Nanhua Temple, about 25 kilometres south of the city in a narrow river valley, is one of the most important Buddhist sites in China. It was the home monastery of Huineng, the sixth and most influential patriarch of Chan Buddhism — the tradition that became Zen in Japan. Huineng's teaching that enlightenment could be sudden and direct rather than gradual and scholarly transformed Buddhist practice across East Asia, and this is where he lived and taught for the last decades of his life.
The temple complex has been rebuilt several times since its founding in 502 AD, and the current buildings are largely of Song and later dynasty construction. Huineng's mummified body is displayed in the main hall in a glass case with a gold-painted exterior shell — a sobering and strangely moving sight. The setting, in the forested hills with a small river running through the grounds, has retained enough of its original character to feel like a place of genuine practice rather than a museum. The monastery is still active; arrive early to see morning prayers.