Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou: the 326 CE Chan Sanctuary Opposite Feilai Peak

Five kilometers northwest of the open waters of West Lake, along a shaded avenue of sweetgum maples, camphor trees, and emerald bamboo, the bustle of Hangzhou recedes into the clear murmur of Cold Spring Stream flowing beneath a rugged grey-white limestone crag honeycombed with caverns. Across the southern bank of that stream, hundreds of stone Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Arhats smile serenely from mossy rock niches after a thousand years, while on the northern bank rise the deep ochre walls of a five-tiered monastery stepping steadily up the misty slope of North High Peak.

This is Lingyin Temple (Lingyin Si, 靈隱寺, also bearing the Qing imperial title Yunlin Chan Temple), located in Xihu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. Founded in the early fourth century during the Eastern Jin dynasty, Lingyin stands among the oldest and grandest Chan Buddhist monasteries of Jiangnan, uniting an open-air gallery of Five Dynasties, Song, and Yuan rock-cut sculpture with classical Chan philosophy, Tang-Song poetry, and living civic charity.

Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou. Photo: Tyg728, licence CC BY-SA 4.0, source Wikimedia Commons.

IThe Peak That Flew from India, the Five Mountains of Song Chan, and Master Ji Gong

Lingyin Temple upholds Chinese Mahayana Chan Buddhism (shaped historically by both the Yunmen and Linji schools), enshrining Shakyamuni Buddha in the Mahavira Hall, Bhaisajyaguru (the Medicine Buddha) in the Medicine Buddha Hall, and the Three Sages of the Avatamsaka in the summit Huayan Hall. Its evocative name Lingyin, often rendered in English as Temple of the Soul's Retreat or Retreat of Numinous Spirits, preserves the wonder expressed by its fourth-century Indian founder upon entering this secluded valley.

Set within the literary heartland of Jiangnan, Lingyin quickly became a meeting ground for eminent Chan masters and China's greatest poets. From Tang poets Luo Binwang, Song Zhiwen, and Bai Juyi to the Northern Song statesman-poet Su Dongpo during his governorship of Hangzhou, generations of writers lingered beside Cold Spring Pavilion in front of the temple gate.

According to the tradition

Two enduring currents of East Asian Buddhist thought crystallized within the halls of Lingyin Temple. In the tenth century under the Kingdom of Wuyue, Grand Master Yongming Yanshou (904 to 975 CE), invited to restore and preside over Lingyin before moving to Jingci Temple, laid the doctrinal foundation for Chan-Pure Land synthesis (harmonizing Chan contemplation of original mind with mindfulness of Amitabha Buddha) and compiled the monumental one-hundred-fascicle Record of the Source Mirror. A century later under the Northern Song, Master Qisong (Mingjiao Dashi, 1007 to 1072 CE) of the Yunmen school wrote his celebrated essays at Lingyin demonstrating the ethical harmony between Buddhist compassion and Confucian humaneness.

In popular East Asian devotion, Lingyin Temple is equally beloved as the ordination home of the Southern Song monk Daoji (1148 to 1209 CE, some chronicles cite birth in 1130, known universally across Asia as Master Ji Gong, the Living Buddha Ji). Born to an aristocratic family in Tiantai, he received monastic tonsure at Lingyin under Abbot Xiatang Huiyuan. Wearing tattered robes and waving a broken palm-leaf fan, Daoji shattered rigid outward formalism to walk through city alleys healing the sick, rescuing the poor, and standing up against injustice, embodying the Mahayana teaching that genuine bodhisattva conduct resides in selfless compassion rather than pompous convention.

According to the historical record

According to the Southern Song gazetteer Xianchun Lin'an Zhi and the Lingyin Temple Chronicle, in the 1st year of the Xianhe era of the Eastern Jin dynasty (326 CE), a monk from Western India named Huili traveled into the hills west of Hangzhou. Stopping in astonishment before a craggy, cave-pierced limestone peak standing in sharp geological contrast to the surrounding sandstone hills, Huili exclaimed: This is a lesser peak of Vulture Peak in Central India, by what wondrous power did it fly hither? In ancient days immortals and sages dwelt in its caves, could they not be here still?

When local villagers doubted his words because the peak had stood there since antiquity, Huili walked to the mouth of a cavern (known today as Ape-Calling Cave) and called aloud the names of a black gibbon and a white gibbon that had lived in the Indian grotto, whereupon two apes immediately bounded forth from the rock. Awed by the sign, townspeople named the limestone crag Feilai Feng (the Peak That Flew Hither), and Huili built Lingyin Temple right across the stream at its foot, where his stupa still stands today.

