Hangzhou Part 2

Another large tourist place we went to in Hangzhou was Lingyin Temple. This was my favorite place I have been to so far in China! Lingyin Temple(Temple of the Soul's Retreat) is a large Buddhist temple dating back to 328 AD. The entire area is a maze of Buddhist grottoes, pagoda's, religious rock carvings and 5 main halls. A lot of the art work here has heavy Indian influences as the founding monk was from India.

When you first enter the park, you are greeted by Elder Li's Pagoda which houses the ashes of Hui Li, the founder of Lingyin.

The next section is The Feilai Feng(Flying Peak) grottoes. These stone carvings were made right into the rock mountain and date back somewhere between 960-1279AD. Even with people everywhere, this area remained eerily peaceful.

You can climb up the mountain going across a small stream and on stairs made of stone(and I'm talking a shit load of stairs!!) to reach several small temples. Needless to say, by the time I reached the very top I was drenched in sweat!

There are 5 main halls here at the temple however only 3 are from around 1644. The other two were added in 2002. At the entrance of each hall are large fire pits where you can lite incense and pray.

Different Buddhas inside the Grand Hall of the Great Sage.

At the back of the hall is a statue of Guanyin, the Buddhist of compassion. Behind her is a huge mural of over 150 different Buddhist personalities.

A window attached to one of the halls.

Statues of different Buddhas that are in charge of different duties. Kinda like how the Greeks have the god of thunder, music, war, etc.

A portrait of The Laughing Buddha carved into jade.

A stone dragon fountain along the path to one of the halls.

Golden statue of a monk.

When I saw this Buddha with a swastika on it's chest, I was totally confused! I found out that the swastika symbol had been around since 2500 BC and was used by Ancient India. It is actually a symbol for "good luck." In 1920, the symbol was adopted by the Nazi party. Then when that mass murdering fuck head(to quote Eddie Izzard) rose to power in the 1930's, he added it to the State Flag of Germany.