Caotang Temple

Main structures from the Shanmen to the Abbot's Room are aligned with the central axis and divided into five courtyards. At the very front are Shanmen, followed by Four Heavenly Kings Hall, Mahavira Hall, Dabei Hall (Hall of Great Compassion), Hall of Ksitigarbha, Hall of Three Saints, and finally Abbot's Room in the rear. On both sides of the central axis are Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Memorial Hall of Kumārajīva, stone pagoda, Hall of Reclining Buddha, Pavilion of Guanyin, and ring-rooms.

The Shanmen is 11 metres (36 ft) wide and 6.8 metres (22 ft) deep and only has one door. The hall is flush gable roof style (硬山顶). Under the eaves is a plaque with the Chinese characters "Caotang Temple" written by Zhao Puchu, the then president of the Buddhist Association of China.

The Maitreya Buddha and Four Heavenly Kings' statues are enshrined in the Four Heavenly Kings Hall.

The Mahavira Hall enshrining the statues of Sakyamuni, Amitabha and Bhaisajyaguru. The two disciples' statues are placed in front of the statue of Sakyamuni, the older is called Kassapa Buddha and the middle-aged is called Ananda. A plaque with "Mahavira Hall" written by Zhao Puchu is hung on the architrave. The statues of Eighteen Arhats stand on both sides of the hall. The hall has a double-eave gable and hip roof (重檐歇山顶).

The Dabei Hall (Hall of Great Compassion) was built in the Qianlong period (1736–1796) of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). It is 18.21 metres (59.7 ft) wide and 9.5 metres (31 ft) deep. The hall is flush gable roof style. In the center of the eaves of the hall is a plaque "Xiaoyang Sanzang" (逍遥三藏) written by monk Miaokuo (妙括) in 1947.

The jade statue of Reclining Buddha enshrined in the hall, which was presented by a Burmese Fu Fengying (傅凤英) in 1994.

The Dharma Hall is 28 metres (92 ft) wide and 13 metres (43 ft) deep. In the middle of the hall, a 2-metre (6 ft 7 in) high wood carving statue of Vairocana stands in the lotus throne with thousand petals, which has a little Buddha statue on each petal. the altar was carved with one thousand little statues of Buddha, which known as "Vairocana nestling among thousand Buddha" (千佛绕毗卢).

Occupying an area of 3,760 square metres (40,500 sq ft), the Buddhist Texts Library has a double-eave gable and hip roof. The hall started to build in 2005 and completed in October 2014. Five gilded copper statues of Buddha are enshrined in the hall.^[4]

The Memorial Hall of Kumārajīva was built by monks of Japanese Nichiren Buddhism. It is 24 metres (79 ft) wide and 16.5 metres (54 ft) deep. A 120-centimetre (47 in) high wood carving statue of Kumārajīva which sitting on a lotus throne is placed in the hall. At the back of his statue is a painting of flying apsaras which was painted by Japanese painter Mise (真美子). Several steles of poems written by Zhao Puchu and other Japanese poets are inlaid on the walls.

The Stupa of Kumārajīva was made of marble in the Later Qin (384–417). The octahedral-based stupa has twelve stories and is 2.46 metres (8 ft 1 in) high. It is composed of a base, a sumeru throne and a dense-eave body. The base has three layers with engraved patterns of clouds.^[5][6]

The 2.6-metre (8 ft 6 in) high Ming dynasty (1368–1644) bell was cast in the Ming dynasty weighting 5,000 kilograms (11,000 lb) with its bore is 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in). Outside of the bell cast over 14 Buddhist temples, 200 Buddhist monks and works of Buddhist inscriptions. At the bottom of the bell are engraved with patterns of various flying phoenixes, dragons, lions, Bagua, etc.

• Zhang Yuhuan (2012). "Cradle of Huayan: Caotang Temple in Hu County and Huayan Temple in Chang'an" 华严宗祖庭：户县草堂寺、长安华严寺. 《图解中国佛教建筑》 [Illustration of Buddhist Architecture in China] (in Chinese). Beijing: Contemporary China Publishing House. ISBN 978-7-5154-0118-8.