A common misunderstanding

Visitors arriving before the Hall of the Four Heavenly Kings are often puzzled to see a grand imperial plaque inscribed Yunlin Chansi (云林禅寺, Cloud Forest Chan Temple) rather than Lingyin Temple, and may notice two founding dates, 326 CE and 328 CE, in historical literature. Regarding the plaque, during his Southern Inspection Tour in the 28th year of his reign (1689), the Qing Kangxi Emperor visited Lingyin on a misty, rain-washed day. Asked by the abbot to brush a calligraphy plaque for Lingyin Si, the emperor inadvertently wrote the top rain radical (yu) of the complex character Ling (靈) far too large, leaving scant room for the strokes below. Thinking quickly, an attendant minister traced the characters Yunlin (Cloud Forest) on his own palm. Pleased by the poetic rescue, Kangxi brushed Yunlin Chansi. Although the hall proudly displays Kangxi's Yunlin plaque, clergy and citizens alike never stopped calling the monastery Lingyin Temple. As for the founding date, temple steles and standard histories cite 326 CE (1st year of Xianhe), while a few early local gazetteers record 328 CE (3rd year of Xianhe). Visitors should also note that the Feilai Feng Stone Carvings line the southern bank of Lengquan Stream inside the outer scenic park just before one enters the ochre walls of Lingyin Monastery proper.

IISeventeen Centuries from the Kingdom of Wuyue and Southern Song Lin'an to Modern Renewal

Enduring more than ten major fires and wars across seventeen hundred years, Lingyin Temple rose repeatedly to monumental splendor, fueled especially by royal patronage when Hangzhou served as capital of the devout Buddhist Kingdom of Wuyue in the tenth century and imperial capital of the Southern Song in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

326 CEWestern Indian monk Huili founds Lingyin Temple
In the 1st year of Xianhe under the Eastern Jin (some chronicles record 328 CE), Master Huili identified Feilai Peak and established the monastery beside Lengquan Stream, where his memorial stupa remains.
960 to 969Golden age under King Qian Chu of the Kingdom of Wuyue
King Qian Chu invited Master Yongming Yanshou to expand Lingyin into 9 pavilions, 18 towers, and 72 halls housing 3,000 monks. The twin octagonal nine-story stone pagodas of 960 CE and twin stone sutra pillars of 969 CE survive intact from this era.
1089 to 1220Southern Song imperial capital and Five Mountains ranking
Visited by Su Dongpo under the Northern Song and repeatedly honored by Southern Song Emperors Gaozong and Xiaozong, Lingyin was ranked second among the empire's Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries of Chan under Emperor Ningzong, while monk Daoji (Ji Gong) ordained here.
1282 to 1292Yuan-dynasty Tibetan-Chinese Esoteric carvings added to Feilai Feng
Alongside earlier Five Dynasties and Song sculptures, Yuan religious commissioner Yang Lianzhenjia commissioned dozens of finely carved Sino-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist statues across the limestone cliffs of Feilai Peak.
1689Kangxi Emperor bestows the plaque Yunlin Chan Temple
Following Abbot Jude Hongli's comprehensive early-Qing reconstruction (1649 to 1667), the Kangxi Emperor visited in 1689 and brushed the imperial plaque Yunlin Chan Temple.
1860 to 1910Late-Qing rebuilding of the 33.6-meter Mahavira Hall
After Taiping Rebellion fires in 1860 spared only the Hall of Heavenly Kings and ancient stone monuments, huge imported timber columns were raised in 1910 (Xuantong reign) to erect the soaring triple-eaved Mahavira Hall.
1953 to 198224.8-meter camphor-wood Buddha and National Key Relic listing
Between 1953 and 1956, master sculptors carved the gilded 24.8-meter Shakyamuni from 24 camphor blocks. In 1982, the Feilai Feng carvings entered the 2nd batch of National Key Cultural Relics (followed by the Lingyin stone pagodas and sutra pillars in the 7th batch in 2013, ID 7-0989-3-287).

