Why Modi visited Daxingshan Temple and Ci’en Temple

Ci'en Temple is now a hotspot for tourists throughout the world.[Photo from the Internet]

Situated in the business quarter of southern Xi'an, Daxingshan Temple is a pure and peaceful Buddhist space in the prosperous metropolis. Originally built in 265-289 in the Jin Dynasty (265-420), this temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in China and a birthplace of Chinese Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana).

Tantric Buddhism was introduced to China by three Indian monks in Kaiyuan reign of the Tang Dynasty (713-741). All of them once expounded the Buddhism text and guided the Buddhist practice in Daxingshan Temple. Moreover, many Indian monks and students translated Buddhist sutras and promulgated Buddhist doctrines in this temple in the Tang Dynasty.

According to Chinese experts, Modi visited the two temples because their cultural background. The both temple showed the history of cultural exchanges between China and India.

Jiang Jingkui, the head of South Asia Research Center in Beijing University, told the Beijing News in a recent interview that Xi'an is the merger point of the culture from China and India.

“Modi plans to visit the Terracotta as well as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. This will be a good and important signal. It will be helpful to improve the cultural exchange and cooperation between the both countries. ” Jiang said.