Jingzhou Tienv Nunnery

In a quiet alley west of Jiangling Middle School, along Sanyi Street in the ancient city of Jingzhou, stands the Tienv Nunnery. This active nunnery, covering eight hundred square meters, began in 629 AD during the Tang Dynasty. Its origin lies in a crucible of molten metal. When the metallurgy official Sun Kun was unjustly imprisoned, his two daughters threw themselves into an active iron-smelting furnace to prove his innocence. Their bodies fused with the liquid iron, cooling into two statues. Moved by this sacrifice, the Emperor freed their father and ordered the construction of the Tienv Shrine, which later became a Buddhist nunnery.

Inside the Daxiong Palace, visitors can touch this history. The two cast-iron statues of the sisters, standing ninety and one hundred and thirty-seven centimeters tall, remain as worn, ambiguous human figures. Their cold, dark surfaces carry the weight of centuries. Nearby, a stone monument over two meters tall stands inside the Mountain Gate. On its back, one can trace the deep grooves of the Tienv Monastery Stele Record, composed in the early Ming Dynasty by Zhu Zhi, the Prince of Liao, who rebuilt the temple.

The nunnery survived waves of violence. In 1545, workers rebuilt the halls under the Jiajing Emperor. In 1940, artillery fire from the Japanese Thirteenth Army shattered the blue-tiled roofs and white-plastered walls. In the mid-to-late 20th century, when the nunnery faced destruction, the resident nun, Abbess Hongfa, saved the iron sisters. In the dead of night, she secretly dragged and hid the heavy metal figures, preserving them before the buildings became a primary school.

Today, the red walls and mature trees shelter a quiet sanctuary. The complex preserves memories of sacred relics, including sixty grains of sarira and a copy of the Lotus Sutra written in human blood. The modern poet Li Ji found his final inspiration here, writing his posthumous poem Jingjiang Tienv about the sisters. The monastery stands as a physical record of survival, where the scent of incense mixes with the memory of iron and ash.