Back Up
Back to Main List

Forest of Dagobas

300m or so west of the Shaolin Monastery lies an open space mushroomed with over 200 stone memorials--the Forest of Dagobas (Ta lin). This area is a graveyard for accomplished monks and abbots from the eighth century to the nineteenth, covering a total area of more than 14,000 square meters.

The dagobas vary greatly in size, height, age and in their cross section (square, rectangular, hexangular, octagonal and circular), and these factors are a distinct sign of the hierarchical ranking of their respective occupants. The ages of the dagobas date from 791 AD to 1995 and they are sized variously from two to seven levels high. The bodies of all the dagobas bear different Buddhist patterns and inscriptions carved to depict briefly the life of the occupants,and it is these that have drawn numerous Buddhist scholars here each year.

For laymen, the best time to come is during the sunset, when the dagobas bask in crimson light, or when the monk students from the monastery come here to practice kungfu in their orange robes. Winter is also a good time to view the forest at a distance against the purple mountain.