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Lingyin Temple
The ancestor of the temple is monk Huili from west India. When he roamed from central plains to Wulin (current Hangzhou) of Zhejiang province, he saw a peak and said: “this is a small mountain on Linjiu Mountain of Middle India, when did it fly here? It seems that some  Buddhas are reclusive here.” then a temple was built before the peak, named as Lingyin. At the beginning, the temple was very small. In 771 AC, it was repaired all-sided. However, in the late Tang dynasty, Lingyin Temple was destroyed and all monks in it were dispersed away. Till to the Five Dynasties, King of Yue Qianmiu assigned Master Yanshou to rebuild the temple with stone pagoda , Buddhist Hall, Ceremony Hall, and very high Maitreya Hall and favored the name “New lingyin Temple”. In the period of great prosperity, Lingyin Temple had nine floors, 18 halls, 72 palaces, 1300 monk rooms and over 3000 monks. In South Song Dynasty, since Hangzhou was the capital, kings of Gaozong and Xiaozhong often went to Lingyin Temple for religious observance. Lingyin was honored as top one of the “five mounts” in the south Zen Sect in Jiading time of Song dynasty. In Shunzhi time of Qing dynasty, great Zen Master Jude was the abbot of Lingyin Temple. He made great efforts to rebuild the temple. The size of the temple at that time was the No.1 in Southeast. In 1689 A.D., when Kangxi King patrolled in the south, he named Lingyin as “Yunling Temple”. Lingyin has been repaired many times after P. R. China was founded. Now Lingyin temple covers an area of over 100 mu which is composed of tianwang hall, daxiong hall, apothecary hall, Buddhist hall, huayan hall, Arhat hall, Master  Daoji hall, liandeng room, dabei building, abbot room, east & west scripture room and east & west stele rooms etc. There is a statue of Sakyamuni Buddha in daxiong hall, with 24.8 meters in height, which imitates the Buddha statue of Zen in the Tang Dynasty. Lingyin temple has been a famous place attracting great number of hierarchs and literators for Buddhist and cultural communications.Furthermore, there are a lot of timehonored figures of Buddha, Buddhist tools, stone towers, steles, calligraphies and paintings and other historical cultural treasures. Lingyin Temple is listed as the national key cultural treasure protection unit for those costful Buddhist cultural treasures. Now with the world entering a new century, Lingyin Temple is attracting vast visitors both at home and abroad to learn Buddhism, look around, pray for blessings, and relax there with it’s rich Buddhist culture, magnificent hall buildings, and beautiful natural scene. |
Testimonial 
