Huáyán Temple, Datong, China

 

Huayan Temple is the largest and most perfectly preserved temple of the Liao (916-1125) and Jin (1115-1234) dynasties in China.  It is east facing because the sun was worshipped in that time.  Emperors in the Liao Dynasty sincerely believed in Buddhism, so they built many monasteries. The Huayan Monastery was originally the ancestral temple of the imperial family, offering sacrifices for emperors of the Liao Dynasty. In the middle period of the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), the temple was divided into two parts the upper and lower monasteries and was renovated and enlarged several times to its present form.

 It was the imperial ancestral temple, enjoying prominent position at that time. Then it was destroyed in a war. In 1140 during Kin Dynasty, the temple was reconstructed.  The upper one referred to as the Grand Hall housing five large Ming Dynasty Buddhas, and the lower section referred to as the Sutra Temple containing a library of some 18,000 volumes of Buddhist writings. After several repairs in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the temple formed today's scale.  On top of the hall are color paintings from the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasties (1644 - 1911) portraying dragons, cranes, flowers, all of which are images often found in Chinese legends on Buddhism.

Huayan Pagoda is the second largest pure wooden tenon and mortise structure after Yingxian Pagoda in the country. This pagoda is 43 meters high. Under the pagoda is a 500-square-meter underground palace, which was constructed with 100 tons of copper.