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The Lingyin Temple is Hangzhou's most famous site and is tucked away in a secluded valley northwest of West Lake, nine kilometres away from Hangzhou city proper. This ancient temple was built in 326AD during the Jin Dynasty but the temple at the site now has been restored sixteen times. The buildings you see today are restorations made during the Qing dynasty.
First built by an Indian monk Huili in 326 AD during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317 - 420 AD), the temple was named Lingyin Temple (Temple of Inspired Seclusion) for its environment is very beautiful and serene and suitable for "gods rest in seclusion". In its heyday, the temple has nine towers, l8 pavilions and 75 halls, 1300 rooms and 3000 monks. Due to war and calamity, the temple has experienced about 1700 years of repeated circles of prosperity and decline until its last restoration in the Qing dynasty (1644 - 1911).
On the compound's central axle stand Hall of Heavenly Kings, Daxiongbaodian Hall (Precious Hall of the Great Hero), Pharmaceutical Master Hall and Great Mercy Hall.
Hall of Heavenly Kings: It is the first hall after entering the temple. A tablet inscribed with "cloud forest Buddhist temple", penned by Emperor Kangxi, who was inspired on one occasion by the sight of the temple in the mist and trees, was hung above the door. In Inside the hall is a statue of laughing Buddha who can "endure everything unendurable in the world and laugh at every laughable person in the world." Four heavenly kings stand on both sides of the Buddha and Weituo behind.
Daxiongbaodian Hall : Daxiongbaodian Hall is the main hall of Lingyin Temple. It is 7 rooms wide and 5 rooms deep, with one story, double layer eaves and pinnacle roof 33.6 meters in height, famed as one of China's tallest one-story buildings. A statue of Sakyamuni, carved out of 24 pieces of camphor wood, stands 24.8 meters high in the hall. On the both sides of Sakyamuni stand 20 saints protecting justice and on the back wall sit his 12 disciples serving as guards. In front of the hall are two stone pagodas built during the Northern Song dynasties (960 - 1279) with 9 stories and 8 surfaces and sculptured Buddhist stories on four walls. Scattered outside and inside the temple are numerous relics left from ancient times, in which Pavilion of Cool Brook erected in the mid Tang dynasty, stone pagoda and stone storage for Buddhist scriptures built in the Five dynasties, Pavilion of Greens first built in the Southern Song dynasty, the pagoda of Huili erected in the Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644) are especially worthy of viewing.
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