The monastery of Po Lin was founded about a century ago, but most of the buildings there were built from the 1970s onwards.
The two most important rooms are the Main Shrine Hall and the Grand Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas.
Going up 268 steps, right above the temple, it’s impossible not to notice the huge statue of the great Buddha of Tian Tan, meaning “Altar of Heaven”.
The statue shows Buddha seated on a lotus throne, with his right hand raised in the act of blessing. With a height of 34 meters including the base, it was built between 1981 and 1993. The body is made up of 160 pieces of bronze, while the head was forged using bronze and gold so that it would glitter better in the sun.
Buddha is depicted seated in the Lotus meditation position, on a three-level base with the same structure that can be found in an important hall of the Temple of Tian Tan, meaning “Temple of Heaven” in Beijing.
