Dafo Temple, Buddhist temple in Zhangye, China

Dafo Temple is a Buddhist temple complex in Zhangye, in China's Gansu Province, built around a large hall that houses a reclining Buddha statue lying flat on its side. The complex also includes several other prayer halls, courtyards, and wooden structures decorated with traditional carvings.

The temple was founded in 1098, the first year of the Western Xia Yong'an era, under the name Kasyapa Buddha Temple. In 1372 Ming troops razed much of it while taking Ganzhou; reconstruction ran from 1411 to 1419, when the emperor renamed it Bojue Temple. In 1678 it was renamed Hongren Temple, and in 1996 it was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.

The name Dafo means "Great Buddha", and the temple is also called the Reclining Buddha Temple. Its clay nirvana image, made around 1100, has drawn patrons and pilgrims for centuries; monks protected it even during the Cultural Revolution. A Qing dynasty mural in the hall shows Xuanzang on horseback with Sun Wukong kneeling beside him.

Shoes should be removed before entering the prayer halls, and visitors are expected to keep their voices low throughout the site. Going early in the day gives a calmer experience and a better chance to see the halls without large groups.

The reclining Buddha is made of clay over a wooden frame and is largely unaltered since Western Xia times. The hall housing it, 48 m long and 24 m wide, is one of the few surviving wooden structures of that period. Its Qing dynasty mural shows Xuanzang on horseback with Sun Wukong kneeling before him.