Discover the beauty of Beijing's four seasons at Yunju Temple
🌟Highlights:
Yunju Temple, located in Shuitou Village, Dashiwo Town, Fangshan District, Beijing, was built at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. It was destroyed in the fire of the Japanese invasion in the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942), leaving only a pair of stone lions and a solitary tower. It was rebuilt in the 1980s.
Yunju Temple covers an area of about 74 acres. The buildings are built according to the mountain terrain. All the buildings are divided into south, middle, and north routes. The main halls are all built on the central axis. There are six halls in the middle route, including Pilu Hall, Shijia Hall, Yaoshi Hall, Amitabha Hall, Dabeiyuan and the Sutra Pavilion and the Dharma Hall, etc. Each main hall has side halls and side rooms. The main building of the south route is the Ancestor Hall and the Earth Store Hall. The main building of the north route is only the Thousand Buddha Hall, and the rest are palaces or temple rooms. There are three groups of palaces, each of which is a four-sided architectural group, with corridors connecting the buildings in the courtyard.
👍Most Recommended:
1. Brick Pagoda
The pagoda of Yunju Temple is an important part of the temple and an indispensable Buddhist cultural building. There are more than ten pagodas of various types and materials built within the scope of Yunju Temple, with the South Pagoda and North Pagoda as the main ones.
2. Sutra Cave
The Stone Sutra Mountain, also known as Bai Dai Mountain, which Yunju Temple leans against, is a branch of the Taihang Mountains, commonly known as Xiao Xitian. There are nine sutra caves carved into the mountain at two levels, north and south. Of the nine caves, eight are closed, with stone sutra boards inscribed on both sides stacked inside. One of them is open and is the largest of the nine caves, called Leiyin Cave. There are doors and windows in front of the cave, and four octagonal stone pillars supporting the cave roof, each face of the pillar is carved with Buddha statues, a total of 1054, hence the name Gan Buddha Pillar. The cave is an irregular square, each side about 10 meters. The 146 stone sutra boards originally carved by Master Jingwan are embedded in the cave wall.
3. Three Uniques of the Temple
The stone sutras, paper sutras, and woodblock sutras treasured in Yunju Temple are known as the 'Three Uniques'. The 'Stone Carved Buddhist Tripitaka' began to be carved in the Sui Dynasty, and monks such as Jingwan carved sutras on stone to maintain the Dharma. The sutra carving project lasted through the Sui, Tang, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, six dynasties, spanning 1039 years, carving 1122 Buddhist sutras, 3572 volumes, 14278 pieces. There are more than 22,000 volumes of paper sutras, which are printed and handwritten copies of the Ming Dynasty, including the Southern Ming Tripitaka, the Northern Ming Tripitaka, and single carved Buddhist sutras. Among them, the 'Great Buddha's Flower Garland Sutra' was written in blood from the pierced tongue of the monk Zu Hui of Miaolian Temple, and is known as the 'Tongue Blood True Sutra'. The 'Dragon Tripitaka' wood sutra began to be carved from the 11th year of Yongzheng to the 3rd year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1733-1738), and there are now more than 77,000 pieces, which is a collection of translations of Buddhism in China for 2000 years. It is known as the best of Chinese woodblock sutras.
💰Average consumption:
Adult ticket 40 yuan
📍Detailed address:
Yunju Temple is located in Shuitou Village, Dashiwo Town, Fangshan District, Beijing
🚉Transportation strategy:
Take bus F12, F19, F31 from Fangshan and get off at Yunju Temple Station.
It takes about an hour to drive from the city center.