Jade Buddha Temple
The Jade Buddha Temple (Chinese: 玉佛禅寺; pinyin: Yùfó Chán Sì, literally Jade Buddha Chan Temple) is a Buddhist temple. As with most modern Chinese Buddhist temples, the current temple draws from both the Pure Land and Chan traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. During the period of Guang Xu in the Qing Dynasty, a monk named Huigen who brought five jade Buddha statues from Burma left a jade statue of Sakymuni and a reclining Buddha statue in Shanghai on his way back to Putuoshan of Zhejiang. He collected money to build a temple for the disciples to worship Buddha and the Jade Buddha Temple was built in 1882 (the 8th year under reign of Guang Xu in the Qing Dynasty). The statues include a sitting Buddha (1.95 metres tall, 3 tonnes), and a smaller reclining Buddha representing Buddha's death. The temple now also contains a much larger reclining Buddha made of marble, donated from Singapore, and visitors may mistake this larger sculpture for the original, smaller piece. You know you have seen the real Jade Buddha if you have paid 10 yuan in go up into a small room with a smallish statue. No pictures are allowed in the room. The temple also serves some tasty vegetarian dishes.
