Hsuan Tsang Chinese Buddhist Temple and Monastery, Kolkata加尔各答玄奘寺

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

India · West Bengal · Kolkata · Adarsha Nagar, West Chowbagha, Kolkata 700100; includes a cemetery and community hall

First built

1968 · A monastery of Chinese Buddhism; the compound includes a cemetery, community hall, and library

Overview

Hsuan Tsang Monastery was founded in 1968 in Adarsha Nagar, southeast of Kolkata, as a monastery of Chinese Buddhism, named after the Tang-dynasty monk Xuanzang, who traveled to India in search of the Dharma — a name carrying the symbolic meaning of Chinese Buddhism's return to its Indian homeland. The compound is comparatively large, including a cemetery, a community hall, and a library, and is the principal site for funerary rites and collective commemoration among Kolkata's Chinese community; in a city where temples are mostly small rooms on a second floor or rooftop, Hsuan Tsang Monastery is one of the few Chinese religious sites with an independent, complete compound of its own. Its nature must be honestly noted: this is a Buddhist monastery, not a Daoist institution; but its combined functions as cemetery and community center mean that it plays a role in the community's ritual life far exceeding that of a single sect, and it is especially busy during the Qingming and Zhongyuan festivals. Kolkata also has other Buddhist sites, such as the Calcutta Chinese Buddhist Temple, founded in 1962 (according to one account, 1972).

Highlights

• A monastery of Chinese Buddhism founded in 1968
• Named after the Tang-dynasty pilgrim-monk Xuanzang
• The compound includes a cemetery, community hall, and library
• One of the few Chinese religious sites in Kolkata with an independent compound
• A Buddhist monastery, not a Daoist institution