In this post, I am going to introduce to you the largest seating Buddha statue in Hong Kong which is the Tian Tan Buddha located at the top of the hill in the lantau island of Hong Kong, along with the most famous Hong Kong Buddhist temple Po Lin Monastery nearby which makes the location an attractive place to visit in Hong Kong.
Tian Tan Buddha
The Tian Tan Buddha is a seating Buddha bronze statue located at the hill of Ngong Ping which was build in 1993. It is the largest seating Buddha in Hong Kong. The statue is Gautama Buddha statue, the Gautama Buddha is the founder of Buddhism originated in India. The statue is 34 metres tall, which is visible through out the area. The Buddha statue is in a Lotus seating position which is the position of meditation. The right hand of the Buddha statue is in a gesture of “imparting fearlessness”, and the left hand is in a gesture of “fulfilling wishes” which symbolized the compassion and blessing of the Buddha. If you want to see the Tian Tan Buddha closely, you would have to walk up the 268 step of stairs to reach the Tian Tan Buddha. Once you have reach the Tian Tan Buddha, you could walk around the Buddha to see the statue from different angle and the other artistic statues around it.
You could also enter the Buddha statue from the entrances. Inside the Buddha statue at the ground floor is a columbarium which holds cinerary urns and on the first floor is a gallery of Buddhist paintings. And on the second floor features the relic of the Gautama Buddha.
Po Lin Monastery
Once you have finished visiting the Tian Tan Buddha, it is time to visit the Po Lin Monastery nearby. The Po Lin Monastery was build in 1906 and become the most well known Buddhist temple in Hong Kong. Before you enter the temple, you could buy some incense sticks from the souvenir stores outside of the temple. They have different sized of incense sticks, and you could make wishes by burning them outside of the temple. Inside the temple is not allow to burn large incense sticks. Like other Buddhist mahayana temple in Hong Kong, the first statue you will see is the Maitreya Buddha statue, the look of the Maitreya Buddha in China is different from the other country, the Maitreya Buddha’s figure in China is with a fat stomach. After seeing the Maitreya Buddha statue, you will also see the four heavenly kings and the statue of Skanda bodhisattva.
Once you have entered the area of the Po Lin Monastery, you will see the Mahavira Hall which is a classical Chinese style building. Inside the Mahavira Hall, you will find Buddha and bodhisattva statues in it.
Lunch at the Po Lin Monastery
There is a vegetarian restaurant within the Po Lin Monastery to serve vegetarian meal which is recommended to try. The meal is set which included rice and various Chinese vegetarian dishes and is very delicious. If you are not that hungry, you could also try out the food store next to the restaurant which serve vegetarian cakes, they have different types of Chinese cakes with different taste which will suit your need.
The location of the Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery are:
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