Golden Lamp Temple

Golden Lamp Temple, a famous grotto temple, is located on a steep cliff. The terrain here is dangerously steep. It has little vegetation. It borders steep cliff to the north and deep valley to the south. The temple was built along the natural way of the mountain and had lasted for more than 60 years (Emperor Hongzhi of Ming Dynasty to Emperor Jiajing of Qing Dynasty) to built. Most existing halls have architectural style of Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are seven yards from east to the west because it boards cliff to the north and deep valley to the south. Every yard has halls and they are an integral unit. The most unique one is Land-and-Water Hall. There are flower decorations and square sunk panels on the roof. There is a pool with clear water in the hall. Over the pool is a stone bridge of window style which connects the walls of left and right sides and 50 centimeters wide steps around the grotto gate and fan shape wall. On the lotus throne is a statue of Sakyamuni sitting cross-legged. To his left are Manjusri and Samantabhadra to his right. There are about 90 relievo wall paintings in the hall which are very beautiful and neat. Grotto is the soul of the Golden Lamp Temple. There are 37 shrines and more than 500 bas-relief on precipices in the 14 caverns.