洛阳白马寺
白马寺位于河南省洛阳市，始建于东汉时期，是佛教传入中国后兴建的第一座官办寺院，占地约4万平方米，有大小建筑百余间。最早传入中国的梵文佛经《贝叶经》收藏于白马寺，最早的译经道场在白马寺的清凉台，第一本汉文佛经《四十二章经》在白马寺译出，第一位汉族僧人朱士行受戒于白马寺。因此，白马寺被尊称为“祖庭”“释源”，即祖师之庭院、佛教之发源。
据记载，公元64年，汉明帝遣特使赴天竺求佛法，途中他们遇到印度高僧摄摩腾和竺法兰，便请二位高僧东赴中国弘法布教。一行人用白马驮载佛经、佛像回到国都洛阳之后，汉明帝敕令在洛阳兴建僧院，为纪念白马驮经，取名“白马寺”。之后，又有多位西方高僧来到白马寺译经，这里成为当之无愧的中国“第一译经道场”。佛教由此传播到朝鲜、日本和东南亚，在亚洲得到普及，后来又进入欧美，白马寺因此成为世界各地佛教信徒参拜的圣地。
20世纪末以来，泰国、印度和缅甸政府相继出资在白马寺建造佛殿，使之成为全世界唯一拥有中、印、缅、泰四国风格佛殿的国际化寺院。
Baima Temple in Luoyang
The Baima Temple, or White Horse Temple, in Luoyang was the first government-funded temple built after Buddhism was introduced into China in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The temple once housed the earliest Sanskrit Buddhist scripture introduced to China, which was written on pattra leaves, and its Clear Cool Terrace served as the earliest scripture translation workshop. It is also where the Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters was translated into Chinese, the first Chinese version of a Buddhist scripture, and where the first Han monk, Zhu Shixing, was initiated into Buddhism. This is why the temple is honored as the ancestral temple and the place of origin of Chinese Buddhism.
It is recorded that Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty assigned special envoys in AD 64 to India in search of Buddhist scriptures. On their way, the envoys came across two eminent Indian monks, Kāśyapamātaṅga and Dharmaratna, and invited them to China to preach Buddhism. The team returned to Luoyang, the capital then, with white horses carrying Buddhist sutras and statues on their backs, so the emperor had a temple built and named it Baima Temple in honor of the accomplishment. Later, a couple of other eminent monks from the Western Regions came to the temple and translated Buddhist scriptures here, making it the well-deserved "first scripture translation workshop" in China. It was from here that Buddhism spread to the Korean Peninsular, Japan, and Southeast Asia and further to Europe and America, and the Baima Temple therefore became a place worshipped by Buddhists around the world.
Since the end of the 20th century, the governments of Thailand, India, and Myanmar have successively built Buddhist halls at the Baima Temple, turning it into the world's only international temple embracing the styles of China and the three countries.
