In the hall are three Buddha statues. In the middle is the Buddha "Vairocana" with joined palms, which means "illuminating all over" in Sanskrit. He is known as Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. The statue of Sakyamuni usually comes in three postures. The first is a seated meditative position, with his left hand resting on his left foot, indicating his determination for deep meditation; his right hand stretches downwards, indicating that before he became Buddha, he had to sacrifice himself for all living creatures (something that could only be witnessed by the great earth). Such a statue is called "the enlightened image". The second posture is similar to the first, except that his thumb and forefinger on the right hand form a circle, indicating that he is preaching. This posture is called "the preaching image". The third is the standing Buddha, with his left hand hanging down to the ground and his right arm lifting up to sky, slightly bent at the elbow; the relaxed arm indicates that "all will be well" and the uplifted one suggests Buddha's ability to relieve people from suffering. This statue is called "the Chandana Buddha Image". On the left of the Buddha Sakyamuni is Bodhisattva Manjusri riding a lion. Manjusri is always depicted on a lion, which indicates wisdom and might. On the right of the Buddha is Bodhisattva Samantabhadra riding a white elephant. Samantabhadra is always seen on an elephant, indicating luck, reason and virtue. Both bodhisattvas are assistants to Sakyamuni. In Buddhism, the two bodhisattvas represent wisdom, reason and virtue. Longhua Temple and the Jade Buddha Temple are both Buddhist temples belonging to two different sects: The Jade temple belongs to the "chan " or "zen" sect, while Longhua Temple belongs to the Tiandai sect. That is why the two temples enshrine different statues.

On the two sides of the hall are 16 arhats and 20 heavenly gods. "Arhat " is the ideal attainment of the "Little Vehicle" (Hinayana ) in Buddhism. The following are the three features of arhats: they are rid of the troubles posed by greed, anger, stupidity, etc.; they get support from heavenly and earthly creatures; they are not subject to death or reincarnation. Sakyamuni had a great number of disciples but the 16 arhats were his closest. It is recorded in the Buddhist scripture that Sakyamuni ordered them to remain permanently in the human world to convert people to Buddhism.

Some ask why most of the temples have 18 arhats, while this one only has 16. It is said that at the end of the Tang Dynasty a monk painted the 18 arhats . Later, during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), a famous Chinese literary man named Su Dongbo (1037-1101) came across the paintings and composed "Poems in Praise of the Images of the 18 Arhats", with each poem bearing the name of the artwork. From then on, painters always painted 18 arhats instead of 16, and the tradition was passed down throughout the ages. Longhua Temple is a 1,000-year-old monastery built before Su Dongbo was born, which is why it has 16 arhats .

The 20 heavenly gods were originally the gods of ancient Indian legends. Buddhism also adopted these gods as the heavenly gods protecting Buddhism.

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