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Ten thousand of anything is, well…a lot!
I love buddhas, so it was a given that we had to find this monastery that has so many.
But, actually…it doesn’t have ten thousand.
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery has thirteen thousand. Now that’s a lot!
A Buddhist temple located on Po Fook Hill at Pai Tau village in Sha Tin, the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is one of the most famous of Hong Kong’s temples and a popular tourist attraction. Though the name states that the monastery has 10,000 buddhas (many from the Tang dynasty), it is because in the Cantonese tradition, “ten thousand” simply represents a figurative term for an extremely large number.
In 1951, the Reverend Yuet Kai and his followers began the construction and groundbreaking of the temple with its completion six years later. Though the buildings were completed in 1957, it was another ten years before all of the miniature Buddha statues were completed. After Reverend Yuet Kai’s death, at 87 years of age, it was discovered that his body was still in perfect condition when exhumed eight months after his death. In accordance with his wishes, his body was embalmed with Chinese lacquer, painted with gold leaf, draped in robes and put on display seated in the lotus position in a glass case in front of the main altar in the monastery.
Though we were anxious to check out “The Diamond Indestructible Body of Yuexi” and the Nine-Story pagoda, well-known in Hong Kong, we were unprepared for waited for us on the path to the monastery.
After making our way past the Pai Tau village, we followed the directions to the beginning of the path to the monastery. Posted signs warned of “fake monks” known to hit on tourists for money. Thankfully, we only encountered local residents climbing the 431 steps to make offerings at the monastery.
Beginning our own climb, we were greeted with…surprise…the first of the 13,000 buddhas. The path is lined on both sides with 500 amazing life-size gilded Arhan statues, the Buddhist equivalent of saints who have achieved enlightenment, each unique and in a different pose. These statues were produced by artists from Yunnan and Guangdong provinces and modeled after the ones from a temple in Kunming, the hometown of the monastery’s founder, Yuet Kai.
The paint on some of the statues is chipped and peeling, having not had a recent makeover, however, I loved stopping to admire each of the statues and their unique characteristics. Honestly, my son thought we would never make it to the top, but finally, we achieved our goal.
The monastery, built on two levels on a bamboo forested hillside, overlooks Sha Tin and sits on almost twenty acres. Five temples, four pavilions, one veranda and a pagoda comprise the compound. Though officially designated a monastery, there are no actual monks that reside within the complex and laypersons are responsible for the day to day upkeep of the complex.
As we reached the top of the path, we were confronted with visiting lower level terrace or the upper terrace. Deciding on the lower level first, we discovered the The Ten Thousand Buddhas Hall (main temple), Avalokitesvara (Kwun Yam) Pavilion, Samantabhadra Pavilion, Manjusri Pavilion, 18-Arhat Gallery, Naga-puspa Hall and the Nine Story Pagoda.
Starting with the far end of the lower level, we admired the Nine Story Pagoda which is notorious for being selected in 2001 to represent the symbol of Hong Kong featured on the HK$100 banknote. Though I learned that usually the pagoda can be climbed, the internal spiral staircase was closed to visitors on the day we visited.
Another path at the rear of the property, near the pagoda, leads down to Sha Tin and is lined with more statues. We made our way down part of the trail, admiring the images, before heading back up to the lower level terrace to check out the Kwun Yam Pavilion. Located in the center of the terrace between the main hall and the pagoda, the gallery exhibits gold bodhisattvas on one side and the 18 Arhat Gallery of Arhan statues on the other. Other multicolored statues are scattered around the terrace.
Finally, we made our way to the main temple. Though a sign informs visitors of no photography, we were able to capture some of the beauty displayed in this temple, where the walls are lined with almost 13,000 miniature gold ceramic Buddha statues stacked on shelves. Each twelve inch statue displays a different pose and expression and contains an inscription bearing the name of its donor.
The embalmed body of Reverend Yuet Kai is prominently displayed in a glass case in the main hall and three large gilded Buddha statues are also presented to its rear.
Heading to the upper terrace, we encountered the Amitabha Hall, Avalotiskesvara (Kwun Yam) House, Cundi House, Ksitigarbha House, Jade Emperor Hall, Sprinkler Guanyin, YueXi Pavilion and Naga-puspa Court.
Most interesting to note within the pavilions and houses are the Horseback bodhisattva in the Avalotisvara (Kwun Yam) House and the massive gold Amitabha Buddha statue in the columbarium (Amitabha Hall). In the two story columbarium, gold framed drawers, each with a Buddha image are stacked around the hall and contain the ashes of the deceased.
Our visit culminated at the far eastern part of the terrace where the immense white statue of Kwun Yam stands in front of a waterfall and a pond with small, gold statues perched on the surrounding rocks. I loved this hillside part of the monastery, which brought me back to my visit to Marble Mountain in Vietnam.
A unique site featured in many films and television series, the Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery is one of the most interesting and historic places that we visited in Hong Kong. Though the monastery is in a bit of disrepair and construction continues to stabilize the upper hillside, the statues were most mesmerizing and the architecture quite interesting.
10,000 reasons to visit? Well, actually…13,000!
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Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery
- Address: 221 Pai Tau Village, Sha Tin, New Territories
- Hours: 0900-1700, daily. The monastery may close during heavy rain or when typhoon signal 8 or above is issued. Vegetarian Restaurant open 1030-1600, closed Thursdays.
- Admission: free
- Getting There: Take the MTR East Rail to Sha Tin Station. From station, take exit B and the ramp alongside the bus terminus. Go down to the street level and walk past Pai Tau Village to the junction with Pai Tau Street. Follow Pai Tau Street and take the first street on the right, Sheung Wo Che Road and follow this street alongside Sha Tin Government Offices. At the end of the road, is a yellow direction sign for the monastery. Follow the path to the staircase leading to the monastery.
- Po Fook Hill Ancestral Halls lie at the end of Pai Tau Street and are often mistaken for the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple. These halls are open to visitors (admission free) and served by a series of escalators and a funicular railway. Visitors may wish to take the opportunity to visit these halls which comprise temples, columbarium on several levels of the terraced hillside, a pagoda (entry not allowed) shrines and ponds.
Not much communication was given about the surrounding area, however, it was nice to get an overview of the island and some of the houses and temples located there. Cruising out of the main channel, we picked up speed entering a wider waterway on the far end of the island near the raised highway. As the boat slowed, it appeared that the captain was scanning the waters. Before long, I noticed something breaking the surface in the distance. Suddenly, I remembered reading about Chinese white dolphins (also known as pink dolphins) during my Hong Kong research. This is what we were searching for!
After a few minutes, we noticed more rounded backs and fins breaking the surface. Though none came extremely close to our boat and they were quite difficult to capture on camera, we did see quite a few of the strangely hued aquatic mammals in the area.
