Jade Buddha Temple is an important sightseeing spot in Shanghai. It was built in the year 1882. In order to keep two jade Buddha statues from Myanmar by a monk named Huigen, locals built the elegant temple. The temple got destroyed in the 1911 Revolution. Fortunately the jade Buddha statues were carefully protected and a new temple was built on the present site in 1928.
The two Buddha statues were designed in different gestures. One is sitting and the other is recumbent. The two Statues were carved with a whole white jade. The sparkling and crystal-clear white jade gives the Buddhas the beauty of sanctity and make them more vivid. The Sitting Buddha is 190 centimeters high and encrusted by the agate and the emerald, portraying the Buddha at the moment of his meditation and enlightenment. The Recumbent Buddha is 96 centimeters long, lying on the right side with the right hand supporting the head and the left hand placing on the left leg, this shape is called the “lucky repose”. The sedate face shows the peaceful mood of Sakyamuni when he left this world. In the temple there is also another Recumbent Buddha which is four meters long and was brought from Singapore by the tenth abbot of the temple in 1989. Furthermore there are many other ancient paintings and Buddhist scriptures distributed in the different halls of the temple.
The Jade Buddha Temple is a good place to go in Shanghai. Its quiet sphere will let you forget noises of the real world and make you refresh.