Nanhua is the Chan monastery at Caoxi, south of Shaozhou city, where tradition says the sixth patriarch Huineng (born at Xinxing, see the Xinzhou record) taught after 677 and where his preserved body is kept in the patriarch's hall (the campaign board says it sits lacquered; we could not check the object).
By our recollection the temple was founded in the early sixth century and took the name Nanhua under the first Song emperors; neither point is checked. The Chan schools of the Song all claim descent from Huineng, so the temple's standing is spiritual and the pilgrimage to it is old. We have no source for what the house held in 1200 (estates, tenants, mills, tolls) or for who its abbot was.
By our recollection the Yunmen school has its own house at Yunmen in Ruyuan county, in the same prefecture; we did not check it.
Who holds it
- Title
- Abbot of the Nanhua temple
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Not known. In the Song the abbots of the great public monasteries were chosen with the prefect's approval (general knowledge; we did not check it for Nanhua).
Overlord
The prefect of Shaozhou, as for every Song monastery
What it holds
- The temple precinct at Caoxi and the keeping of the patriarch's body
- Whatever estates a public monastery of the circuit held: not known
How it was acquired
By tradition from the early sixth century, with Huineng's teaching after 677; Song grants not known.
Allies and rivals
The Shaozhou prefect and the Guangnan East commissioner are its civil superiors. The other great houses of the circuit are Guangxiao and Liurong at Guangzhou (see their records).
How things stand that morning
In ordinary order. No event is recorded for the winter. The Qingyuan ban strikes at Zhu Xi's school and has nothing to do with Chan.
Wealth
Pilgrim gifts and the estates of a public monastery; no source gives its holdings.
Military
None. No guard of armed monks is recorded.
Places of note
- Nanhua temple: Chan monastery and the patriarch's hall at Caoxi
Where the sources disagree
- Board "nanhua-monastery" is placed at 24.97 N, 113.60 E, about eighteen kilometres north of Shaozhou city. The temple stands at Caoxi about sixteen kilometres south of the city, near 24.665 N, 113.634 E by our recollection of the modern site; we have drawn it there.
- The campaign board's "taproot of every Chan lineage in the empire" repeats the schools' own claim to descend from Huineng. Keep it as tradition, not as a dated fact.
Evidence: No page fetched deals with Nanhua. The tradition of Huineng, the campaign board note and our recollection are all we have; the foundation date, the Song name and the coordinates are unchecked recollection.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A small disc at the temple. Its lands are unknown and are not drawn.
Primary sources for Southern Song
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Continuation of the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, Bi Yuan (畢沅), completed by Feng Jiwu after his death (late eighteenth century, finished after 1801, from Song and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's continuous month-by-month chronicle of the Song and Yuan centuries, compiled from the Song shi, the Liao, Jin and Yuan histories, Li Tao, Li Xinchuan and other Song sources. Read online
- Outline and Details of Two Reigns (thirteenth century, after 1224). A Song outline-and-detail chronicle of exactly the two reigns around 1200, drawn from the court's daily records. Read online
- Annals of the Western Xia, Wu Guangcheng (吳廣成) (1825 to 1827, compiled from Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan sources). A Qing scholar's year-by-year reconstruction of Tangut history from the Chinese histories, since the Xia left no surviving annals of their own in Chinese. Read online
- History of the Song, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345, from the Song veritable records, state histories and the Huiyao). The official history of the Southern Song, which ruled from Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1200. Read online
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Jin, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office, with Ouyang Xuan among the chief compilers (1343 to 1344, from the Jin veritable records and the Jin national history). The official history of the Jurchen empire that ruled north China and Manchuria in 1200. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Record of the Great Jin State, Attributed to Yuwen Maozhao (宇文懋昭); the attribution is doubtful (preface dated 1234; probably assembled in the Southern Song from Song and Jin material, with later accretions). A Song-side history of the Jin, with annals for each emperor and chapters on institutions, customs, the capitals and the Jurchen way of life. Read online
12 more in the sources library for South China.
Sources and studies
- Wikipedia, "Nanhua Temple" (pointer only, not fetched)
- Wikipedia, "Huineng" (pointer only, not fetched)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.