金乔觉（公元696-794），古新罗国（今韩国）王子，在中国唐朝佛教吸引日韩众多信徒的时尚潮流中，于公元719年出使中国，途径长江，受辽阔盆地、蜿蜒溪流与植被茂密、高耸的九华山峰地形吸引，契合其“雄奇、清秀、滋润、静谧”的修行场所理念，于现化城寺地建寺修行75年，99岁圆寂，后肉身不腐，被信徒视为地藏菩萨的化身，于神光岭建肉身塔供奉。金乔觉以“地狱未空不成佛”的持之以恒精神与“求诸所愿皆满足”的平等向善情怀所完成的一生，至今具有普世意义。
Kim Gyo-gak (A.D. 696-794), a prince of ancient Silla country (current Korea), visited China in A.D. 719 when Buddhism attracted many followers from Japan and Korea in the Tang Dynasty. He went through the Yangtze River and was attracted by the vast basin, winging streams, dense vegetation and towering Jiuhua peaks which maybe agreed with his philosophy of cultivation place “magnificence, comeliness, nourishment and tranquility”, he built a simple temple in the present Huacheng Temple and cultivated himself for 75 years. He passed away at the age of 99, and his flesh body didn’t rot. And he was regarded as incarnation of Ksitigarbha Buddhisattva by his followers who built a flesh body tower in Shenguang Ridge for worshiping him. Kim Gyo-gak adhered to the spirit of perseverance “I will not become a Buddhist until I deliver all living creatures from the hell” and benevolent emotion “May all wishes come true”, these ideas are still of universal significance nowadays.
你知道吗？Do you know?
地藏菩萨（梵语：Ksitigarbha），地是大地，地能担当一切，一切崇山峻岭，万事万物都在地上，比喻菩萨的功德，能为众生而荷担一切难行苦行；藏是含藏、伏藏义。地藏菩萨像大地一样，能含藏种种功德，能引申一切功德，难行苦行，救度众生，故名地藏。地藏王，是因为地藏菩萨化身的九华山地藏比丘出身新罗王族，所以加“王”字以尊称。
Dizang Pusa is called as Ksitigarbha in Sanskrit. The earth can take on everything, including magnificent mountains and precipitous ridges, which are compared to merits of Ksitigarbha that bear various sufferings of Beings. Zang inherits the earth and is of the earth’s merit. Ksitigarbha possesses all kinds of merits just like the earth and liberates all beings from tough austerities. Kim Gyo-gak, as the incarnation of Jiuhuashan Ksitigarbha Buddhisattva, was born in royal family of Silla, so the Chinese character King was added to respect him.
九华山地质公园现存的佛教寺院，最早始建于东晋时期，明清鼎盛时佛寺曾达三四百座。现存104座，其中全国重点寺院9座，安徽省重点寺院30座。另有废弃寺院遗址75处。九华山寺院庙宇围绕化城寺为中心向外辐射拓展。
九华山有9座寺院为汉族地区佛教全国重点寺院。
The oldest extant Buddhist temple in Jiuhuashan Geopark was built in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The temple numbers reached to three hundred to four hundred in the heyday of Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. So far, only 104 temples exist, including 9 national key temples and 30 provincial key temples as well as 75 abandoned temples. Jiuhuashan temples expand around with Huacheng Temple as the center.
Nine temples in Jiuhuashan are the national key temples in Han nationality regions.
Temple Name: Founding Time
Huacheng Temple: the Jin Dynasty (A.D.401)
Flesh Temple: Zhenyuan period in the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 797)
Tiantai Temple: the Song Dynasty
Baisui Palace: Wanli period in the Ming Dynasty ( A.D. 1579)
Qiyuan Temple: the Ming Dynasty
Shangchan Hall: the Ming Dynasty
Ganlu Temple: Kangxi period in the Qing Dynasty (A.D.1667)
Zhantan Forest:Kangxi period in the Qing Dynasty
Huiju Temple: the Late Qing Dynasty
寺庙名称 始建时段
化城寺 晋朝，公元401年
肉身殿 唐代贞元，公元797年
天台寺 宋朝
百岁宫 明代万历，公元1579年
祇园寺 明代
上禅堂 明代
甘露寺 清代康熙，公元1667年
旃檀林 清代康熙年间
慧居寺 清代后期
作为中国佛教四大名山之一的九华山，清净、庄严、神圣。肉身菩萨是九华山佛教的一大特色。九华山佛教圣地有据可查的“肉身菩萨”近20尊，可见9尊。
As one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China, Jiuhuashan is tranquil, solemn and sacred. The Flesh body Bodhisattva is the most typical feature of Jiuhuashan Buddhism. About 20 flesh bodies of Bodhisattvas are recorded in the documents in Jiuhuashan, only 9 of which can be visited.
