As the highest outdoor Bronze Sitting Buddha in the world, Tiantan Buddha Statue is located in Ngong Ping Plain in front of Baolian Temple of Lantau Island with height of 26 meters and weight of 220 tonnes. Sitting on the three-storey alter on the 268-stair stone step, Tiantan Buddha Statue is one of the most representative religious building in Hong Kong.
The sitting Buddha is solemn and serene, quiet and peaceful. Overlooking the beautiful landscape of Lantau Island and seas in China is also enjoyable. The Buddha is called Tiantan Buddha Statue because the design of it imitated the foundation of Temple of Heaven (Tiantan in Chinese).
The Tiantan Buddha Statue or Giant Bronze Buddha was also designed according to the 32 looks of Buddha and referred to Piluzhena Buddha of Longmen Grottoes and Sakyamuni Statue of the Dunhuang Caves. Therefore, Tiantan Buddha Statue possesses the characteristics of Buddha built in the heyday of Sui and Tang Dynasty.
Covering an area of 2,239 square meters, the Tiantan Buddha Statue is divided into three storeys (Merit Hall, Dharmadhatu Hall and Memorial Hall), connected by circular staircases. A two meter-diameter Yujia Bell is hung in the middle and is knocked every seven minutes and totally 108 times, in order to relieve people s 108 kinds of troubles
In the Wisdom Path (Xin Jing Jian Lin) nearby, content of Heart Sutra (Xinjing-a treasure which is worshiped by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism) is carved on stakes and displayed in large-scale outdoor wood carving. And they are arranged into , which symbolizes limitless and boundless. There is a data library under the Tiantan Buddha Statue and you can enter it by the ticket.