Guan Yin Hall观音殿

Guan Yin Hall, or the Mercy Buddha Hall, is on the axis between the Heavenly King Hall and the Grand Hall. It houses the most popular bodhisttva in China. The statue, cast with copper in the Ming Dynasty, has completely been oxidized to black from head to toe. The Bodhisattva is in a sitting position with two hands putting flat on his crossed legs, palms facing upward, depicting his meditation.

Bodhisattva Guan Yin is already a buddha, but he remains a Bodhisattva to assist the buddhas. He is said to have the compassion of all buddhas, so he is honorifically addressed as “the Bodhisattva of Infinite Pity” or “the Bodhisattva” of Great Mercy,” or simply “the Mercy Buddha.” Though Bodhisattva Guan Yin can put on 32 different images for convenience of the salvation of people, he often appears as ladies rather than men, and thereby he is far more famed as “Goddess of Mercy.” In China, innumerable ordinary women put faith in “her” and frequent temples to worship “her.” Many even have a small shrine for the Bodhisattva at home. Bodhisattva Guan Yin is truly the most popular in China and his image is enshrined everywhere from Mount Putuo in the east to Tibet in the west. And Mount Putuo, an insular sanctuary where the Bodhisattva is believed to perform the Buddhist rites, has become one of the Buddhist Holy Mountains in China.