Lingyin Temple

Lingyin Temple is a Chan Buddhist temple founded in 328 AD by the Indian monk Huili near Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. At its peak under the Wuyue Kingdom (947-960 AD), it housed nine buildings, eighteen pavilions, seventy-two halls, and approximately 3,000 monks. The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times, including during the Tang Dynasty purges of 845 AD and Taiping Rebellion of 1860. Its Mahavira Hall contains a 24.8-metre camphor wood statue of Sakyamuni covered in gold leaf, one of the largest wooden Buddhist statues in China.