Park of ChinaOverview
| Designation | National key cultural relic (second batch, 1982) One of the Four Great Temples of China |
| Province | Shandong |
| Location | Wande, Changqing District, Jinan, Shandong, northwest of Mount Tai |
| Latitude, longitude | 36.36, 116.98 Google Maps |
| Highlights | Song-dynasty painted clay arhats, a Song pagoda, a stupa forest |
| Top sights | Thousand Buddha Hall, Bizhi Pagoda, stupa forest |
| Nearby cities | Jinan, Tai'an |
| Nearby sites | Mount Tai (Taishan) 17km, Temple, Mansion and Cemetery of Confucius, Qufu 85km, Qingzhou Scenic Area 135km Search nearby |
| Themes | Temple, Buddha, Statue, Tower, Ancient Building, Culture |
About
Lingyan Temple is in Wande, Changqing District of Jinan, Shandong, northwest of Mount Tai. It is close to the mountain and has long been mentioned together with it — a saying has it that a trip to Mount Tai is not complete without Lingyan — but it lies in Jinan, not in Tai'an. With Guoqing Temple in Tiantai, Yuquan Temple in Dangyang and Qixia Temple in Nanjing it is counted among the Four Great Temples of China.
The temple was founded in the Eastern Jin, rebuilt in 520 under the Northern Wei and flourished most under the Tang. The monk Xuanzang translated scriptures here, and emperors who performed the rites at Mount Tai often visited.
The Thousand Buddha Hall, rebuilt in the Ming, holds 40 clay arhats: 32 original Song figures and 8 added in the Ming; Liang Qichao called them the finest sculptures in the land. The Bizhi Pagoda, an octagonal nine-storey brick pagoda 55.7 m high, was begun in 994 and finished in 1057. The stupa forest, the burial ground of abbots since the Tang, has 167 stupas and 81 inscribed tablets. The temple became a national key cultural relic in 1982.
Nearby
| World Heritage | Mount Tai (Taishan) 17km, Temple, Mansion and Cemetery of Confucius, Qufu 85km, Yin Xu, Anyang 251km |
| National parks | Thousand Buddha Mountain 30km, Boshan Scenic Area 80km, Qingzhou Scenic Area 135km, Xiangtangshan Grottoes 248km |
| AAAAA attractions | Jinan Springs 33km, Zhoucun Ancient Commercial City Scenic Area 91km, Yimeng Mountain Scenic Area 106km, Firefly Water Cave and Underground Grand Canyon Tourist Area 150km |
| AAAA attractions | Lingyanshan <1km, Jiudingta Chinese Ethnic Happy Amusement Park 15km, Jinxiangshan 17km, Hongyegu Ecological Culture Tourism Area 22km |
| UNESCO Global Geoparks | Yimengshan UNESCO Global Geopark 106km |
| Historic cities | Tai'an 23km, Jinan 35km, Qufu 86km, Liaocheng 90km |
| Cities | Jinan 26km |
| Historical sites | Ming Prince De Cemetery 15km, Taishan Ancient Building Complex 16km, Thousand-Buddha Cliff Statues (including Longhu Pagoda and Jiuding Pagoda) 17km, Taishan Stone Inscriptions 20km |
| National geoparks | Yiyuan Lushan National Geopark 108km |
| Historic towns | Dawenkou Town 46km |