Xīnchāng

Xinchang lies among the hills of western Jiangxi. On Dong Mountain north of the county town stands a monastery founded by the Tang monk Liangjie, a source of the Caodong school of Chan Buddhism. Streams and old paths lead through the wooded mountains to the temple, where generations of monks taught and practised.

The monastery was damaged at the end of the Yuan and rebuilt under the Ming. In the Chongzhen reign, the local scholar Dai Guoshi helped restore it and invited the monk Jingcong to become abbot. Monks gathered again from distant places, renewing the community. In 1672, under the Qing, it received the name Puli Temple, by which the mountain monastery became known.