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The statue of goddess Kwun Yum towers majestically over the monastery in its idyllic hillside setting in Tai Po. Photo: Tsz Shan Monastery

Li Ka-shing-funded HK$1.5b monastery with bulletproof guest rooms due to open

HK$1.5b monastery financed by Li Ka-shing is secure as well as serene

Li Ka-shing

Surrounded by green hills in Tai Po under the merciful gaze of the world's second tallest Kwun Yum statue, a HK$1.5 billion monastery with bulletproof VIP rooms fully funded by tycoon Li Ka-shing will be opened to the public next month.

But the Tang dynasty-style Tsz Shan Monastery, which can accommodate about 400 to 500 visitors every day, will not entertain tour groups with a view to preserving its tranquillity.

From April 15, all public visits will be limited to individuals or charitable organisations registered under a booking system launched last week. No lunch is offered, nor are visitors allowed to bring any meat, alcohol or incense inside the sacred place.

The idea of building the monastery, which occupies an area of about 500,000 sq ft with over 60 per cent being green areas in the Tung Tsz hills, was initiated by Li in late 2003 in an attempt to realise his vision of promoting Buddhism in the city.

In an afterword to the book , Li says he was deeply enlightened by the teachings in the Diamond Sutra that "all things are but a dream and an illusion". This inspired him to embark on the project with the aim of serving the community with Buddhist teachings.

Despite its many impressive features, including the 76-metre-tall, bronze-forged white statue of goddess Kwun Yum and an 18-metre-tall main temple for the Supreme Buddha Gautama, all eyes were on a two-storey dormitory building equipped with bulletproof windows and doors.

The view from the windows on the second floor takes in the scenic Tolo Harbour as well as the mountains of Pat Sin Leng, but they cannot be opened. And of the five bulletproof VIP rooms, ranging from 200 sq ft to 300 sq ft, the largest is also equipped with a bigger bed and a luxury toilet.

Rumour has it that the biggest room is reserved for Li, who financed the entire project from his personal foundation, which will also bear the monastery's daily operational costs.

Walter Ngai Kai-shu, the monastery's secretary general, said the bulletproof rooms were not designed specifically for Li and that any important guests could stay in those rooms.

"We installed the bulletproof glass windows because we hoped there could be a place to protect our important guests such as the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand and other top monks," he said. Ngai said although Li had visited the monastery several times, asking about the conditions of the monks and nuns there, he had not stayed in the dormitory. The five rooms had not been used by any guest so far, Ngai said.

Along with another two ordinary dormitory blocks, there are a total of three dormitories accommodating a maximum of 80 monks and nuns. So far the monastery only had 18 monastics staying there, including five from Hong Kong and others from Malaysia, Taiwan, the mainland and other Southeast Asian regions.

Visitors are not allowed to visit the three dormitories, in order not to disturb the normal daily life of the monks and nuns.

Other features of the sanctuary include three temples for various Buddhas, a bell tower, a drum tower, the Bodhi Tree and the Buddhist Pine, a learning hall, a lecture hall, a "meditation path", a "Brilliance Pond", and a car park with space for 110 private cars and 13 tour buses.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Bulletproof rooms with heavenly views
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