Huayan Temple


The Huayan Temple is the largest and most perfectly preserved temple of the Liao (916-1125) and Jin
(1115-1234) dynasties in China. It survived wars and disorders, rises and declines of times. The original
buildings served in part as the imperial ancestral temples but were destroyed in a fire. Rebuilt 1122 on a
large scale with several extensions added during the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) giving us the present
complex.

Unlike other temple architecture in China, in which the main halls and buildings are north-south axis, with
the facade facing towards the south, the temple constructions in the Huayan Temple are on an east-west
axis with the main halls facing to the east. This was due to the Qidan, (a minority tribe living on the northern
border of China who built the Liao Dynasty,) whose tradition of praying for the Divinity of the Sun to the east,
thus taking East as superior to everything.

After the mid Ming Dynasty, the temple was divided into two temples, the upper temple and the lower temple, each having its own temple gate and
structure. After several repairs in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the temple formed today's scale. The two parts were integrated into one in 1963,
and was given a collective name of the Huayan Temple. The temple occupies an area of more than 16,600 square meters. The upper temple is
centered on the Great Hall and comprises of two yards, the temple gate, the passing hall, the Kwan-yin Pavilion, the Ksitigarbha Pavilion, and two
wing-bays, etc. The buildings are compactly arranged.

To the southeast of the Upper Huayan is its Lower counterpart, in which the Datong Museum is located. Compared to the splendid Upper Huayan,
the Lower one is of a far more solemn appearance. The Sutra Preserving Hall in the latter part of the complex is
where a collection of over 18,000 Buddhist sutra volumes and scripts are preserved. In addition, five finely
carved wood-structured pavilions in the latter part of the hall are connected by arched bridges. These exquisite
wood carved structures are the only remaining examples of their kind in China.

All sorts of color-clay statues of Five Buddha and twenty Buddha's warrior attendants are housed in the hall.
The ceiling of the hall, intricately decorated with a variety of color-murals of dragons and phoenix, floras,
Sanskrit Buddhist symbols and other geometric patterns, creates a rich visual feast for the eye. Twenty-one
huge color paintings from the Qing Dynasty (1368 - 1644) on the interior wall are well preserved.