The Nanhua Temple (Nanhua Si) was founded during the time of the North-South Dynasties in 502 AD by an Indian monk named Zhiyao Sanzang who originally named the site Baolin Temple. It received its present name in 968 during the reign of the Song Dynasty Emperor Taizong. The temple is a Buddhist monastery of the Chan School, one of Five Great Schools of Buddhism where Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch of the Chan School of Buddhism, once lived and taught.