The Jinci Temple complex contains several stele pavilions housing inscribed stone tablets from across more than a thousand years. The most famous is the Tang Emperor Taizong stele — Li Shimin's inscription written in 646 CE commemorating his parents' support for the Tang founding and the role of the Jinci springs in assembling the dynasty's initial armies. The calligraphy is Li Shimin's own, and the stele is considered one of the masterpieces of Tang running-script calligraphy.
Other stele pavilions house Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing inscriptions recording temple restoration, donations, official visits, and poems. Reading them is a form of stratigraphic history — each inscription is a document of its period's language, values, and concerns, laid down in stone rather than paper. Chinese visitors typically spend time at the Tang stele specifically; foreign visitors may find the garden arrangement of the pavilions more rewarding than the inscriptions themselves.