Beow Hiang Lim Temple

MALAYSIA, Penang, Air Itam

Beow Hiang Lim means Wondrous Fragrant Forest. The temple was built by Huiquan, a monk from Fujian, China, between 1940 and 1946. With the support of Lin Bingzhao, he bought a single-story house as a place for meditation practice and propagating Buddhist teachings. The present appearance of the temple is a result of extension works performed between 1970 and 1984.
Occupying an area of 2.4 ha, the temple consists of the main temple gate, Great Hero Hall, bell and drum towers, Huiquan Memorial Tower, Huiquan Academy, and Ksitigarbha Hall. The three-bay wide Great Hero Hall has a double-eave hip-and-gable roof with the ridge ends curving upwards. Within the hall there is a 2.4 m high Sakyamuni Buddha statue made from Italian marble. The bell and drum towers at the sides of the hall are surmounted by hexagonal, double-eave, pyramidal roofs. Below the bell and drum towers there are the meditation and dining halls respectively. The three-bay wide Ksitigarbha Hall has a triple-eave hip roof. There are two dragons playing with a pearl on the main ridge, as well as dragons at the end of the hips. There is also a vivid depiction of a dragon between the intermediate eaves. Relics of the founder, monk Huiquan, are kept in the Huiquan Memorial Tower.