Ling Shan Buddha Palace

Ling Shan Buddha Palace

Visit the Ling Shan Scenic Area—Ling Shan Buddha Palace. In December 2006, after two days of careful and enthusiastic discussions among over 60 renowned figures from China’s cultural, architectural, artistic, museum, and arts and crafts circles, as well as eminent Buddhist monks and Buddhist studies experts, a general consensus was reached. The preparatory meeting for the China Contemporary Buddhist Culture and Art Expo and the seminar on the establishment of the China (Ling Shan) Contemporary Buddhist Art Museum concluded. "A ‘China Contemporary Buddhist Culture and Art Expo’ that never ends" became the construction concept for Ling Shan Buddha Palace. The goal of building Ling Shan Buddha Palace into a contemporary Chinese Buddhist art museum was set. After more than two years of construction, the third phase of the Ling Shan Scenic Area project was completed, presenting a magnificent Buddhist architectural complex to the world. On November 23, 2008, the Ling Shan Buddha Palace, integrating functions such as culture, art, tourism, and conferences, officially opened its doors. Nestled by the vast Taihu Lake and at the foot of the spiritually rich Ling Shan Mountain, the grand architecture of Ling Shan Buddha Palace stands adjacent to the majestic Grand Buddha of Ling Shan. The resplendent artistry and the profound Buddhist culture shine brilliantly together. The architecture of Ling Shan Buddha Palace is majestic in scale, solemn and harmonious in layout, with a total construction area of over 70,000 square meters. The three-story palace adopts a stepped-back architectural layout, aligned along a north-south axis and symmetrically distributed east to west. With a total construction area of over 70,000 square meters, the building spans 150 meters in width and 180 meters in depth. At the top are five tiered, elegant towers, while at the rear is a mandala-shaped altar. The architectural form of the Buddha Palace breaks from tradition, primarily using durable materials such as stone, and extensively incorporates tall colonnades, large-span beams and columns, towering domes, and super-sized halls. It not only embodies the profundity and grandeur of Buddhism but also blends traditional cultural elements with distinct contemporary features, perfectly presenting a landmark architectural masterpiece. The entire structure is built against the mountain and integrates the essence of the architectural styles of the world’s three major Buddhist language families. Its "uniqueness," together with the "grandeur" of the Grand Buddha of Ling Shan and the "marvel" of the Nine-Dragon Bathing the Buddha, forms the three great wonders of the new Ling Shan Scenic Area. It draws on the decorative essence of traditional Chinese wood carving, stone carving, and jade carving. Stepping into the Buddha Palace, one is greeted by a strong cultural atmosphere. Dongyang wood carvings, hand-painted murals by Dunhuang artisans, grand glass artworks, Yangzhou lacquerware, oil painting compositions, cloisonné Sumeru lamps, blue-and-white enamel vases from Jingdezhen, and Ou-style relief murals—all these art treasures showcase outstanding traditional culture in various areas of Ling Shan Buddha Palace. The culture of the Buddha Palace is not only static but also dynamic. At the Ling Shan Sacred Altar, which serves multiple functions for conferences and performances, a grand musical pageant will be staged. Directed and rehearsed by high-level domestic teams, the performance centers on promoting traditional culture and enlightening wisdom. As an Eastern hub of Buddhist art, Ling Shan Buddha Palace can be regarded as the “Louvre of the East.” The Buddha Palace is a treasure trove of brilliance, radiating the profound aura of Buddhist art. Large stone slabs, golden spire roofs, and exquisite Buddha statues are just the beginning—the even more astonishing sights lie within the Buddha Palace.

Before entering the main gate, the first thing you see are the white elephants in Buddhism. The pair of white elephants before us were born in Myanmar and are typical white jade elephants. In Buddhism, white elephants represent sacred objects of the divine. Within the Ling Shan Buddha Palace complex, there is a little-known highlight: the lighting technology used here is “see the light, not the lamp.” The architecture and lighting design of the Buddha Palace are integrated, with light sources cleverly concealed. The secret of “seeing the light, not the lamp” lies in the giant caisson ceilings at the top of the building. These caissons are composed of layers of different wooden components, with lighting shining through the back of the carved elements. As visitors step into the main hall of the Buddha Palace, they will feel the solemnity and mystery brought by the lighting—a testament to the ingenuity of the lighting designers: “seeing the light, not the lamp.” In the corridor hall of the Buddha Palace, a large series of oil paintings depict the spread, exchange, and contemporary development of Buddhism in chronological order, creating a vivid and grand historical panorama of Buddhism. The use of oil painting techniques in the corridor hall of Ling Shan Buddha Palace to express such a lofty, grand, and richly meaningful Buddhist art piece is not only an unprecedented innovation in Buddhist history but also a significant stroke in the history of Chinese fine arts, becoming a timeless masterpiece in the history of Chinese Buddhist culture and art. The indoor wood carvings of the Buddha Palace feature precious golden-thread nanmu wood, showcasing traditional Chinese cultural symbols of good fortune and blessings through exquisite Dongyang wood carving techniques, floral patterns, cloud motifs, the Four Spirits, and meander designs. The high-relief carvings are strikingly lifelike, almost in the round, with unparalleled volume rendered through intricate layering. A wide variety of carvings are applied—from nearly four-meter-tall white wood vases and two-meter-tall gilded Buddha statues to tiny Sumeru pedestals on stair railings, all meticulously crafted. Especially in the corridor and tower halls, numerous Dongyang wood carving architectural and decorative elements are integrated, such as mortise-and-tenon “ox shoulders” and bracket sets, blending artistic ambiance with architectural functionality. The corridor and tower halls are also the most important and concentrated areas for wood carving decoration, especially in the upper sections where every beam and column is adorned with auspicious patterns or Buddhist stories, and every level of the tower hall is covered in carvings, particularly the arched ceilings densely filled with flying apsara designs. The total wood carving decoration area of the entire Ling Shan Buddha Palace is 15,000 square meters, using 1,400 cubic meters of raw timber. Even at the highest point of the Buddha Palace, over 60 meters up, the most delicate craftsmanship is applied. From the creation of wood carving designs to processing the raw timber, cutting, deep carving, rough carving, fine carving, polishing, and gilding—each of the 20 processes is executed with exceptional precision. The most challenging part of the construction is not the design or production, but the installation. First, the individual components are huge, with many weighing over a thousand kilograms. Since it’s indoor work, cranes cannot be used, making the labor involved immense. Second, the space is enormous—such a scale has never been encountered in Dongyang wood carving projects before. Lastly, within such a vast space, there are no surfaces to anchor the wood carving components. According to Lu Guangzheng, a Chinese Arts and Crafts Master in charge of the wood carving project, the Buddha Palace wood carving group is the largest project since the Qing Dynasty’s Dongyang wood carvers undertook the Forbidden City project... Judged by volume, craftsmanship complexity, and variety of applications, the wood carving elements in the Buddha Palace undoubtedly hold a preeminent position. No wonder Master Lu Guangzheng gathered over a thousand skilled artisans who worked tirelessly for over a year, not producing 23 train cars of timber, but rather over 15,000 square meters of breathtaking, vibrant Dongyang wood carvings.

