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Visits to famous temples, bell striking on New Year's Eve, Buddhism exchange, paying homage to the Goddess of Mercy, participating in Buddhist ceremonies or services, and worshiping the founders of different schools of Buddhism.
Zhejiang and
Hangzhou were called the "country of Buddhism" in the Southeast. As long ago as in 326, the Indian monk Huili built the famous Lingyin Temple, which has existed up to today. With various Buddhist schools attracted by the beauty of the West Lake to build temples in this area, Hangzhou was known as having 360 temples by the time of Tang Dynasty at its peak of power and splendor. In addition,
Ningbo, Putuo, Xinchang, Tiantai and other places to the southeast of Hangzhou all became lands of Buddhism with temples everywhere.
Buddhism in Zhejiang and Hangzhou has a close relation with Japan. The Jing Hill Temple in Yuhang was the birthplace of the Linji Sect Buddhism in Japan. The Tiantai Guoqing Temple was the place where Japanese monk Zuicheng studied the Tiantai Doctrine in the 9th century, who later on founded the Japanese Tiantai Sect immediately when he went back to his country. In the 13th century, another Japanese monk Sun Lotus founded the Sun Lotus Sect after he studied the Tiantai Doctrine.
The Tiantong Temple, one of the "Five Mountains for the Chan Sect in the world" built in the year of 300, was the place where the Japanese monk Daoyuan was converted to Buddhism in the 13 th century, who founded the Caodong Sect in the Japanese Buddhism after returning home. The Bukequ Kwan-yin Temple at the Putouo Mountain was founded jointly by the Japanese Huie and the local resident Zhang, and Putuo Mountain has since become a place where rites of Kwan-yin the Goddess of Mercy are performed.
Today, an increasingly great number of monks and disciples come to visit Hangzhou and other parts of Zhejiang from Southeast Asia, Japan and other countries. The Tour of Buddhism in Hangzhou arranges them to visit temples in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Putuo, Tiantai, Xinchang and other places. They can pay respect to the founders of different schools of Buddhism, pay homage to Kwan-yin the Goddess of Mercy, participate in Buddhist ceremonies or services, strike bells on New Year's Eve, and exchange Buddhist ideas.
