Lingyin Temple
Ancient Buddhist monastery beneath cliffs of Buddhist grotto carvings, among China's wealthiest temples.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou begins with an Indian monk named Huili, who around the year 328 looked at a rocky hill and asked a question about where it had come from. From there it follows the gifts that built one of China's richest monasteries: a Song dynasty empress dowager, an emperor who came back six times with a poem for each visit, and the rebuilding after a fire in 1816. Best heard as you walk in from the front of the temple, where some of those poems are still cut into stone.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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