Wenshu Pavilion

Wenshu Monastery is the best-preserved Buddhist temple in downtown Chengdu, identified by its traditional wooden halls, red walls, and grey-tiled roofs laid out along a central axis. While the site dates back to the Sui Dynasty, its current name and reputation stem from the late seventeenth century, when an ascetic monk named Cidu lived in a simple hut on the grounds. When Cidu was cremated in sixteen eighty-one, onlookers reported that his smoke formed the image of the Bodhisattva Manjushri—known in Chinese as Wenshu.