According to the historical record

Why the Feilai Feng cliff sculptures are unique in southern China. Whereas monumental Buddhist grottoes such as Mogao, Yungang, and Longmen cluster across arid northern China, Feilai Feng opposite Lingyin Temple represents the largest and best-preserved medieval cliff-carving ensemble in the humid Jiangnan region. Sculpted into pale grey limestone along Lengquan Stream and inside Qinglin, Yuru, and Longhong Caves are between 330 and 470 intact statues across 115 niches dating from the Later Zhou (951 CE) through the Northern Song, Southern Song, and Yuan (1292 CE). Its beloved Song-dynasty Big-Bellied Laughing Maitreya surrounded by eighteen Arhats is world-famous, while nearly one hundred Yuan-dynasty statues of Ushnishavijaya, Avalokiteshvara, and Tara provide rare stone testimony to Himalayan-Tibetan Esoteric art flourishing in southern China.

Protection of Lingyin Temple in August 1966. Contemporary Hangzhou records recount that in August 1966, when Red Guard groups marched toward Lingyin threatening to smash the Feilai Feng carvings and temple halls, Hangzhou university students and local residents stood shoulder to shoulder blocking the gate while Premier Zhou Enlai issued an urgent directive ordering Lingyin Temple sealed and placed under strict state protection, saving its Song camphor Weituo, 1956 Shakyamuni, and thousand-year-old stone reliefs intact.

IIIFive Stepped Halls Below North High Peak, the 24.8-Meter Camphor Buddha, and Twin Wuyue Stone Pagodas

Covering roughly 87,000 square meters along the wooded southern slope of North High Peak, the inner monastic compound of Lingyin Temple ascends a majestic central axis of five monumental halls: the Hall of the Four Heavenly Kings, Mahavira Hall, Medicine Buddha Hall, Dharma Hall (Sutra Library), and the crowning Huayan Hall. Flanking wings house the swastika-plan Hall of Five Hundred Bronze Arhats, the Ji Gong Hall, monastic quarters, and quiet bamboo courtyards.

Deep Jiangnan ochre walls, crimson columns, mossy stone bridges, and autumn maple foliage beside Lengquan Stream give the sanctuary an atmosphere of mountain seclusion faithful to its fourth-century name.

Hall of Heavenly Kings, Song Camphor Weituo, and 969 CE Sutra Pillars

Crowned by Kangxi's Yunlin Chan Temple plaque, the entrance hall enshrines Maitreya backed by a priceless 2.5-meter statue of Weituo Bodhisattva carved from a single trunk of aromatic camphor wood during the Southern Song dynasty over eight hundred years ago. Flanking the front courtyard stand two octagonal Wuyue stone Dharani Sutra Pillars erected in 969 CE, rising roughly 11 meters and over 7 meters, finely incised with the Ushnisha Vijaya Dharani Sutra.

The 33.6-meter Mahavira Hall and 24.8-meter gilded camphor Shakyamuni

Rising 33.6 meters beneath a soaring single-story triple-eaved roof, the grand main shrine houses one of China's tallest indoor wooden seated Buddhas: a Tang-inspired Shakyamuni sculpted in 1956 from 24 blocks of Zhejiang camphor wood and covered in gold leaf, measuring 24.8 meters in overall height (a 19.6-meter figure seated atop a 5.2-meter lotus throne). Behind the main altar rises the 20-meter painted clay Island Guanyin relief portraying 150 figures from Sudhana's fifty-three spiritual visits.

Twin Nine-Story Octagonal Stone Pagodas of 960 CE

Standing symmetrically on the eastern and western sides of the terrace before the Mahavira Hall are two white limestone pagodas erected in 960 CE under the Kingdom of Wuyue. Rising over 10 meters across nine octagonal tiers carved in faithful imitation of Tang timber bracket sets, their pedestals feature exquisite reliefs of the Nine Mountains and Eight Seas alongside Jataka scenes.

Nanmu-wood Huayan Hall and the Swastika-Plan Hall of 500 Arhats

Occupying the highest terrace against the forest of North High Peak, Huayan Hall enshrines the Three Sages of the Avatamsaka (Vairocana, Manjushri, and Samantabhadra) carved from fragrant golden-thread nanmu timber from Myanmar. To the west stands the Hall of Five Hundred Arhats laid out on a Buddhist swastika plan, arranging 500 one-tonne bronze Arhat statues around a 12.6-meter bronze canopy stupa honoring China's Four Sacred Mountains.

