Yuantong Temple

Located at the foot of Yuantong Mountain (Luofeng Mountain) in the city proper of Kunming, Yuantong Buddhist Temple is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Kunming and has enjoyed a history of as long as 1,200 years. Yuantong Temple is also the site for the Buddhist associations of Yunnan Province and Kunming City. First established in Yongtai Period of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the temple was originally named “Putuoluo Temple”. “Putuoluo” is the transliteration of the Sanskrit “potalaka” which means “brightness” and is also in other ways translated into “putuo” (like the name of Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang Province) and “potala” (like the name of Potala Palace in Lhasa City, Tibet). According to “Huayan Buddhist Scripture”, Putuoluo is said to be the holy land of Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy); so Yuantong Temple has existed as a Guanyin Temple since the time it was built in the Tang Dynasty.