Huayan Monastery | Experience a thousand years of beauty in Datong.

The Avatamsaka Sutra says: "The flower of compassion will bear the fruit of solemnity." This is the origin of the name of Huayan Monastery in Datong Ancient City. Many ancient buildings are located in Shanxi, and the knowledge gained from books is always shallow, so I traveled 1,600 km just to see the largest surviving Liao and Jin wooden structure in the world. - 💫Special layout: Because the Khitan people worshiped the sun, Huayan Monastery faces east, so the light is better in the morning. For special reasons, it was divided into the Upper and Lower Huayan Monasteries by a wall, with the north being the upper and the south being the lower. 💫The Mahavira Hall of the Upper Huayan Monastery is a collection of the beauty of four dynasties, with Liao glazed chiwen, Jin wooden structures, Ming colorful statues, and Qing vast murals, known as the supreme treasure. The hall faces east, with the plaque inscribed with the words "Tamer of Men," which is magnificent. Inside the hall, the Five Buddhas sit solemnly and compassionately on lotus pedestals, with twenty heavenly statues on both sides, standing in a respectful posture, listening to the Buddha's teachings, with different shapes, like humans but not humans, like gods but close to humans. The heavenly palace caisson flowers and chessboards are layered, making the large space full of a sense of sacredness and grandeur. 💫The Bojia Jiao Zang Hall of the Lower Huayan Monastery is also one of the Liao and Jin relics, where scriptures are stored. Inside the hall, the statues of the Three Buddhas sit facing east, with symmetrical Bodhisattva statues on both sides, having experienced a thousand years of time, with the colorful light gone, and the ancient and noble scene precipitated. The four walls are lined with multi-story carved wooden scripture cabinets, with wooden heavenly palace pavilions connected by arch bridges in mid-air, with extremely fine carvings, exquisite and delicate, making people imagine a thousand things, as if the Buddhist world is close at hand, called "the only one in the world" by Liang Sicheng. 💫In several catastrophes, Huayan Monastery is still preserved so beautifully and completely, and I can appreciate it in the most beautiful autumn day, which is one of the happy things in life. 🏜️Morning and evening, I enjoyed it twice in total. - 🧭Navigation: No. 459, Xiasipo Street, Pingcheng District, Datong City, Shanxi Province 🎫Ticket: CNY 50/person ⌛️Opening hours: 8:30–18:00