Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park has only one temple. Surrounded by trees with broad views to distant mountains, Tianmen Temple on the summit of the mountain whispers peace and tranquility. As most areas of the temple are open to the public, Tianmen Temple has become a sacred place for people to find inner peace and pray for blessings.
☝ Tianmen Temple
Tianmen Temple is situated on the summit of Tianmen Mountain. Locating at the intersection of the east line scenic area and the west line scenic area, Tianmen Temple is actually a core spot on the middle line scenic area. At the entrance of Tianmen Temple, there is a place to ride the mini open top cable car to travel around the old-growth forest of Fairy Summit Beyong Clouds and Dreams Scenic Area to see rare plants such as Davidia Involucrata and Carpinus dayongina.
Tianmen Mountain Temple is free of charge. However, the mini cable car at the entrance that goes directly to the old growth forest requires an extra service fee.
☝ Tianmen Temple
Tianmen Mountain Temple was originally built in the Ming Dynasty. However, the current temple building is actually the rebuild on the original site, consisting of the main hall, Guanyin pavilion, scripture repository, dharma hall and so on. It occupies an area of more than 20,000 square meters. The building of Tianmen Mountain Temple is magnificent, exquisite and elegant. The difficulty of constructing such a huge project upon the mountain peak even could not be imagined.
☝ Stone Carving on Tianmen Mountain
Tianmen Temple is a sacred place for Buddhism. As soon as visitors approach the temple, they are attracted by the sound of recitation of monks reading the Buddhist texts.
Located on the second floor, the scripture repository is the place where stores the first sarira of Shakyamuni Buddha in Hunan Province. For this reason, there are lots of believers coming here to enshrine and worship. However, visitors are all required to accumulate enough "merits" to be able to light the incense sticks or admire the Buddha relics.
☝ the Buddha Statue inside Tianmen Temple
As mentioned earlier, Tianmen Temple is the core of the middle line scenic area. In its neighborhood, there is a famous tourist spot called as "Qiuer Cave". According to a Chinese legend, Guanyin Who Brings Sons, once presented in the cave. People who are childless are encouraged to come here and devoutly pray. Guanyin would then bring children to them.
Tianmen Mountain Temple has no large difference with other temples in the country. However, as it locates on the mountaintop, it offers wide vision so that travelers can overlook the sceneries from near and far. The cherry blossoms in spring and the pure white snow in the winter are the two magnificent scenes unique to Tianmen Temple.