Feilai Feng Limestone Carvings and Cold Spring Pavilion

Across Lengquan Stream rises the 168-to-209-meter karst crag of Feilai Feng preserving 330 to 470 stone sculptures from 951 to 1292 CE, led by the beloved Song-dynasty Laughing Maitreya with Eighteen Arhats, Five Dynasties Pure Land triads inside Qinglin Cave, and Yuan Esoteric deities, shaded beside the water by historic Cold Spring Pavilion.

Architectural specifications and historic treasures of Lingyin Temple and Feilai Feng, Hangzhou. Source: National Cultural Heritage Administration of China, Lingyin Temple (lingyinsi.org), and Wikidata..
Feature or treasure	Specifications and date	Verified source
Inner precinct of Lingyin Temple	Approx. 87,000 sq m grounds across 5 stepped axial halls beneath North High Peak	Lingyin Temple Administration (lingyinsi.org)
Mahavira Hall and Buddha statue	Hall 33.6 m high, gilded camphor-wood Shakyamuni 24.8 m total height (completed 1956)	Lingyin Temple Administration, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Feilai Feng cliff carvings	330 to 470 intact limestone statues carved from 951 CE (Later Zhou) to 1292 CE (Yuan)	2nd Batch National Key Cultural Relics Dossier (1982)
Twin Stone Pagodas and Sutra Pillars	9-story octagonal stone pagodas (960 CE) and stone Dharani pillars (969 CE, Wuyue Kingdom)	7th Batch National Key Cultural Relics Dossier (2013, ID 7-0989-3-287)
Southern Song camphor Weituo	2.5 m tall guardian sculpted from a single camphor trunk (12th to 13th century)	Lingyin Temple Administration (lingyinsi.org)
Satellite coordinates	30.2428 degrees N, 120.0967 degrees E	Wikidata (Q1070228), OpenStreetMap

IVThe Lie of the Land and Orientation

Chan Buddhism points directly to original mind rather than relying on fortune-seeking geomancy. Yet as a masterwork of East Asian mountain-monastery siting, the valley chosen by Master Huili in 326 CE has been admired for centuries for its striking natural pairing of two contrasting rock formations, with quartz sandstone behind and karst limestone in front framing a clear spring stream. The section below reads the valley through the library's comparative framework of traditional landform geomancy.

Terrain and orientation

Examined within the mountain rim west of West Lake at coordinates 30.2428 degrees north, 120.0967 degrees east, the Tianmu range sends twin mountain arms around Hangzhou's West Lake basin. At the head of the northwestern valley rises North High Peak (Beigao Feng, 314 meters, composed of dense quartz sandstone), standing squarely behind Lingyin Temple as a commanding ancestral mountain and Black Tortoise backing. Wooded spurs covered in maples, camphor, and bamboo wrap around the eastern and western flanks as Green Dragon and White Tiger arms. What makes the valley extraordinary is the geological screen directly opposite: rising across the narrow valley to the south is Feilai Peak (168 to 209 meters, composed of pale Paleozoic karst limestone distinct from the sandstone ridge behind the monastery). Standing lower than North High Peak and rounded in contour, Feilai Feng acts as an ideal natural front screen mountain (an shan): approaching travelers cannot see the monastery halls from outside the valley until passing around the limestone crag, literally fulfilling the name Lingyin as a sacred sanctuary hidden deep within sheltering hills where wind is calmed and qi is gathered.

In terms of compass facing and water flow, the five axial halls of Lingyin Temple align sitting North-Northwest and facing South-Southeast, anchored firmly into the rising slope of North High Peak while gazing across to Feilai Peak. Threading cleanly between the monastery gate and the foot of Feilai Peak is Lengquan Stream (Cold Spring Stream), flowing gently from west to east across the inner threshold like a jade-belt water spanned by ancient stone bridges and Cold Spring Pavilion, before continuing eastward to feed the vast water-gathering basin of West Lake. High mountain backing, a protective limestone front screen, and a clear spring stream embracing the forecourt together sustain one of Jiangnan's most enduring monastic landscapes.

VNational Heritage Laba Congee Charity and Chan-Pure Land Kinship with Vietnam

Liturgical life at Lingyin Temple follows the traditional lunar calendar of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Alongside Buddha's Birthday and Medicine Buddha assemblies, the monastery's most celebrated civic tradition across China is brewing and distributing Lingyin Laba Congee on Buddha's Enlightenment Day in the twelfth lunar month, a charitable custom dating back to the Song dynasty that was inscribed on China's National Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021. The table below outlines the major annual observances.

