>> View of Ancient Temples

Tiantong Temple now covers an area of 76,400 square meters wherein 38,800 square meters are construction area and has 999 palaces, halls, towers, pavilions, etc. It is located at the foot of undulated Taibai Mountain, resting upon six hillsides in the east, west and north and an avenue in the south welcoming guests.

The structure of present Tiantong Temple remains what it was in the Ming Dynasty. The overall arrangement of the whole building is rigorous, the structure is exquisite, the primary and secondary is clearly demarcated, and the density is proper. Grand and tall Heavenly King Palace, Buddha Palace, Law Hall and Sutras Pavilion all lie in the wide base built resting on the mountain and one is higher than the other. Every palace inherits our country's ancient traditional building shape, eaves after eaves and pavilion after pavilion, and becomes "the Middle Axis". Then there are over ten houses on both sides symmetrical. Still there are Bell Tower, Meditation Room, Commandment Hall, Book Tower, Storehouse, Abbot Palace and so on, forming a magnificent spectacle.

Heavenly King Palace was built and destroyed many times and the present construction was rebuilt in 1936 when Master Yuanying was abbot. It has 7 rooms 32m in width, 6 rooms 24m in depth, and 18m high. There are four heavenly kings in it on both sides with 7.4m height. Setting up the warm room in the middle, there is greatly delighted Maitreya on the front, which was donated by faithful son Xu Ruifu and faithful daughter Chen Yingying from Singapore, wrote by Master Mingyi and with the guardian Xiaotuo on the back.

Buddha Palace and Abbot Palace were built in the Ming Dynasty. Buddha Palace was rebuilt by Buddhist monk Miyun in 1635, 20m high, 7 rooms 36m in width and 6 rooms 24m in depth. In it, Sakyamuni is in the middle, the Buddha of Medicine is on the left and Amitabha is on the right, all 13.5m high. On both sides, there are eighteen arhats with different posture. The stele hanging in the middle was inscribed by Emperor Yongzheng, and other couplets were donated by faithful son Wen Rugen and faithful daughter Zhoun Kaifu from Hong Kong, overseas Chinese Zheng Tongyi in Japan, Zhou Huiying from Hong Kong, etc.

Abbot Palace is used as abbot seat and large-scale Buddhism altar. In the east, there is Xianjue Hall, where put memorial tablets of all who had sermon here since establishment of the temple; in the west, there is Baoji Building for the abbot's residence.

Law Hall is a place for sermon, 9 rooms 37 in width, 6 rooms 20m in depth, and 17m high. It was rebuilt as a building in 1932 and the second floor is Sutras Pavilion. There is also the copper figure of the Buddha of Medicine granted by Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty in it. The steles of Sutras Pavilion and Law Hall were inscribed by the chairman Zhao Puchu of China Buddhism Association.

There are eastern and western Zen halls in Tiantong Temple. The eastern one is now the show room of Buddhism relics and presents given by foreign Buddhists. The weastern one, 7 rooms 27.7m in width and 5 rooms 16.3m in depth, is for dhyana and the whole monks hold ceremony here every wniter.

　　 There are altogether 19 arhat halls holding eighteen arhats with lively and vivid expression and posture which were made by Monk Zhuchan in 1918.