Lingyin Temple

Lingyin Temple, nestled in the forested hills west of Hangzhou's West Lake, is one of the oldest and most influential Buddhist monasteries in China. Founded in 328 AD during the Eastern Jin dynasty by the Indian monk Huili, its name translates to the Temple of the Soul's Retreat or Temple of Inspired Seclusion. Over the centuries, it developed into a leading center of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, reaching a golden age during the Wuyue Kingdom and the Southern Song dynasty when it housed thousands of monks.

The complex ascends the wooded slope through a sequence of monumental courtyards and halls. The Hall of the Heavenly Kings leads to the Grand Hall of the Great Sage, which rises over thirty meters high and enshrines a massive seated statue of Sakyamuni Buddha carved from camphor wood and covered in gold leaf. Higher up the hillside stand the Hall of the Medicine Buddha, the Huayan Hall, and the Hall of the Five Hundred Arhats, where hundreds of life-sized bronze figures line a swastika-shaped walkway.

Directly across from the temple entrance is Feilai Feng, a limestone crag riddled with caves and adorned with more than three hundred stone Buddhist carvings dating from the Song and Yuan dynasties, including the famous laughing Maitreya Buddha. Lingyin Temple remains a major active pilgrimage site, where worshippers burn incense and resident monks continue daily prayer and study.