This Buddhist temple was built in AD 537 to enshrine Buddhist relics brought over from India, and were placed in the octagonal Decorated Pagoda (Huā Tǎ). The temple was given its current name by the exiled poet Su Dongbo in 1099, who waxed lyrical over the (now gone) banyans in the courtyard. You can see the characters 'six banyans' (liùróng) that he wrote above the gates.
Many prominent monks taught here, including Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. The temple opens at 6.30am on the first and 15th day of the lunar month.
