Tz’u-en-ssu [慈恩寺] (PY Ciensi; Jion-ji): Also known as Ta-tz’u-en-ssu. A temple built in Ch’ang-an, China, in 648 by Emperor Kao-tsung of the T’ang dynasty when he was crown prince, as an expression of compassion and gratitude to his mother. Hence the temple name Tz’u-en, or “compassion and debt of gratitude.” A building for translation was erected in the temple compound for Hsüan-tsang, who had left Ch’ang-an for India in 629 and returned there with Buddhist scriptures in 645. Hsüan-tsang spent eleven years at the temple, where he translated many scriptures into Chinese. Hence he was given the title Tripitaka Master of Ta-tz’u-en-ssu. After Hsüan-tsang moved to Hsi-ming-ssu temple in 658, his disciple K’uei-chi lived at Tz’u-en-ssu and engaged in translation there; therefore, K’uei-chi was given the title Great Teacher Tz’u-en. The temple compound is said to have been vast, with eighteen hundred rooms. The temple was razed, however, in a nationwide drive to destroy Buddhism initiated by Emperor Wu-tsung of the T’ang dynasty in the midninth century, and today only a seven-story pagoda remains at the site.