Temple of the Soul Refuge "Linyins"

One of the largest and oldest temples south of the Yangtze River, a unique monument of high-riseless architecture.

According to legend, the temple was founded in 326 by the Buddhist monk Hui Li. There is another legend associated with the temple. Allegedly, once his abbot saw in a dream a cliff that he once admired in his homeland in India. In the morning, this cliff strangely materialized at Linyinsa. Now it is called “flying cliff” and is also considered a landmark.

The temple itself is an architectural ensemble of three huge halls. The central hall of Daxiongbaodian is crowned with a three-tiered tile roof with curved openwork consoles. Its height is 33.6 meters. But at the same time in the center of the hall there are absolutely no floors and there is not a single column supporting the heavy roof.

Also in the temple you can see a gilded 19-meter statue of the seated Buddha Shakyamuni. This is the largest gilded wooden Buddha statue in China in a sitting position.