Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is a popular Buddhist Temple found in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. The whole Monastery has more than 10,000 different looking Buddha statues on display.
The temple at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is found at the top of a mountain close to Pai Tau, Sha Tin. The Monastery can be quite difficult to find because there aren’t too many signs directing travellers on where to go. The entrance is just some pavement and a chain linked fence, so you may think you’re in the wrong spot when you get there. You’ll know you’re in the right spot when you see a bunch of golden Buddhas on both sides of the pathway leading up to the top.
To help you find your way to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, refer to this video on Youtube by WalkMe2.
How to get to 10000 Buddhas Temple from Shatin station, HK
There’s only one way to get to the top of the mountain, and that’s by walking. Bring some comfortable shoes with you because you’ll be hiking all the way up this mountain. The pathway to the top has over 400 stairs to climb! Resting benches are located along the way for those who need a break. The pathway to the top is split right down the middle with stairs on one side, and a paved ramp on the other side for handicapped accessibility. I found it easier to walk up the mountain on the paved side of the trail because stairs limit your steps and tire you out faster.
During your hike to the top of the mountain, there will be golden Buddha statues on both your left and right side of the trail, all the way up to the top. All of these golden Buddha statues are different. They have different expressions and poses, different clothing, and some have long arms and/or legs. It’s really amazing to see so many different Buddhas along the path. It makes the long walk to the top much more interesting. I like the fact that if you take a few rest stops along the way, there’s always something to see.
When I was walking up the mountain I had my camera in my hand. Every time I had to stop to catch my breath I would take a few pictures of some of the golden Buddhas. Once I was done taking a couple photos, I was ready to keep going. This made my hike more exciting because there was something to do while I was catching my breath.
Near the beginning of the entrance I saw someone repainting some of the golden Buddha statues. I’ll bet it takes so long to repaint all these statues that as soon as the last one at the top is done, the ones at the bottom need to be repainted again. Talk about job security!
When you get close to the top of the trail, you’ll notice that the path splits to the left and to the right. You’ll want to go left first since this is where the main temple is. The path going right doesn’t have the golden Buddha statues on each side of the trail like you’ve seen so far. Instead these Buddha statues have white skin and coloured clothing.
Once you get to the top, you may want to take a rest at the restaurant at the top of the hill. It’s located next to the Temple. You may also want to buy some water or something to eat from here after taking such a long journey up this mountain. This is the only restaurant at the Monastery. It serves only vegetarian food.
When I entered the part of the Monastery with the temple, I was amazed at how much there was to see. The top of the temple has Chinese characters in the middle and a dragon on each side of the characters. Inside the temple there are 13,000 small Buddha statues placed on the inner walls. Amazingly all of these small statues are different.
There’s a flat, open area around the temple with even more Buddha statues. This area has a pagoda, and 5 Chinese style buildings. Three of these buildings have large statues inside. The other 2 buildings have more golden Buddha statues, the same size as the ones on the trail leading up to the monastery.
You can walk down to a lower section of this area where the washrooms are. Down here you can see halls with what looked like plaques inside. The middle of each plaque had something gold in the middle.
A video of me walking around the pavilion at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery.
Once you’ve finished at the main temple, leave and follow the steps to where the path leading up the mountain split in 2 different directions. Now you can follow the stairs up to the other part of the Monastery you haven’t seen yet. There are about 70 more steps to walk up to get to the 2nd part of the Monastery.
The Buddha statues leading up this way have white skin colour and coloured clothing. Quite different from the all gold coloured statues you’ve seen so far.
At the top of the 2nd pathway at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery you’ll see more Chinese Style buildings, and more golden Buddha Statues. Some of the buildings in this section were still under construction when I was there in December 2011.
One of the coolest spots to take a picture at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is coming up. While you’re walking up more stairs to reach the highest part of the Monastery, you’ll see a very bumpy hill with golden Buddha statues scattered all over the place. What makes this spot such a good photo opportunity are all the great views surrounding you where you’re standing. You can take pictures of all the golden Buddha statues on the hill next to the stairs. After that you can turn around and see a great view of Hong Kong in the distance. If you want to have a rest from walking, this is the perfect spot to do so.
My favourite part of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is located at the top of the stairway next to all these scattered golden Buddhas. Behind the red building at the top of the stairs is a giant white statue of Tin Hau standing on a dragon. The rocks behind her have been made into a small man-made waterfall. Seeing the white Tin Hau statue and hearing the water falling down the rocks behind her was very relaxing and peaceful.
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery seems to be a lot less busy than most of the temples in Hong Kong. I would think the reason for this is because of how difficult the temple is to find, plus the amount of hiking involved to get to the temple at the top.
  A statue of Tin Hau standing on a dragon
10000 Buddhas Monastery is less popular and not as well known as other temples in Hong Kong. Most people visit the more popular Po Lin Monastery with the giant Tian Tan Buddha when they go to Hong Kong, because it’s located close to the Hong Kong Airport. If you’re interested in seeing temples, I believe the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is worth seeing just as much as the Po Lin Monastery.
Once you’ve seen everything you wanted to see, it’s time for the fun part. Going back down the mountain. It was a lot of hard work hiking up this mountain that seemed to take forever to get to the top. And now you get to enjoy the walk (or run) down the steep pathway. When I was at the top of the mountain, I took out my video camera and captured my point of view while I was running down the hill. It took me 3 minutes and 10 seconds to do a slow jog all the way down to the bottom. This video shows you just how many Buddha statues there are at the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, in the quickest way I could think of.
A video showing my perspective as I slowly jogged down the mountain of the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. Some parts of the mountain are so steep that going any faster than I did would’ve probably resulted in me falling down.
Nearby Attractions include Po Fook Hill Ancestral Hall, Sha Tin Racecourse, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and Star Seafood Floating Restaurant. Po Fook Ancestral Hall is often mistaken as the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. If you don’t see any golden Buddhas inside, you know you’re at the wrong place.
Nearby Shopping includes New Town Plaza and Grand Central Plaza. New Town Plaza is conveniently located at the Sha Tin MTR station.
The closest MTR station to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is the Sha Tin MTR Station. The Monastery is still a long walk away from the MTR station, so the best way to get to the Monastery would be to walk to Grand Central Plaza. You’ll know you’re at Grand Central Plaza when you see the IKEA. The road stops here so you’ll have to look for a sign, or ask someone where to go.
The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is a great tourist attraction for people who enjoy visiting temples. The temple is located quite far away from downtown Hong Kong and is quite difficult to find. But if you’re willing to take the time to find it and hike up the mountain, the rewards at the top are definitely worth your effort. This temple was definitely one of the highlights of my trip to Hong Kong when I visited in 2011. If you have the chance to visit the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, I highly recommend it.
Entrance into the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery is free.