RECLINING BUDDHA TEMPLE

On the scented hill road, but a little before, a large gangway of cypress will lead you to the temple of the sleeping Buddha.

History

Founded under the Tang, it was said that this temple was originally home to a effigy of the Buddha in the wood and in the elongated position. It was the Yuans who melted the enormous Buddha. This gigantic statue of Buddha slept five meters long in bronze is covered with lacquer. The statue, we say, represents Buddha on his bed of death, leaving his instructions to his twelve disciples. The story tells us that it took 250 tons of bronze and the work of 7,000 workers to make that statue. At that time, we were told that the temple had two statues of Buddhas lying, and that in its course, two trees of the Boddhi (brought from India under the Tang) were harmoniously planted in a garden of beautiful peonies. Today we speak only of one Buddha, the other statue has been lost; There's only one left bronze left. The site is also renowned because of the Garden of the Cherry Valley, where a variety of plant essences blend harmoniously with a pleasant walk. A forestry school has been set up in the annexes.

Visit

The entrance of the temple is made by a portico covered with green and yellow glazed tiles, which gives in a first courtyard where, between the traditional towers of La Cloche and the Tambour, a vaulted bridge surrounds a small basin.
Then we will cross the second courtyard, shaded by very beautiful trees, to notice in the pavilion in the bottom, behind a burning smash, a statue of Maitreya, surrounded by the four Tian Wang.
The third room at the bottom of the third courtyard houses Buddhist statues and Guanyin in a rock cave.
Only at the bottom of the fourth courtyard is the famous statue of the sleeping Buddha on a terrace. His head rests on his folded straight arm and his left arm is extended along the body. It is as usual surrounded by its twelve bodhisattva.
It was said that in the 1920 s, the faithful came to wear shoes, which piled up in a corner of the room, to shoe his naked feet.
Around the temple, there are many ancillary buildings that contained the refectory, kitchens and other rooms, but this whole part does not visit.
However, at the bottom of the Garden of the Cherry Valley, there is a cave in full greenery which once housed a hermit in search of nature.