Located a stone's skip from One Thousand Step Beach's northern end is the entrance Fayu Temple (Fayu Chansi). The temple complex's main building are spread out over six different levels of Baihua Hill with the main temple building being at the upper most part of the hill. Although an accurate history of the temple was never kept, it is believed that it's original structure was a nunnery built by a monk called Da Chi out of bamboo in 1580. Dedicated followers of Chan Buddhism (Zen to the Japanese) gradually added to the nunnery and built new structures over the following century or so, until in 1699 Emperor Kangxi decided to make matters official and decreed that Putuo Shan be dedicated to the enshrinement of Guanyin.

Fayu Temple is now the second largest temple on Putuo Shan. The grounds, sprawling out over the side of Baihua hill, are large and interesting enough to spend a half-day exploring. Huge camphor trees provide a shady relief from the summer sun and amiable monks are happy to have a chat or answer a question. You might be lucky enough to bump into one of the few that can manage a basic English conversation. Many of the monks are more than willing to share the stories that lead them to their life on the island.

A little about Guanyin:

There are a multitude of stories about the origin of Guanyin Pusa.There's also debate over this bodhisattva's original gender. Some stories will tell that Guanyin began life as a man, but after attaining enlightenment and becoming a Buddha, would primarily appear to mortals as a woman. However, Guanyin is now more ofter represented as a woman.

One of the more interesting—and possibly more gruesome—versions of the life of Guanyin, portrays her as a young woman with aspirations of becoming a nun. Her father, King Zhuang, had arranged for Guanyin to be married, but she refused. Enraged by her insolence, the king order her executed. After a failed attempt to kill her with a sword, Guanyin was later strangled to death in her sleep.

Upon her arrival in hell, pain and suffering were turned into pleasure, hell into paradise. Understandably peeved at the change, the king of hell ordered her to return to the land of the living. She appeared on Putuo Shan and spent the next decade or so healing the sick and injured. Hearing of a terrible illness that afflicted her father, she went immediately to his aid. In order to cure his sickness, she cooked up a medicinal concoction in which she included her own eyes and arms.

Cured by the medicine and so moved at his daughter's sacrifice, the king order a statue be carved in the likeness of Guanyin—complete with arms and eyes (in Chinese: quan shuo, quan yan). The stone mason, originally from a different province, misunderstood the kings request as qian shou, qian yan, which means thousand arms, thousand eye. He then proceeded to carve a likeness of Guanyin with one thousand eyes and arms—a likeness that is still often used to this day.