Po Lin Monastery

Review

Colorful hillside monastery & site of the landmark, 34-m. bronze Tian Tan Buddha statue. Ngong Ping, Lantau Island’s mountainous home of the Big Buddha has long been known for its monasteries and its refreshing highland climate, which is usually several degrees cooler than Hong Kong’s urban areas. That’s what drew a group of Buddhist monks to the area in 1906, when they chose it as the location for a monastery that was initially known as Tai Mao Pung — “The Big Hut” — before it was later renamed Po Lin Monastery. The monastery was joined in 1918 by the Chi Chuk Lam nunnery, and Ngong Ping eventually filled up with many small Buddhist temples.