七塔寺位於浙江鄞縣寧波市東五里，南海之北，與延慶、阿育王、天童並峙，稱四明四大叢林。寺始創於唐大中十二年（八五八），時有分寧令任景求者，捨宅為寺，號「東津禪院」，敦請心鏡奐禪師居之，卽本寺開山第一代也心鏡奐禪師原主天童寺，咸通元年（八六〇），浙東剡寇裘甫，掠奪四明，縱兵晝入，心鏡晏坐禪定，神色不動，賊衆驚愕，作禮而退明年（八六一），郡紳奏請改名「棲心寺」，以旌其德焉宋大中祥符元年（一〇〇八）賜額「崇壽寺」明洪武二十年（一三八七），因南海梅岺山寶陀寺懸於海邊，乃徙建於本寺空地，奏請改棲心為「補陀寺」，故寧俗尚有本寺卽南海普陀之說永樂年間，僧寺俱廢，旋復建棲心寺明永樂、宣德、天順三朝，各有增建；淸初順治、康熙兩朝，亦各有營修咸豐十一年（一八六一），寺殿悉遭兵燬迨光緒十六年（一八九〇）慈運慧禪師為主席，辛苦經營，大力復建殿宇，閱三十餘載始竣事，漸復淸初之舊觀，是為本寺中興第一代復於光緒二十一年（一八九五）進京請領龍藏，并勒賜寺額「報恩寺」以康熙時建七浮圖於寺前，俗人乃呼為「七塔寺」，本寺全稱為「七塔報恩禪寺」者以此民國以還，傳戒講經，設藏經樓，立佛學院，大振臨濟宗風民國二十四年（一九三五）溥常長老倩陳寥士居士纂修寺志，博引旁徵，成志八卷，分門為八：圖記、金石、沿革、建置、僧譜、法要、產業、藝文，書前有題辭五篇、序九家、圖像七幅，後附以補正。寺之建置沿革分記於圖記、沿革與建置三門；佛教文獻則分編於金石、僧譜與法要三門，收羅弘富，可與天童寺志並列矣！茲據民國二十六年（一九三七）排印本景印。
Located in Yin County, five li east of Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province, north of the South China Sea, the Seven Pagoda Temple stands alongside the Yanqing, King Aśoka, and Tiantong Temples, together known as the Four Great Monasteries of Siming.
The temple was first established in the twelfth year of the Dazhong era of the Tang Dynasty (858 CE), when a local magistrate named Ren Jingqiu donated his home to become a monastery, called "Dongjin Chan Temple." He respectfully invited Chan Master Xinjing Huan to reside there, making him the temple's founding patriarch. Chan Master Xinjing Huan had previously been the abbot of Tiantong Temple. In the first year of the Xiantong era (860 CE), a bandit from eastern Zhejiang named Qiu Fu plundered Siming and led his troops into the temple by day. Master Xinjing sat in deep meditation, his expression calm and unmoved. The startled bandits bowed in reverence and withdrew.
The following year (861 CE), local officials petitioned the court to rename the temple "Qixin Temple" (Temple of Sojourning the Mind) to honor the master's virtuous power. In the first year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era of the Song Dynasty (1008 CE), the temple was granted the imperial plaque "Chongshou Temple" (Temple of Longevity).
During the twentieth year of the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty (1387 CE), because the Baotuo Temple on Meiling Mountain in the South China Sea was dangerously situated along the coast, it was relocated to vacant land at this temple. The court approved the renaming of Qixin Temple to "Putuo Temple," which is why local Ningbo tradition holds that this temple is the same as Mount Putuo in the South China Sea.
During the Yongle era, all monastic buildings fell into ruin, but were soon rebuilt as Qixin Temple. Further construction took place during the Yongle, Xuande, and Tianshun reigns of the Ming Dynasty, as well as during the Shunzhi and Kangxi reigns of the early Qing Dynasty.
In the eleventh year of the Xianfeng era (1861 CE), all the temple halls were destroyed by war. Only in the sixteenth year of the Guangxu era (1890 CE), when Chan Master Ciyun Hui became abbot, did the temple begin to recover. Through thirty years of painstaking effort, he managed to rebuild the halls and gradually restore the temple to its early Qing Dynasty splendor, earning him the title of its first restoration patriarch.
In the twenty-first year of the Guangxu era (1895 CE), Master Ciyun Hui traveled to the capital to request a copy of the Dragon Canon (the imperial Buddhist scriptures) and was also granted the imperial plaque "Bao'en Temple" (Temple of Requited Kindness). Because seven pagodas had been built in front of the temple during the Kangxi era, locals called it the "Seven Pagoda Temple." The temple's full name is therefore "Seven Pagoda Bao'en Chan Temple."
From the Republican period onward, the temple conducted ordinations, gave scriptural lectures, established a sutra library, and founded a Buddhist academy, greatly revitalizing the Linji (Rinzai) tradition.
In the twenty-fourth year of the Republic (1935 CE), the elder Puchang [Puchang] commissioned the lay scholar Chen Liaoshi to compile a temple gazetteer. Through extensive research and citation, an eight-volume work was produced, divided into eight sections: Maps and Records, Inscriptions, History, Construction, Monastic Lineage, Essential Teachings, Properties, and Literature and Arts. The book opens with five prefaces, nine forewords, and seven illustrations, and closes with supplementary corrections.
The temple's history and construction are recorded in the Maps and Records, History, and Construction sections. Buddhist literature is compiled in the Inscriptions, Monastic Lineage, and Essential Teachings sections. The collection is remarkably extensive, standing alongside the gazetteer of Tiantong Temple.
This edition is a facsimile reproduction based on the 1937 (twenty-sixth year of the Republic) type-set edition.