Hongfa Temple

TAIWAN, Kaohsiung

Hongfa means Great Dharma. The temple was built between 1957 and 1964 by the monk Kaizheng. It was subsequently expanded. Reconstruction of the Great Hero Hall began in 1989 and was completed in 1994.
The temple consists of the main gate, theGreat Hero Hall, and the Ci’en Cultural Building. The three-bay wide main gate has three tiers. The Great Hero Hall is also known as the Avatamsaka Realm Hall. The building consists of two basement stories and three upper stories. The Great Hero Hall is on the first story, while the Avatamsaka Lecture Hall and the Ten Thousand Buddha Hall occupy the second and third stories respectively. The building has a double-eave hip-and-gable roof. The roof ridge has a miniature pagoda in the center with dragons at either end. The eaves turn upwards at the corners. At the front of the building there is a portico with a hip-and-gable roof. The eaves are supported by a beam which is underpinned by multiple bracket sets. Between the two pillars there is a carved architrave, above which is a horizontal inscribed board. The Great Hero Hall houses the statues of the Avatamsaka Triad: Sakyamuni Buddha, and the Bodhisattvas Manjusri and Samantabhadra. There are also the figures of Mahakasyapa and Ananda flanking the statue of Sakyamuni Buddha.