Next to the vegetable fields in the rural areas of Shanghai, there hides a luxurious temple!

This is the majestic Zhuangyan Temple located in Dongtuan Village, Qingpu District. It stands tall among the vegetable fields of the nearby villages, being both solemn and down-to-earth. Its dining hall can also make use of local ingredients to create healthy and delicious vegetarian meals, which are available for 10 yuan per serving, all-you-can-eat. Unfortunately, because the dining hall only has two working aunties, it is generally only open to temple personnel, unless you are like me, who has traveled from afar and just happens to arrive at the 11 o'clock mealtime. Zhuangyan Temple was originally built more than 700 years ago during the Yuan Dynasty, formerly known as Puyang Wang Temple. It is said that beneath the divine seat in the rear hall lies the tomb of a Puyang King, but it is unclear which one. During the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty, a person named Zhang Tinghui funded the construction of two large halls, front and back, and since then, the temple's incense offering has become increasingly prosperous, and during the Daoguang era, it gathered hundreds of monks who practiced both Chan and Pure Land Buddhism. However, the ancient-looking buildings you see in the temple today are not the ones passed down from ancient times, but were restored after 1997. This is because in the 1960s and 1970s, the old buildings were all demolished, leaving only two ancient ginkgo trees with intertwined canopies preserved. They cling tightly to each other, sharing a brotherly bond, and have weathered more than 500 years of storms side by side! Despite being a newly built temple, the grandeur of its architecture, the precision of its structure, and the elegance of its bas-reliefs are in no way inferior to other ancient temples. What's more, the masters here are also very interesting. They have spent more than a decade visiting many famous mountains and ancient temples across the country on foot. As the ancients said, 'Read thousands of books and travel thousands of miles.' Compared to spending all day in the temple reciting scriptures, surely their journey has brought them many new insights!