The “Celestial Map” was primarily created by Hou Liming, director of the Dunhuang Academy of Fine Arts. Painting the dome murals for Ling Shan Buddha Palace was the largest such task they have undertaken to date, involving nearly dozens of painters representing the highest level of current Dunhuang mural creation. The “Celestial Map” mural on the dome of Ling Shan Buddha Palace combines the unique architectural form of the dome with the content of the *Mahāpratisarā Mahāvidyārājñī Dhāraṇī Sūtra* translated by Amoghavajra in the Tang Dynasty. It features the Buddhas of Blazing Light, the complete chart of the Nine Luminaries, and the Twelve Zodiac Signs as main elements. At the center is the Buddha of Blazing Light for blessings and disaster relief, the inner circle shows the Nine Luminaries, and the outer circle displays the Twelve Zodiac Signs, arranged in three layers across the entire dome. Patterns of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions are scattered throughout, and unique Buddhist motifs such as flying apsaras, lotus flowers, and grapevines are organically integrated into the overall composition. Each corner of the dome features a flying apsara guarding the four directions. The entire work presents a scene of the vast celestial realm, bright and clear, with flying apsaras leaping, clouds drifting, and lotus flowers swirling, highlighting the dynamic intention of the Celestial Map and showcasing the mandala-like illusionary celestial realm of Buddhism. Considering the mural’s decorative role in the overall Ling Shan Buddha Palace and the cultural significance it aims to convey, the Celestial Map does not overly emphasize astronomical meaning but focuses on Buddhist significance and artistic expression. Utilizing the expansive pictorial space, it pursues movement within stability, forming a composition that is dynamic yet not chaotic, and stable yet not rigid. To showcase a rich variety of artistic forms and echo the surrounding color tones, the mural adopts the style of the Tang Dynasty as its primary influence, using golden-brown hues as the main tone, along with elements such as precious flower motifs and vine-wrapped lotuses. To better blend the ethereal beauty of the Buddha realm with the illusory celestial realm, the creation of the Celestial Map simplifies patterns and colors while inheriting and innovating upon the characteristics of Dunhuang murals. This allows the various graphic elements to be both independent and interconnected, giving the dome a dynamic architectural beauty with undulating variations. It creates a solemn, luxurious, harmonious, and expansive Buddhist artistic atmosphere, highlighting the charm of Eastern Buddhist culture. The choice of style is because Tang Dynasty art from Dunhuang represents the most splendid era of Chinese Buddhist art and an important period of profound integration between Chinese and Western cultures. The

In Chinese Buddhism, colored glaze holds a particularly special status. Tracing back to its origins, as the crown jewel of the Seven Buddhist Treasures, it absorbs radiant hues yet remains pure and translucent, stunningly beautiful yet elusive, taking on countless forms yet eternally serene. The clear and luminous qualities of colored glaze align with Buddhism’s concept of “illuminating the mind to see one’s true nature.” In nearly all scriptures, being “in form and spirit like colored glaze” is regarded as the highest realm of Buddhist cultivation. The thematic content and artistic value of the large-scale colored glaze work “The World of Treasure” have never been seen in the history of Chinese colored glaze craftsmanship, and are extremely rare even in the global history of colored glaze. Because there was only one reason for its creation: to become a timeless masterpiece of Buddhist art and the treasured centerpiece of the Lingshan Brahma Palace...

Address: No. 8 Guzhu Road, Mashan, Binhu District, Wuxi City

Type: Performance & Temple

Recommended Visiting Time: Approximately 2 hours

Phone: 400-168-0303

Opening Hours:

7:00–17:30 (7:00–17:00 in winter)

Ticket Information:

No separate ticket required. Included in the admission to the Lingshan Scenic Area.