Tiantong Temple
By admin on 2015-03-04

Attraction Type:

• Religious Sites in China

Introduction
Tiantong Temple is located on the ascending slope at the foot of the Taibai Mountain, 25 kilometers east of the city proper of Ningbo City. It is known as "Buddha's Holy Land in Southeast China". It is one of the ten sacred temples of the Buddhist Chan sect, having 730 houses of the architectural style formed in the Ming Dynasty.

This temple has 1700 years history, older than Hangzhou Lingyin Temple. It was built in 300 AD in the West Jin Dynasty and came through a succession of warfare. Around 300 A.D., the monk Yixing sought to build a temple and, according to legend, the Heavenly King sent the god Taibai to earth to be reborn as a child to help him; hence, it got its name, which means "heavenly child."

Things to do and see:
The ancient Tiantong Temple is famous for its Buddhist significance as well as its picturesque surroundings. It is cuddled by the soaring Taibai Mountain; where the neighborhood of luxuriant pines along with bamboos.

This temple is actually a huge complex, with dozens of ochre-colored plaster as well as red-painted wood buildings marching up the mountainside. Also, this temple a major destination for pilgrims, especially for those Japanese. It plays an important role in the cultural exchanges between China and Japan and it is renowned in the southeast Asian countries. 

Main structures contain the Imperial Library Tower, the Bell Tower, the Hall of Arhats, the Hall of Early Enlightenment, the Hall of Buddhist Rites, the Grand Hall, along with the Hall of the Four Guardian Gods. A stringy roofed veranda links to all these components and therefore shelters the tourists from the scorching sun and annoying rains. Also, the veranda helps tourists find access to any of the temple's components, an ingenuity of the architects indeed.