Jinsheng Temple

[Photo/hk.plm.org.cn]

Located at the Suma Bay at the Liandao Island in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, the Jinsheng Temple is named after Kim Gyo-gak (김교각, 金乔觉, 696-794), Jin Qiaojue in Chinese, a Silla (Korea) prince turned Buddhist monk in ancient China.

Legend has it that Silla prince Kim Gyo-gak got interested in Buddhism during his visit to China under the Tang Dynasty and became a monk when he returned to Silla.

In 719, Kim Gyo-gak came to China from the Eastern China Sea, went through the Yingyou Gate, climbed the Yingyou Mount (today's Liandao Island), and arrived to the Mount Jiuhua in Anhui province to cultivate himself.

Kim Gyo-gak died in the mountain in 794. Monks in the temple he lived believe Ksitigarbha was reincarnated in him as his corpse did not deteriorate for three years.

Today, the Silla prince rests in a pagoda at the Dizang Temple on Mount Jiuhua, which thereafter became the sacred site of Ksitigarbha and one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism.