The Wenshu (Bodhisattva Manjusri) Monastery is situated on Wenshu Yuan Street in the north of Chengdu city. It is one of the famous Buddhist establishments in Sichuan Province. Formerly, the monastery was called Miaoyuanta Monastery and Xinxiangsi Temple in the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty respectively. According to a legend recorded in documents, there was a great fire that destroyed the whole monastery, only the ten steel made god statues and the two old trees left intact. In 1681, a monk named Cidu came to the monastery’s ruin. He built a small cottage for practicing asceticism. It is said that during the cremation of Cidu, the red sparks of the flame cohered into an image of Bodhisattva Manjusri. The statue prevailed for a long time. People thought that Cidu was the incarnation of Bodhisattva Manjusri. Since then, the monastery has been called as Wenshu Monastery. During the years between 1697 and 1706, by the donation from officials, the army and civilians, the Wenshu Monastery was successfully rebuilt.
The Wenshu Monastery is divided into five temples, which there are long corridors linked to one another. Large bells and drums are placed on monastery’s the east and west ends, prayers and guest rooms are arranged according to the symmetric principle, i.e. the numbers and the sizes of these rooms are the same. The structure of the whole monastery consists of stone and wooden materials, the pilasters are carved with the images of animals, windows here are having many beautiful patterns. These are very valuable things for studying in Chinese architecture during the Qing Dynasty. In the scripture hall collects about 10,000 Buddhist classics.
A lot of relics can be found in the Wenshu Monastery. About 300 Buddhist statues made of steel, wood and stone with life-like appearances and eye-catching postures. There displays a calligraphy dedicated to the monastery by the Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty in 1702.
