The Wanfu Hall (literally “the hall of ten thousand buddhas”) is situated behind the Falun Hall in the Lama Temple. It is the most magnificent hall in the temple, consisting of three seperated parts linked by corridors. The middle part of Wanfu Hall is a three floor main hall, with the two floor Yansui Hall to its left, and the two floor Yongkang Hall to its right. The three halls seem to blend into each other, and form a harmonious building. The elegant paintings on the walls and eaves somewhat represent the architectural style of the Liao (AD907-AD1125) and the Jin (AD1115-AD1234) Dynasty.
The building is named “wanfu” because there are about ten thousand small statues of buddha placed inside the walls of the hall. However, the most attracting thing in the hall is not the walls of ten thousand buddhas, but a huge statue of Maitreya. You can see the famous statue once you enter the Wanfu Hall. It is a 26 meter high statue made by one single piece of white sandalwood. The precious timber was a gift from the sixth Dalai Lama of Tibet to Emepror Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. To carve the timber, the emperor spent over 80 thousand silver dollars in total. The wooden Maitreya looks tall and strong, with gildings all over his body, on which dotted various beautiful gemstones. The cassock he wears is made of yellow satin that worth 5 thousand silver dollars. It is one of the three treasures of the Lama Temple.
In addition, there is a wooden niche made of Jinsi Nanmu, a very precious timber in the eastern side hall of the main hall. Skilled carpenter carved 99 vivid cloud-dragons over it. The wonderful niche is another treasure of the Lama Temple. The third treasures is the 500-Buddhist-arhats hill in the Falun Hall.
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