LegendThe eyes of Weituo
People say that wherever you stand in the Hall of a Thousand Buddhas, Weituo's eyes are on you.
Source: A saying of visitors and guides
The story
Six kilometres south-west of Pingyao, at Qiaotou village, a temple stands behind an earth wall faced with brick, like a little walled town. A Song stele inside says it was repaired in the second year of Wuping, 571, under the Northern Qi (550–577), so it is older still. It was first called the Zhongdu Temple and took its present name about the Song dynasty (960–1279).
Shuanglin means "twin trees": the Buddha passed into nirvana between two sala trees. The halls you see are mostly Ming and Qing (1644–1912). In them stand about 2,056 painted clay figures, from thirty centimetres to over three metres tall. They are not behind glass. You stand a step away from them.
What is here
One ticket covers all the halls.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| Outer court: Heavenly Kings, Shakyamuni, Arhat halls | Main ticket |
| Inner court: Thousand Buddhas, Bodhisattva, Daxiong halls | Main ticket |
If you have one minute
In front of Weituo, in the Hall of a Thousand Buddhas
The guardian god Weituo stands ready, his body twisting one way and his head turning the other, his eyes following you. Many Chinese sculptors call him the finest Weituo in the country.
Then look for the Guanyin at ease, sitting with one knee raised, relaxed, almost smiling. The makers' names are lost. They worked in the Ming (1368–1644), for village patrons.
Things people often get wrong
"It is inside Pingyao." It is six kilometres out of town, with its own ticket.
"The figures are stone." They are clay over wood and straw, painted and gilded, and very fragile.
People who stood here
We searched Chinese sources first for this list, then English ones.
- The clay sculptors of Shanxi (Song to Qing)Village craftsmen, mostly nameless, who made the figures over several centuries. A few names survive in inscriptions inside the halls.
- Ruan Yisan (urban planner, born 1934)The Tongji University professor who argued in the 1980s for keeping old Pingyao whole. When Pingyao was listed in 1997, Shuanglin and Zhenguo were listed with it.
Go deeper: six halls, one by one
The temple has two courts of halls. Go round the outer court first, then the inner. Allow one and a half hours; the halls are dim, so let your eyes adjust.
1. The Hall of the Heavenly Kings
Four great kings guard the gate, holding a lute, a sword, a snake and an umbrella. Together they stand for good weather for the crops: wind, rain, timeliness and plenty.
2. The Shakyamuni Hall: the hanging sculpture
The walls are covered with small figures and buildings modelled in clay that seem to hang in the air. They tell the life of the Buddha, scene by scene, like a picture book in relief.
3. The Arhat Hall: the mute arhat
Eighteen arhats sit round the walls, each a different person: thin, fat, old, laughing, angry. One of them is called the mute arhat: his lips are pressed shut, as if he wants to speak and cannot.
4. The Hall of a Thousand Buddhas: Weituo and Guanyin at ease
This is the hall most people come for. Weituo stands to one side; the Guanyin at ease sits among hundreds of small Buddhas.
5. The Bodhisattva Hall: the thousand-armed Guanyin
Guanyin with a thousand arms fans out behind her, each hand with an eye in its palm, to see and help all beings.
6. The Daxiong Hall and the inner court
The main hall of the inner court holds the great Buddhas. Look up at the brackets and roof beams, which have been repaired many times over five hundred years.
The temple and the same years elsewhere
The temple was repaired in 571, the year traditionally given for the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Most of its figures were made in the Ming, while Michelangelo and the masters of the Renaissance were working in Italy.