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White Horse Temple White Horse Temple ( Báimǎ Sì; also White Horse Ministry) was the first Buddhist temple in China, established under the patronage of Emperor Ming in the Eastern Han capital Luoyang in the year 68. White Horse Temple is one of the oldest buddhist temples. It is only 12 kilometers from Luoyang city. According to the Book of Later Han history, Emperor Ming was said to have dreamed one night in the year 64 of a golden person standing 20 metres tall and with a radiating white aureola flying from the West. The next day he told his ministers, and the minister Zhong Hu explained to him that he had probably dreamed of the Buddha from India. The emperor then sent a delegation of 18 headed by Cai Yin, Qin Jing and Wang Zun to seek out Buddhism. They returned from Afghanistan with an image of Gautama Buddha, the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters and two eminent monks. The monks names have been variously romanized as Kasyapamatanga and Dharmavanya, Moton and Chufarlan. The next year, the emperor ordered the construction of the White Horse Temple three li east of the capital Luoyang, to remember the horse that carried back the sutras. It was China‘s first Buddhist temple. Notably, the emperor ordered the suffix 寺 (pinyin si) to be used in the temple‘s name, as a display of respect. Previously, this character had been used to denote ministries of government. In later periods, all temples came to use this character in their name and it was dropped from the names of government ministries. As a result, the temple‘s name is sometimes translated as White Horse Ministry, a translation true to the time. However, White Horse Temple is the correct, literal reading to modern Chinese people. The first version of the Chinese Sutra of Forty-two Sections (四十二章經) was produced within the temple. The temple then increased in importance as Buddhism grew within China, and spread to Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The introduction of Buddhism in China was also a significant influence on Chinese morals, thought and ethics. The temple is located within Han and Wei Dynasty Luoyang, which lies approximately 12km east of modern Luoyang, in Henan province.      Photo Album of Henan