Temple of the Great Buddha in Zhangye
The Temple of the Great Buddha in Zhangye ( Chinese 张掖 大 佛寺 , Pinyin Zhāngyè Dàfó sì ) is a Buddhist temple in the southwest of Zhangye in the Chinese province of Gansu . It was built in 1098 and dates from the Xixia (Western Xia) times . It was originally called the Kashyapa Tathagata Temple (Jiāyè Rúlái sì 迦叶 如 来 寺) and is also called the Temple of the Sleeping Buddha (Wòfó Sì 卧佛寺). The largest reclining Buddha in China is located in the temple.
The gilded and painted Great Buddha lies in the nirvana position in the middle of the hall. The figure is 34.5 meters long, its shoulder width is 7.5 meters, it has feet 4 meters and ears 2 meters in length. There are ten disciples behind the Buddha, and there are eighteen arhats (Luohan) in the south and north side halls. The walls of the hall are decorated with colorful murals showing episodes from two well-known novels of the Ming period: The Journey to the West (Xiyouji 西游记) and the Fengshen yanyi (封神 演义 'The Metamorphoses of the Gods').
Its clay pagoda has thirteen floors and is over 33 m high.
It is said that Sorkhatani Beki (Bieji 别 吉) lived in the temple of the Great Buddha and gave birth to Kublai Khan here .
The Temple of the Great Buddha in Zhangye has been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China (4-112) since 1996 .
The Zhangye Museum is located on its premises.
Web links
- Zhangye Dafo si - Official Website
Coordinates: 38 ° 55 ′ 48 ″ N , 100 ° 27 ′ 15 ″ E