Tang Xianzu’s Story | Such Is the Treasure Grove of the Western Heaven

The Western Paradise of Precious Forest is just like this.

Having bid farewell to Dayu, Tang Xianzu continued southward, traveling by water and then taking to the land once he disembarked, eventually reaching Qujiang County in Shaoguan, Guangdong (now Qujiang District). In Qujiang stood a temple known as Nanhua Temple. Tang Xianzu had previously heard of Nanhua Temple from Liu Yingqiu, and when he left Nanjing to assume his post in Xuwén, Guangdong, Liu Yingqiu even entrusted him to pay a visit to Nanhua Temple, to ascertain whether the robe and bowl left behind by the Sixth Patriarch Huineng were still intact.

Nanhua Temple is one of China’s oldest monasteries, first established during the Liang Dynasty of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Upon its completion, Emperor Wu of Liang bestowed upon it the name “Baolin Temple”; later, it was successively renamed Zhongxing Temple and Faquan Temple. In the first year of the Kaibao era of the Song Dynasty (968), Emperor Taizong of Song officially granted it the name “Nanhua Chan Temple,” a designation that has endured to this day. Because the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism propagated the Dharma here, the temple is also known as the “Sixth Patriarch’s Sacred Ground.” With a total building area of over 12,000 square meters, Nanhua Temple comprises a complex of structures, including the Caoxi Gate, the Life‑Releasing Pond, the Baolin Gate, the Hall of the Heavenly Kings, the Great Hero Hall, the Scripture Repository, the Lingzhao Pagoda, and the Hall of the Sixth Patriarch.

Monks walked in procession, the chanting of sutras echoed endlessly, the peaks seemed to gather together, and the ancient trees stood lush and verdant… This was the scene that Tang Xianzu beheld at Nanhua Temple back then, and he could not help but exclaim: “Is this all there is to the sacred forest of the Western Paradise?”

The Zen tradition of the world originates at Baolin. Its roots can be traced back to Baolin in the Western Heavens—that is, Indian Buddhism. After Zen emerged from the Buddha’s silent smile and the offering of a flower at the Vulture Peak Assembly, it was transmitted to China by Bodhidharma. Through five generations of patriarchs, it eventually reached the Baolin Monastery at Caoxi—now known as Nanhua Temple. The sixth patriarch, Huineng, introduced innovative reforms and, at Nanhua, established the Zen school, giving rise to the Five Great Sects: Caodong, Yunmen, Fayuan, Linji, and Weiyang.

Leaving Nanhua Temple, we set sail and drifted southward along the Bei River, passing countless rapids, rocky shoals, and narrow gorges. Tang Xianzu was in high spirits, composing poems for each of these features—indeed, one poem for every rapid or gorge. For example, there was Zigao Rapid, “where mist rises in the evening chill”; Pingtou Rapid, “where only a few travelers pass through”; Xiesa Rapid, “with its sheer cliffs flanking the two gates of heaven”; Fanfengyan Rapid, “whose waters startle even the spring breeze”; Zhenyang Gorge, “where dark streams meet the peaks”; and Damiao Gorge, “nestled amid cloud‑shrouded, verdant mountains,” among others.

“See that? That rock up ahead is called Tanzi Cliff—it looks just like a billiard ball,” the boatman said, turning to introduce it to Tang Xianzu.

“Danzi,” also written as “danwan,” refers to clay pellets, stone balls, iron pellets, and the like used in slingshots. As a child, Tang Xianzu, like other boys, often played with danzi, shooting at birds and taking it for a childhood pastime. Now, upon seeing this Danzi Cliff, he no longer recalls the joy of hunting birds from his youth; instead, he feels himself to be that pitiful bird, helplessly subjected to being pelted by stones, unaware of where his life will end. For this reason, he wrote in his poem:

This lone shadow flies south; the ravine is steep, and travelers are few.

Standing by the Birdmouth Beach, ahead lies the Pearl Isle.

In October, Tang Xianzu arrived in Guangzhou. Known by the abbreviation “Sui,” and also called the “City of Rams” or the “City of Flowers,” it was historically referred to as Renxiao City, Chuting, and other names. As the capital of Guangdong Province, Guangzhou lies in the central-southern part of the province, at the confluence of the Dongjiang, Xijiang, and Beijiang rivers, on the northern edge of the Pearl River Delta, and faces the South China Sea. Since the Qin Dynasty, Guangzhou has served as the administrative center—first as a commandery seat, then as a prefectural capital, and later as a provincial capital. For more than two millennia, it has remained the political, military, economic, cultural, and scientific‑educational hub of Southern China. Beginning in the third century AD, Guangzhou became a principal port on the Maritime Silk Road, and during the Tang and Song dynasties it rose to become China’s largest seaport. In the Ming era, Guangzhou was China’s leading foreign‑trade port and an important stop along the history of the Maritime Silk Road, attracting a large number of foreign visitors. Having journeyed from the north, Tang Xianzu had already beheld the splendor of the imperial capital and experienced life in the secondary capital, Nanjing; now, arriving in this great southern metropolis, he could scarcely help but widen his horizons once again. He composed “Two Poems on Guangzhou,” one of which expresses his awe at the city’s bustling vitality:

By the river, ten thousand households bustle; on the shore, a thousand ships surge.

Such vigorous energy and momentum have long been the hallmark of Guangzhou.