Major annual liturgical festivals and charitable observances at Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou. Source: Lingyin Temple Administration (lingyinsi.org) and China National Intangible Cultural Heritage List..
Date	Calendar system	Observance or festival	Traditional rites and charity at Lingyin Temple
1st to 8th day of the 12th month (main feast on the 8th)	Lunar calendar	Buddha's Enlightenment Day and Lingyin Laba Congee Festival	Commemorating Shakyamuni Buddha's awakening after receiving Sujata's milk-rice offering. Monastic kitchens simmer over 300,000 bowls of fragrant eight-treasure porridge (lotus seeds, red dates, beans, glutinous rice, walnuts, and longan) for free distribution to hospitals, elders' homes, and Hangzhou citizens.
8th day of the 4th month	Lunar calendar	Buddha's Birthday (Bathing the Buddha and Alms-Round Procession)	Monks ladle fragrant herbal water over the infant Prince Siddhartha inside the Mahavira Hall and walk in bamboo hats carrying alms bowls along West Lake trails to raise funds for charity.
30th day of the 9th month (29th in a 29-day month)	Lunar calendar	Feast of Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha)	Multi-day recitation of the Medicine Buddha Sutra inside the Medicine Buddha Hall accompanied by seven-tiered lamp offerings praying for healing, longevity, and public well-being.
Lunar New Year's Eve and early spring	Lunar calendar	New Year's Eve 108 Bell Strikes for Peace and Blessings	At midnight on Lunar New Year's Eve, 108 resonant strikes of Lingyin's great bronze bell echo between North High Peak and Feilai Peak to welcome an auspicious spring.

Resonance with Vietnam's Thao Duong Chan school, Chan-Pure Land practice, and Ji Gong lore. Looking across East Asian Buddhist history, Lingyin Temple shares two deep intellectual and popular bonds with Vietnam. First, during the eleventh century under the Northern Song, the vibrant Yunmen Chan literary circle flourishing at Lingyin and across the Hangzhou-Ningbo region (centered on masters Xuedou Chongxian and Qisong) directly nurtured Chan Master Thao Duong, who arrived in Dai Viet in 1069 CE and was honored by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong as National Preceptor, founding the Thao Duong Chan school famed for poetic refinement in imperial Thang Long. Second, the dual practice of Chan and Pure Land championed by former Lingyin abbot Master Yongming Yanshou profoundly shaped Vietnamese monasticism from the post-Tran era onward, explaining why historic Chan ancestral temples across Vietnam (such as Vinh Nghiem Pagoda and Tran Quoc Pagoda) uphold rigorous Chan lineages while chanting Amitabha Buddha's name morning and evening.

On the popular level, stories of Lingyin's compassionate, convention-defying monk Ji Gong (known affectionately in Vietnamese culture as Te Dien Hoa Thuong or Living Buddha Te Cong) entered Vietnamese folk literature, classical opera, and Chinese-Vietnamese temples across Cho Lon and southern Vietnam centuries ago, making a morning walk beside Lengquan Stream and Feilai Feng's smiling Maitreya an unforgettable encounter for Vietnamese travelers visiting West Lake.

VILocation And How To Get There

Address: Số 1 ngõ Fayun (Pháp Vân Lộng), đường Lingyin, phía tây bắc Tây Hồ, quận Xihu (Tây Hồ), thành phố Hangzhou (Hàng Châu), tỉnh Chiết Giang (浙江省杭州市西湖区灵隐路法云弄1号)
Getting there: Lingyin Temple sits at No. 1 Fayun Alley, Lingyin Road, northwest of West Lake in Xihu District, Hangzhou. From downtown Hangzhou, Hangzhou East Railway Station, or lakeside hubs around West Lake, visitors can take dedicated West Lake tourist buses or ride the Hangzhou Metro and transfer to shuttle buses terminating directly at Lingyin Bus Station, followed by a five-minute shaded walk to the Feilai Feng and Lingyin Temple entrance.
Coordinates: 30.2428, 120.0967

Directions View on the map

When you arrive

The Feilai Feng grotto zone and Lingyin Temple's inner compound are protected national heritage sites and the active home of hundreds of resident monks. Along Lengquan Stream, please never climb onto rock ledges or rub your hands across the thousand-year-old limestone carvings (especially the Laughing Maitreya), as skin oils erode ancient stone. Upon entering Lingyin Monastery, visitors receive three complimentary eco-friendly incense sticks to offer at outdoor courtyard censers. Outside candles or large incense bundles are prohibited, and photography is not permitted inside the worship halls.

