Guide to the Giant Buddha Temple in Zhangye, Gansu

On a sunny early summer day, I arrived in Zhangye and am sharing what I have seen and heard in the city. I have already shared a guide to the Zhangye City Museum, which is a museum with very distinctive local features. Not far away is the millennium-old Giant Buddha Temple of Zhangye, how could I miss it? The Giant Buddha Temple, originally named Jia Ye Ru Lai Temple, is located in the Democratic West Street, Giant Buddha Temple Lane, Ganzhou District, Zhangye City, Gansu Province. It was built in the first year of Yong'an of the Western Xia Dynasty (1098). The temple is also known as the 'Reclining Buddha Temple' because it houses the Nirvana statue of Sakyamuni. It was a temple built by imperial decree through the dynasties. It is also an important historical and cultural site on the Silk Road and a landmark building of the historical and cultural city of Zhangye. The temple houses the largest Western Xia Buddhist hall in the country - the Giant Buddha Hall, the largest indoor clay sculpture of a reclining Buddha, and the most complete first edition of the 'Yongle Northern Canon'. It is a Buddhist art museum that integrates architecture, sculpture, murals, carvings, scriptures, and cultural relics. The Giant Buddha Temple complex includes an archway-style mountain gate, the Hall of the Four Heavenly Kings, the Guan Shrine Hall, the Passing Hall, the Companion Hall, the side rooms, and the main hall of the Reclining Buddha. To the south of the main hall is the Responsive Temple, to the north is the Golden Pagoda Hall, and to the rear are the Golden Repository and the Earth Pagoda. As a royal family temple through the dynasties, the Giant Buddha Temple has a close relationship with the royal families of the Western Xia, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, and features a typical palace architectural style. The temple complex is arranged along a central axis running east to west, with symmetrical side halls on both sides. The entire group of buildings is unique in shape, strict in layout, prominent in theme, and clear in tone. The main building, the Giant Buddha Hall, is an outstanding representative of Western Xia architectural art. The hall is composed of two-story pavilions, with a neat and standard plane structure and a multi-faceted spatial combination, giving a sense of both natural elegance and solemn depth, both clear and distinct yet hazy and ethereal, reflecting the imperial majesty of 'supreme honor'. Inside the Giant Buddha Temple, there are Buddhist art exhibition halls and Buddhist scripture exhibition halls. The historical and artistic value it carries is a vivid history book for studying the history and culture of Zhangye, religious culture, and the integration of multiple ethnicities. It is a Buddhist art museum that integrates architecture, sculpture, murals, carvings, scriptures, and cultural relics.