Shuanglin Temple

To 7 km southwest out of the town, there’s Shuanglin Temple. This Buddhist temple houses more than 2,000 terracotta figurines dating back to the Song and Yuan dynasties. These figurines are exquisitely vivid, earning the temple a reputation of "the Treasure House of Painted Sculptures". These sculptures were molded onto wooden skeletons, like flesh to bone, and even in a deteriorated form, appear life like. These lively sculptures show high artistic values in ancient time. They demonstrate the artistic styles of painted sculptures of the Tang, Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties.
 

Shuanglin Temple is originally called Zhongdu Temple. In the northern Song Dynasty, in order to memorialize Buddha who attained Nirvana under two trees in a forest, it was changed into 'Shuanglin, 'shuang' meaning 'two or double', and 'lin' meaning 'forest.' All cultural relics inside the temple, such as the pagoda trees planted during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), stone tablets from the Song Dynasty, bells from the Ming Dynasty, colored sculptures and ancient constructions, are considered invaluable. The colored sculptures have won great acclaim in the world. Various sculptures are scattered throughout the temple, the tallest measuring over one zhang (3.3 meters) and the shortest, one chi (three chi=one meter). With a total of 2,056 sculptures, the temple is reputed as an oriental art treasury. The cream-colored art sculptures of the Yuan (1271-1368)-Ming period are compared to the Yungang Grotto and frescos in the Yongle Palace of Ruicheng City.
 

Why visit Shuanglin Temple

Important part of the World Cultural Heritage of Pingyao Ancient City: Pingyao World Cultural Heritage consists of Pingyao Ancient City, Shuanglin Temple and Zhenguo Temple. Shuanglin Temple plays an important role in the World Cultural Heritage of Pingyao.

Home to over 2,000 colorful clay sculptures: There are more than 2,000 colorful clay statues in the Shuanglin Temple, which are well-preserved and vivid though faded because of time.

Tranquil with less crowds: Shuanglin Temple offers a peaceful and spiritual atmosphere with less crowds, which is not commercialized.

Complement to your Pingyao Experience: Shuanglin Temple offers insight to the religious and cultural experience of Pingyao, showing the artistic achievement of Pingyao. Shuanglin Temple is a nice destination for your itinerary in Pingyao after you visit the Pingyao Ancient City.

 

What to See at Shuanglin Temple

The Vivid Colorful Clay Statues

Judging from the earliest existing inscriptions, Shuanglin Temple was famous in the Song Dynasty. Most of the existing buildings were rebuilt in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and colored sculptures were also completed with the buildings. The color sculptures of Shuanglin Temple are well preserved. There are over 2,000 existing colored sculptures, and over 1,500 are well-preserved. The walls of the Sakyamuni Hall are covered with clay niches, each of which is an independent myth or Buddhist story. There are hundreds of statues of Bodhisattva about 50 centimeters high on both sides of the main statue of Bodhisattva Hall. The statues are accurate in modeling and realistic in expression. After watching the colorful sculptures of Shuanglin Temple, tourists will feel that the colorful clay sculptures are very concrete and vivid.

 

Tianwang Hall

The statues of Four Heavenly Kings are under the front porch of the Tianwang Hall. Each statue is about 3 meters high. The most successful thing in shaping them is their eyes, which are like two eyes flashing in the dark. Every four steps along the aisle from the mountain gate to the Temple of the King of Heaven, you will obviously feel that one of them is staring at you. If you are interested, you may wish to give it a try, and you will find that they have fulfilled their duties, both examining you and welcoming you, so they have to go through their examination before they can get close to the Buddha.

 

Arhat Hall

The main statue of the Arhat Hall is Guanyin Bodhisattva, with eighteen Arhat statues on both sides. Fat Arhat and thin Arhat are quiet, happy and angry, and they set each other off. Eighteen arhats, all in high spirits, have distinct personalities. Dumb Arhat  can be described as the essence of the whole temple. From his gesture and expression, we can imagine the dumb image, so later people call him Dumb Arhat. And there is a vivid Drunk Arhat in the Arhat Hall.

Eighteen arhats are sculpted in the Arhat Hall, which is a rare artistic treasure. These arhats are life-sized, accurate and full of personality. Under the extremely simple working conditions at that time, the ancient masters of art used the skillful traditional colored plastic sculpture skills and rich imagination, and used the sticky red soil in the local area to make these arhat statues artistic and vivid. It reflects the wisdom and infinite creativity of the working people in ancient China.

 

Hall of Sakyamuni

Hall of Sakyamuni is the second largest hall on the central axis of the Shuanglin Temple. In the hall, there are 48 stories of Sakyamuni in a comic strip structure, which shows his Buddhist stories from birth to nirvana. The images, clothes and hairstyles are localization in Chinese style.

There are more than 200 ancient Indian figures in the whole hall of Sakyamuni, and their image features, costumes and hairstyles have been completely in Chinese style. The landscapes, marbles, flowers and trees in the background are all based on the traditional garden features of China. Its molding characteristics are the combination of round carving, relief carving and through carving, with green and green as the cool tone. Through the various activities of these characters, the production and life of ancient society are vividly reproduced, without the cold taste of religious works at all, revealing a vulgar life atmosphere.

 

Main Hall

The Main Hall is the third largest hall on the central axis and the tallest building in Shuanglin Temple.

 

Things to Do at Shuanglin Temple

Know About the Stories of the Buddhism

There are many colorful clay sculptures at the Shuanglin Temple, which tell the stories of the Buddhism. You can learn about the different Buddhas and their stories during you visit the vivid statues at the temple. It is an interesting thing to know about the stories of the Buddhism with the statues on the different halls at the Shuanglin Temple.

 

Visit the Vivid and Famous Sculptures at the Temple

There are many famous and vivid colorful clay sculptures at the Shuanglin Temple. At the Tianwang Hall, you can see the statues of Four Heavenly Kings at the entrance. The statue of the Zizai Guanyin(Avalokitesvara) is very famous at the Shuanglin temple, its face is quiet and charming, and its posture is comfortable and natural. And the statue of Wei Tuo is also very famous in the Shuanglin Temple.

 

Visit the Ten Halls in the Shuanglin Temple

There are ten halls in the Shuanglin Temple, including Tianwang Hall, Hall of Sakyamuni, Main Hall and other halls. You can visit the different halls slowly and know about the Buddhist knowledge and stories about the Buddhas in the temple.

 

How to Get to Shuanglin Temple

Shuanglin Temple is just located about 7 kilometers from Pingyao Ancient City, and you can take taxi to the Shuanglin Temple from Pingyao Ancient City, which is very convenient.