Po Lin Monastery
Century-old Chan Buddhist monastery on a misty plateau, home to a colossal bronze Buddha statue.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island follows three monks who arrived on this misty plateau from Jiangsu Province in 1906 with almost nothing, building a thatched shelter they called simply the Big Hut. It traces the slow growth of that shelter into a named monastery by 1924, and a 1973 pilgrimage two monks made to see the Great Buddha statues of Kamakura and Taiwan, which sent them home with an idea of their own. From there it follows the twelve years of planning and the casting of bronze pieces in Nanjing that turned that idea into a monument. Listen for how a search for quiet ended up shaping an entire island's skyline.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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