KunMing Trip 27.12.2014 Part 2

After we visited The Hall of One Thousand Buddhas, we dropped by our last destination in Kunming, Yuantong Temple. 

Yuantong Temple is at the foot of Yuantong Hill in the northern part of the city. It is the largest and one of the oldest Buddhist temples of Kunming. The temple was built during the Tang Dynasty, with a history spanning over 1,200 years. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the temple was reconstructed and repaired several times to its present size and appearance.

The RMB6 entrance fee is a small amount to pay for the peace and tranquility of the temple. We got a set of candles and incense to offer and pray.

We entered Yuantong Temple from above and descend along a gently sloping garden path.

The view before we starting our peaceful walk beneath the gigantic cypress trees that line the garden path to the temple with its extensive array of flowers and foliage is deeply restful and impressive.

Yuantong Temple is grand and unique. Its brilliant appearance, grand building complex, and tranquil surroundings have intoxicated generations of poets and painters who have written poems and brushed scrolls about it.

A beautiful garden surrounds the temple complex and a pond filled with many frolicking tortoises sits in the middle of it.

Architecturally beautiful with statues and wall carvings in the main buildings, it is a lovely place to sit and contemplate and forget about the worries of daily life.

The temple itself is in good condition, and worth the photo opportunities it offers.

 

This temple is worth the small entrance fee.

 

We saw a pavilion which shelters a golden statue of Guanyin with thousand arms, goddess of the fecundity and protector of the daily lives in the courtyard, right at the center of the basin. The main room contains remarkable statues of Buddha with its beams and rolled up pillars with dragons.