Temple nested in a beautiful landscape

Lingyin, located in the northwest of the West Lake, Is known as "Buddhist Kingdom in the Southeast" with pretty hills, clear springs and streams as well as beautiful green trees, many historic relics and caves. Hidden in the beautiful landscape and ancient trees is the oldest temple in Hangzhou~-Lingyin Temple, which is also called Yunlin Temple. It was first built in 326 AD by the eminent Indian monk Hui Li. With its imposing and magnificent architectural structures, the Temple has remained one of the ten largest Zen Buddhist temples in China. The Temple consists of the Heavenly Guardian Hall, the Hall of Mahavira (Great Hero), the Hall of the Buddha of Medicine, the Hall for Five-Hundred Arhats, the sutra Repository etc. in the Heavenly Guardian Hall stands a statue of Skanda holding a pestle and wearing an austere-looking face. This 800-year-old sculpture from the early Song Dynasty, 2.5 meters tall, carved out of the trunk of a single camphor tree, is the oldest Buddhist statue extant in Lingyin Temple. At the center of the hall, seated on a lotus-flower pedestal is the statue of Sakyamumi, carved out of twenty-four pieces of camphor wood. This statue with its lotus seat, measuring 24,8 meters in height, is China's largest sitting statue of Buddha at present. #hangzhou #lingyin