Po Lin Monastery is a

Buddhist monastery Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, located on

Ngong Ping Ngong Ping () is a highland in the western part of Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It hosts Po Lin Monastery and Tian Tan Buddha amidst the hills which is about 34 m tall. There are several hills nearby which are also an attraction to tourists. It is ...

Plateau, on

Lantau Island Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao) is the largest island in Hong Kong, located West of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, and is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. The monastery was founded in 1906 by three monks visiting from

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its ca ...

Province on the Chinese mainland and was initially known simply as "The Big Hut" ( ''Tai Mao Pung''). It was renamed to its present name in 1924. The main temple houses three bronze statues of the Buddha – representing his past, present and future lives – as well as many

Buddhist scripture Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...

Tian Tan Buddha The Big Buddha is a large bronze statue of Buddha, completed in 1993, and located at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, in Hong Kong. The statue is sited near Po Lin Monastery and symbolises the harmonious relationship between man and nature, peop ...

, a giant Buddha statue completed in 1993, is an extension of the monastery. The

Ngong Ping 360 Ngong Ping 360 is a bicable gondola lift on Lantau Island in Hong Kong. Intended to improve tourism to the area, the aerial lift was previously known as Tung Chung Cable Car Project before acquiring the Ngong Ping 360 brand in April 2005. It ...

, consisting of the

village and a

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate sup ...

running between Tung Chung (東涌) and Ngong Ping (昂坪), was built near to the Po Lin Monastery. The monastery boasts many prominent architectural structures, such as the Main Shrine Hall of Buddha, the Hall of Bodhisattva Skanda. This monastery is also noted for making wooden bracelets that are only sold near the Tian Tan Buddha statue. In 1918, three nuns ordained at this monastery established a private nunnery called Chi Chuk Lam () on Lantau's Lower Keung Hill (). The nunnery is dedicated to

Guanyin Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...

, the Goddess of Mercy. There were about 20 '' jushi'' and nuns residing there in the 1950s, but now only an elderly abbess remains.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Islands District Buddhist temples in Hong Kong 1906 establishments in Hong Kong Buddhist monasteries in Hong Kong Ngong Ping Religious organizations established in 1906

See also

References

External links