Daming Temple

Da Ming Temple, located on a hill-slope in the north – western suburb of Yang Zhou. It was firstly built during the reign of Da Ming of the southern Song Dynasty, thus was named Da Ming.

Legend has it that in the Liang Dynasty, Bodhidharma, an Indian monk, had rested in this cave on his way to the Shaolin Temple after being neglected in Jinling(Nanjing), that is why it is called the Dharma Cave. The Dharma Cave is dome-shaped, and there are several inlaid stele grooves and shrines around the cave walls. After arriving in Luoyang, Dharma lived in Shaolin Temple on Mount Songshan. He worked hard to study Buddhism and eventually became the father of Zen Buddhism.