[snowybeagle]

There is a Xian Lin Monastery (仙林寺) is Hang Zhou (杭州).

I read long ago that it was constructed during the reign of Emperor TaiZong of Tang Dynasty for his former teacher's retirement. There's also a humourous account of its construction which was supervised YüChi Gong (尉迟恭).

However, I came across another website recently that claimed it was built during the Song dynasty.

Hang Zhou's famous locations

Can one tell me when this monastery was actually built?

The original story I read can also be found at
YüChi Gong building a temple

It is in Chinese, but I will provide a brief translation.

The grand Xian Lin Monastery in Hang Zhou did not have a main gate or shan men (山门). Its construction had been ordered by Emperor TaiZong of Tang Dynasty.

Li ShiMin was sickly child, and his father Li Yuan had him become a student of a monk by the name of Xian Lin. Li ShiMin went on to establish the Tang empire with his father, and ascended to the throne as Emperor TaiZong.

His former teacher, the monk Xian Lin, heard Hang Zhou was a beautiful place and asked the emperor to build a monastery there for his retirement (as abbot). The Emperor couldn't very well say no, and appointed his trusted follower, General YüChi Gong, to oversee the project.

Arriving at the site, the monk got into an argument with YüChi over the size of the temple. The greedy monk wanted a site covering a diameter of 5 chinese miles (1 Chinese mile = ½ kilometres). YüChi refused to give in to the outrageous demands and insisted that 50 zhang (1 zhang = 10 feet or 3.3 m) would more than suffice.

The haggling went back and forth with neither side yielding an inch, and the first day ended without decision.

The next day, the scheming monk brought out the Imperial Edict from the emperor, ordered YüChi to kneel while listening to the monk recite the edict which both were familiar with. The monk purposedly read slowly, re-read a number of phrases and sentences over and over, deliberately keeping the general stationary while kneeling and listening. The monk only finished reciting the edict after half a day, and asked,"Did you hear that? This monastery is meant for the retirement of the teacher of the Emperor, it has to be of significant size."

YüChi was a man of action, and could fight for days and consider it nothing. But to have him to kneel in inaction for hours was killing him. Nonetheless, YüChi still refused to give, and the rest of the day were spent arguing back and forth without a decision.

The following day, YüChi was prepared. When the monk tried to employ the same mean trick, he brought out a jade Ru Yi (如意), sat himself comfortably and counter-ordered the monk to kneel while reading the edict. YüChi made the monk read slowly, repeatedly, until he noticed the monk almost passing out and allowed him to stand.

Aware he was no match, the monk agreed to his terms.

After his work was done, YüChi departed for the Capital. The monk nursed a grudge and decided to catch up with the general. He finally caught up with YüChi in the county of Hai Ning (海宁县), and reminded YüChi that the shan men had been left out.

YüChi felt it was not unreasonable, and offered to order its construction ten zhangs from the monastery. The monk wanted the gate to be constructed 5 chinese miles away. YüChi felt it was ridiculous as it would be a very very very generous size of territory to be claimed by the monastery.

The monk countered saying that as the first temple built by the Tang, the greater the distance between the shan men and the temple, the longer the dynasty would last.

Blowing his top, YüChi shouted at the monk,"How dare you imply that the empire hard-won by our blood is only worth 5 chinese miles!"

The delighted monk thought YüChi would give him more when the latter jumped down, drew a line on the ground and said,"I'll put the shan men right here!"

The monk was speechless. Hai Ning and Hang Zhou was separated by one fu (府) and one county, it was impossible for the monastery to claim all the lands in between.

It was said that the temple remained today at Hang Zhou and the shan men at Hai Ning.