Ruiyan Temple 瑞岩寺 is located in Ruiyan Scenic Area, National AAAA Scenic Area, Beilun, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, 35 kilometers away from Ningbo City. The temple is situated southeast from the Jiufeng mountain scenic area. It is surrounded by green mountains, and forests, where air is clean and fresh. There are even some endangered and national-level protected animals living in the wild. Ruiyan Lake is situated right in front of Ruiyan temple. 

The history of  Ningbo Ruiyan temple dates back to Tang Dynasty, when a Buddhist monk Puhua built the temple for his master. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Ruiyan temple, along with Tiantong temple and King Ashoka temple, was known as one of the most famous temple in eastern Zhejiang.

Over the past 1000 years, Ruiyan established its fame as a Buddhist shrine, which drew a stream of famous people, such as Wang Anshi, Peng Yulin, Yao Gongshou and Gao Zhenxiao. It was ruined and rebuilt couple of times during Ming and Qing dynasties.

Inside the temple

Getting there:

Ruiyan temple can be accessed by car or public transport, or those loving to hike, can access it through mountain pass from Jiufeng mountain area. (I discovered Ruiyan temple exactly this way, walking down the mountain right to the temple).

Bus 709-5 goes straight to Ruiyan Temple scenic area 瑞岩寺风景区站

It doesn’t take too long to visit Ruiyan temple area. The temple complex is not very big, but the park around has some walking trails, including bamboo path in the forest, Ruiyan lake and garden outside the temple. If you want to spend the whole day there, I would recommend visiting Jiufeng Mountain first and hike down to the Ruiyan temple from there.