知识拓展：地处亚热带季风区，气候温和，雨量充沛的九华山为什么能形成众多的肉身？至今是谜。科学家究其原因一是九华山独特的缸葬形式。在缸中放置木炭和石灰，吸收水分殆尽，保持缸内和尸体干燥，并泥浆封缸阻止氧气进入，严防细菌繁殖，制作与保持肉身有了可能。二是去世的菩萨生前的独特修行道涵。他们长年食素不沾荤腥的食材产自九华山，弱碱性的九华山花岗岩土壤、水体出产的食材使他们身体的碱性体质得到加强。在其大限来临（临死）之前，他们十天半月食不沾、水不进，腹肠空空，体内脂肪和水分极少，为死后坐缸蜕变肉身奠定了基础。
More Readings: why have numerous flesh bodies been produced in Jiuhuashan which are featured by the subtropical monsoon climate of warm and rich rainfall? It is still a mystery. Scientists have given some clues: the first reason is the unique vat-burial mode here. The details are to put charcoal and lime in a vat for absorbing water and keeping the vat and corpse dry, and then to seal the vat with mud to prevent oxygen entry and bacterial reproduction; after these, the flesh body is possible to be made and preserved. The second is the unique cultivation virtue of the departed Bodhisattvas. They are vegetarians throughout the year and the food they eat are all from Jiuhuashan where soil and water are of alkalescent produced from granite, and strengthen their alkaline body. They would not take any food or water for ten days or half a month just before death in order to keep their stomach empty with the least fat and water in the body. It is these conditions that provide possibility to form a flesh body in a vat after death.
（2）当冰雪消退，大部分冰川遗迹被大自然抹平消失，当前九华山遗存最典型的就是这三面环以峭壁、呈半圆形剧场形状的九华冰斗。冰斗面积约4平方公里，开口向北，南侧为芙蓉岭、东侧为插霄峰，中部地势平坦，有串珠状溪流蜿蜒穿行。
When the glacier disappeared, some of the glacial remains would be left. The most typical glacial relic in Jiuhuashan is the cirque with semicircular bucket shape. The cirque has an area of about 4 km2 and a north entrance, faces Furong Ridge in the south, Chaxiao Peak in the east, and flat bottom in the middle. A winding toruliform stream flows around the cirque.
（3）公元401年前后（东晋时期），人类垦田耕种。天竺（古印度）名僧杯渡并在芙蓉岭下创建茅庵，开创了九华山佛教活动先河。
People began to cultivate in about A.D. 401 (the Eastern Jin period). Meanwhile, Bei Du, a Buddhist from the Tianzhu (ancient India), built up a simple temple at the foot of the Furong Ridge, and began the Jiuhuashan Buddhist activity.
（4）公元741年前后（唐朝时期），古新罗国（今韩国）王子金乔觉卓锡九华，建化城寺。金乔觉圆寂后，肉身不坏，后人建肉身塔供奉，九华山化城寺被辟为地藏菩萨道场，名声渐播。后经李白改九子山为九华山，更增添了九华山的名气。
Kim Gyo-gak, a prince of the ancient Silla country (Korea), came to Jiuzishan for his Buddhist career in about A.D. 741 (the Tang Dynasty), and then, the Huacheng temple was built up. His body was not rotten after he passed away. The descendants built a flesh body temple to worship him as the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. The Huacheng temple has become an ashram of Ksitigarbha Buddhisattva worldwide since then. Li Bai, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, came here and created the name of Jiuhuashan instead of Jiuzishan, which made the Jiuhuashan more popular.