Kunming Yuantong Temple can only be described as exquisite!
Yuantong Temple is one of the earliest temples dedicated to Avalokitesvara in China. It has a long history, magnificent architecture, and convenient transportation. It is currently the largest Buddhist venue in Kunming.
According to Li Yuandao's "Inscription on the Founding and Renovation of Yuantong Temple", the temple was built during the Meng clan period of Nanzhao in the Tang Dynasty (738-902 AD).
The King of Nanzhao, Geluofeng, sent his son Fengjiayi to build Tuodong City. At that time, there was a dragon causing trouble in Chaoyin Cave of Yuantong Mountain. Yimouxun first built a temple named "Butuo Luo Temple" to suppress the dragon. Afterwards, the temple was destroyed by war and only ruins remained in the early Yuan Dynasty. In the fifth year of the Dade reign of the Yuan Dynasty (1301 (Xinchou Year)), Axisi, the Left Chancellor of the Yunnan Provincial Secretariat, initiated large-scale construction projects in order to "build Buddhist temples and solemnize the Dharma body." After 19 years of painstaking efforts, the temple was completed in the seventh year of Yuanyan (1320), and two monks, Fo Ri and Yuan Zhao, were invited to be abbots, and it was named "Yuantong Temple". Entering the gate of Yuantong Temple and going down a slope, you will see the "Yuantong Shengjing" archway, which was built in the seventh year of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1668). Walking forward, you will reach the front hall, which is spacious and houses a 2-meter-high statue of Prince Sakyamuni preaching. It is made of pure copper and is one of the four bronze statues of Sakyamuni presented to the Chinese Buddhist Association by the Thai Buddhist community in 1984.
The Yunnan Buddhist Association has built a Buddhist temple, which houses the bronze Buddha donated by Thailand. There is a pond across the corridor of the front hall. In the middle of the pool there is an octagonal pavilion built during the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. It is surrounded by stone corridors, connected by stone bridges from north to south, and has glazed eaves. A Thousand-Armed Guanyin is enshrined in the pavilion. The couplet on the front begins with "Guan" and "Yin": "Guan is without mind, where does he come, where does he go, and how does he feel at ease? Sound is not a Dharma form, it is emptiness, it is color, and it is round and transparent." The couplet on the side begins with the words "Yuan" and "Tong": "Perfect in the ten directions, showing a thousand hands and eyes to save people, understanding the three worlds, and having great compassion to navigate the boat." There are more than a hundred pairs of stone lions of different sizes carved on the stone corridors and stone railings around it.
There is a bridge to the north of the pavilion, leading to the Main Hall. The Main Hall is a double-eaved hip-and-gable palace with a hollow ridge beam and a glazed roof. A pottery dragon looks up as if it is about to take flight. The eaves are decorated with golden red clouds and have flying brackets. The interior of the hall is magnificent with carved beams and painted buildings, and is decorated with red lacquer and gold.