"A drum-shaped rock calls practitioners to a mountain of blood-written scriptures and ancient stone calligraphy"
Mt. Gu Shan
Gushan, Fujian, China
Gu Shan, Drum Mountain, rises from the eastern suburbs of Fuzhou in Fujian Province, its summit crowned by a rock that resonates like a drum in wind and rain. Yongquan Temple, the Gushing Spring Temple, has maintained Chan Buddhist practice on this mountain for over 1,200 years. The temple guards an extraordinary collection: 27,900 ancient scripture volumes, over 20,000 woodblock printing boards, and sutras written in monks' own blood. Over 200 stone calligraphic inscriptions line the mountain's cliff faces, carved by scholars and officials across centuries.
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Quick Facts
Location
Gushan, Fujian, China
Coordinates
26.0529, 119.3781
Last Updated
Mar 29, 2026
Learn More
Yongquan Temple on Gu Shan is one of the most important Chan Buddhist monasteries in southeastern China, with a continuous history from the Tang Dynasty. The temple's collections of ancient scriptures, woodblock printing boards, blood scriptures, and the mountain's stone calligraphy constitute an irreplaceable repository of Buddhist and literary culture.
Origin Story
The founding monk Shen Yan was guided to the mountain by a divine omen and discovered a spring gushing from the rock, which he interpreted as the mountain's blessing on his intention to establish a place of Chan practice. The spring gave the temple its name: Yongquan, the Gushing Spring. The mountain's name, Drum Mountain, comes from a large drum-shaped boulder at the summit that resonates in wind and rain, understood as the mountain calling practitioners to the Dharma.
Key Figures
Shen Yan (Ling Feng)
The Tang Dynasty monk who founded Yongquan Temple after discovering the gushing spring. His choice of this mountain as a site for Chan practice established a tradition that has continued for over 1,200 years.
The Min Kingdom rulers
The royal patrons of the Five Dynasties period (909 to 945 CE) whose support enabled the formal establishment and expansion of the temple complex, transforming a hermitage into one of Fujian's most important monasteries.
The blood scripture monks
Anonymous monks across generations who wrote Buddhist sutras using their own blood mixed with ink. Their identities, the periods over which they worked, and the complete contents of their scriptures have not been fully cataloged. What is known is the practice itself: the belief that the Dharma deserved nothing less than one's lifeblood as its medium.
Generations of calligraphers
Scholars, officials, and calligraphers from the Song Dynasty through the Qing who inscribed their work into the mountain's cliff faces, creating an outdoor gallery of Chinese calligraphic art that transforms the mountain into a text.
Spiritual Lineage
Yongquan Temple belongs to the Chan Buddhist tradition of southeastern China, part of the broader lineage of Chinese Chan that traces its origins to Bodhidharma and the Sixth Patriarch Huineng. The temple's role in transmitting Chan lineages in the Min (Fujian) region across the Five Dynasties and Song periods, while not fully documented, represents a significant link in the chain of Buddhist transmission in southern China. The woodblock printing tradition connects the temple to the broader history of Chinese printing technology and textual preservation.
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