famous monk from Hunan (湖南) and later abbot of Jizushan (鸡足山), once visited Yongguo Temple to lecture on the Dharma. In his travel notes, he praised the temple’s grandeur:

“This Buddha statue is the most magnificent in the country. Among all the famous temples across the land, not one has a Buddha with such solemn grandeur.”

Master Xuyun, who worshipped thousands of Buddhas across countless sacred mountains in his lifetime, made this judgment with considerable knowledge and credibility.

Present-Day Remains

Unfortunately, with the passage of time and dynastic changes, the once world-renowned bronze Buddha of Yongguo Temple has long since been destroyed. Today, the temple lies mostly in ruins, with only fragments of walls remaining. The original gate still stands, bearing the wear of wind and rain and silently witnessing the passage of centuries.