Chi Lin Nunnery (Chinese: 志蓮淨苑) is a large Buddhist temple complex located in Diamond Hill, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Covering a space of more than 33,000 square meters, the temple complex includes a nunnery, temple halls, Chinese gardens, visitor's hostels and a vegetarian restaurant. The temple halls have statues of the Sakyamuni Buddha, the goddess of mercy Guanyin and other bodhisattvas. These statues are made from gold, clay, wood and stone.
The Chi Lin Nunnery was founded in 1934 but was rebuilt in the 1990s following the style of Tang Dynasty traditional Chinese architecture. The present-day buildings are wood frame buildings built without the use of any iron nails. This construction is based on traditional Chinese architectural techniques dating from the Tang Dynasty that uses special interlocking systems cut into the wood to hold them in place. The Chi Lin Nunnery buildings are the only buildings to be built in this style in modern day Hong Kong.
The temple halls and the Chinese garden in front of the nunnery is open to the public daily without charge.
Famous quotes containing the words lin and/or nunnery:
“Out then spak her father dear,
And he spak meek and mild,
And ever alas, sweet Janet, he says,
I think thou gaes wi’ child.
If that I gae wi’ child, father,
Mysel maun bear the blame;
There’s ne’er a laird about your ha’,
Shall get the bairn’s name.”
—Unknown. Tam Lin (l. 53–60)
“Yet there is no spring in Florida, neither in boskage perdu, nor on the nunnery beaches.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)