Overview
The temple was destroyed and rebuilt some sixteen times; the present halls are mostly nineteenth and twentieth century, but the scale and the setting are the point. The Hall of the Great Sage holds a 24-metre camphor-wood Buddha, carved in 1956. Feilai Feng, the limestone outcrop across the stream, holds the carvings — including a laughing Maitreya that is the most reproduced Buddhist image in China.
Highlights
The Feilai Feng grottoes need a separate ticket from the temple and are the older, rarer half — see them first, in the morning light. Incense is provided free at the gate; buying more outside is unnecessary. Longjing village up the hill grows the tea of the same name and is the calm end of the visit.