Nearby places in the library

Mount Putuo and Puji Temple, ZhejiangChiết Giang · The island bodhimanda of Great Compassion Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin Bodhisattva) in the East China Sea among China's Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains, celebrated as the Sea-and-Sky Buddha Realm in the Zhoushan Archipelago of Zhejiang Province and named after Mount Potalaka of the Avatamsaka Sutra.Hanshan Temple, SuzhouGiang Tô · A celebrated Chan Buddhist monastery and literary landmark beside Maple Bridge along an ancient arm of the Grand Canal west of historic Gusu (Suzhou), Jiangsu Province, founded during the Tianjian era of Emperor Wu of Liang (502 to 519 CE) as Miaoli Puming Pagoda Courtyard and later named after the Tang-dynasty poet-monk Hanshan (Cold Mountain), who dwelt here alongside his companion Shide.Mount Jiuhua and Huacheng Temple, AnhuiAn Huy · The sacred bodhimanda of Great-Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Dizang Wang Pusa) among China's Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains, renamed Jiuhua Shan (Nine-Lotus Mountain, rising to 1,342 meters at Shiwang Peak) by the Tang poet Li Bai in Qingyang County, Chizhou, Anhui Province.

VIIContribute To This Page

Contribute photos, information or video for Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou

Góp ảnh, thông tin hoặc video cho Chùa Linh Ẩn, Hàng Châu

Everyone is welcome to enrich this page: a photo you took, a detail the page misses, a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.

Thầy Ưng Khiêm mời cộng đồng cùng làm giàu trang này. Ảnh chụp tận nơi, một chi tiết lịch sử chưa được nhắc, một đoạn video ngắn: mọi đóng góp đều được đọc và trả lời.

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Once published, your name is credited right here on this place's page. Sau khi được đăng, tên bạn sẽ được ghi công ngay tại mục địa điểm này. Photos and videos must be your own or shared with permission.

No community contribution yet. You could be the first. Chưa có đóng góp nào từ cộng đồng. Bạn có thể là người đầu tiên.

?Quick Questions

When was Lingyin Temple founded, and what does Feilai Feng mean?

Lingyin Temple was founded in 326 CE (some early chronicles cite 328 CE) during the Eastern Jin dynasty by the Western Indian monk Huili. Seeing the cave-pierced limestone peak opposite the valley, Huili marveled that it looked just like a lesser peak of India's Vulture Peak that had flown hither, giving the crag the name Feilai Feng (Peak That Flew Hither) and the monastery the name Lingyin Temple.

Why does the imperial plaque on the Hall of Heavenly Kings read Yunlin Chan Temple?

During a misty visit in 1689, the Qing Kangxi Emperor began brushing a plaque for Lingyin Temple but accidentally wrote the top rain radical of the character Ling too large, leaving little space below. Prompted discreetly by a courtier, he turned the characters into Yunlin Chan Temple (Cloud Forest Chan Temple), and the hall still displays Kangxi's plaque while everyone continues to call the monastery Lingyin.

How large is the gilded wooden Buddha inside Lingyin Temple's Mahavira Hall?

Completed in 1956 inside the 33.6-meter-high triple-eaved Mahavira Hall, the seated Shakyamuni Buddha was sculpted from 24 blocks of aromatic Zhejiang camphor wood and covered in gold leaf. Rising 24.8 meters in overall height (a 19.6-meter figure atop a 5.2-meter lotus pedestal), it is one of China's largest wooden seated Buddha statues.

What are the oldest tenth-century stone monuments surviving at Lingyin Temple?

Across Lengquan Stream, Feilai Feng preserves 330 to 470 limestone carvings dating from 951 CE through the Song and Yuan dynasties (led by the Laughing Maitreya). Inside the monastery stand two nine-story octagonal stone pagodas erected in 960 CE before the Mahavira Hall and two octagonal stone Dharani sutra pillars erected in 969 CE under the Kingdom of Wuyue.

When is Lingyin Temple's famous Laba Congee distributed, and what does it celebrate?

Every year on the 8th day of the 12th lunar month (Buddha's Enlightenment Day), continuing a Song-dynasty custom inscribed as Chinese National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2021, Lingyin Temple simmers over 300,000 bowls of eight-treasure Laba porridge to distribute free of charge to hospitals, elderly residents, and citizens across Hangzhou.