Background
Lingyin is the second half of a Hangzhou trip that would otherwise be all water. It sits in the wooded hills northwest of West Lake, and the walk in is as good as the destination: you pass a cliff face full of Buddhist carvings before you reach the temple gate.
Lingyin means Temple of the Soul's Retreat. According to tradition it was founded in 328 AD during the Eastern Jin dynasty by an Indian monk named Huili, which makes it one of the oldest Buddhist sites in the region. At its peak under the Wuyue Kingdom, between 907 and 978, the complex held 18 pavilions, 72 halls, and more than 1,300 dormitory rooms for a community of over 3,000 monks. During the Southern Song it was counted among the ten most important Chan temples in Jiangnan.
The temple has been damaged and rebuilt more than once. During the Cultural Revolution it was ransacked, and its planned destruction in 1966 was stopped by local people and students from Zhejiang University. It is a working temple today, not a museum, and the Lingyin–Feilai Feng Scenic Area around it charges admission.
Visit Strategy
Give Lingyin half a day. It is not a quick look at a hall and a statue: the compound has several courtyards and halls climbing the hillside, and the Feilai Feng grottoes sit on the approach road, so the visit is longer than it looks on a map.
The carvings at Feilai Feng come first, on the left of the path as you walk in from the entrance. Many of them date from the same Wuyue period that built the temple's grandest version, and most visitors walk past them in a hurry to reach the temple gate.
Two things are worth arranging around. First, arrive early: this is one of the busiest sights in Hangzhou and tour groups arrive by mid-morning. Second, keep the day to one hill branch. Lingyin pairs well with West Lake, and it pairs badly with a rushed attempt to add the tea hills as well.
