Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery
Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery (Man Fat Tsz) is a Buddhist temple in Sha Tin, Hong Kong. It is located at 220 Pai Tau Village, Sha Tin. It is not an actual Monastery as there are no resident Monks and is managed by laypersons. It was built by Yuet Kai, a devout Buddhist layman who dedicated the last years of his Life to constructing an elaborate temple containing nearly 13,000 Statues of Buddha.
Historic background
In 1951, Venerable Yuet Kai (Ch. 月溪法師, Yue Xi) founded the Monastery, coming to Hong Kong in 1933. He preached Buddhism in a local Monastery. He planned to establish a Buddhist college when he accepted an estate from a pious Buddhist who was also a rich merchant. The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery was constructed at the beginning of 1949. Despite his Old age, Yuet Kai carried the buildings materials personally from the foot of the mountain together with his disciples to build the Monastery. It took eight years to complete all the buildings and another ten years to finish the 12,800 Buddha statues. construction was finished in 1957. Today, his preserved Body is presented in the main hall of the Monastery in a glass case, often the main attraction of the temple.
The Main Temple and the Pagoda of the Monastery are graded as Grade III Historic Buildings due to their historic significance.
Facilities
The Monastery, which occupies over 8 hectares, is made up of two groups of architectural structures at lower and higher levels respectively. There is a Pagoda, a hall, two pavilions and a tower in the architectural structure at the lower level. There are four halls in another structure at the higher level.
The five halls in the Monastery are used to house the Statues of Buddhas.
