Temple Guardian Gods of Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty

摘要

Previous studies of the guardian gods of Chinese Zen Buddhist temples have concentrated on such deities as Qilang Daquan and Cishan Zhangdadi. But from examination of temple records and other historical sources, we discover that other guardian deities such as Zhouxuan Lingwang and Huode Zhenjun were also venerated. Moreover, Huaguang Dadi was also sometimes worshipped along with the previously mentioned deities. It is probable that all of these deities were also brought to Japan as temple guardian gods.