White Pagoda

Beihai white tower

synonym

Baita (Baita, Xicheng District, Beijing) generally refers to Beihai Baita

Located on Qionghua island of Beihai Park in Beijing, the white pagoda was built in 1651, the eighth year of Shunzhi in the early Qing Dynasty. It is a Tibetan Lama pagoda and a landmark scenic spot in Beihai. Beihai white pagoda according to the stele records, at that time, "there were lamas from the western regions who wanted to praise Huangyou with Buddhism, and asked to set up a pagoda temple to protect the people". With the emperor's permission, Yongan temple and white pagoda were built.

The White Pagoda, 35.9 meters high, has a round top and a changeable bottom. It is a mount Xumi type pagoda. The top of the pagoda is equipped with a cover and a top, and decorated with patterns of sun, moon and flame to show that the "Buddha Dharma" shines like the sun and moon and shines on the earth forever.

Historical evolution

The white pagoda is located in a hill. It was originally the site of Guanghan hall on Qionghua island of jindaning palace. It is said that it is the dressing table of Princess li of jinzhangzong. In 1651, the eighth year of Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty, according to the suggestion of rangmuhan, the Tibetan Lama, "if you want to praise Huangyou with Buddhism Yin, please set up a pagoda temple and live a long life in the country and protect the people" to build a pagoda temple.

Since its completion, the white tower has been repaired many times. On July 28 of the lunar calendar in the 18th year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1679), an earthquake occurred in Beijing, which destroyed the white tower. According to the chronicle of the history of the Qing Dynasty, "from July 28th to Youshi, there was a big earthquake in the capital. The sound was like thunder, the day was dark, and the situation was like waves. Shunde, Desheng, Haifu, Zhangyi and other gates were knocked down, and many city walls were destroyed. Palaces, official houses and dwellings were ten to seven. 29、 On the 30th, there was another big earthquake. The walls of Tongzhou and Liangxiang collapsed, and the ground cracked into canals, flowing out yellow and black water and black air. " Two years after the earthquake, the white pagoda was rebuilt and completed in 1681. A monument was erected on the southeast hillside of Qionghua island.

Demolition and repair

Yongzheng eight years (1730) on August 29 of the lunar calendar, Beijing earthquake, Beihai white tower again damaged. According to historical records, "the tower was sent to be repaired and inspected. The base of the tower was completely cracked, so it must be demolished and rebuilt." It was completed in 1732.

The 1976 Tangshan earthquake affected Beijing and damaged the top of the tower. The vase tilted westward in the sky. It is said that the stone pedestal under the "thirteen days" on the white tower was also crushed, resulting in the skewness of the "thirteen days". During the restoration, it was found that there was a two inch square gold lacquer box hidden in the main core wood of the tower. The cover of the box was painted with Taiji diagram, and there were two relics hidden in the box.

The white tower is located on Qionghua Island, Beihai Park, Beijing.

Layout structure

The tower body is a brick wood stone mixed structure, which is composed of tower base, tower body, phase wheel, canopy and tower brake. The body of the tower is covered with bowls, so only bricks and stones can be seen from the surface of the tower, not the wooden frame. The base is a stone Xumi base with a cross angle. The side length of the tower base is 18.2 meters, and the base part is equipped with corner Pillar Stone, pressure face stone and overhanging eaves stone. On the base is a three-layer round platform, the central tower belly is round, with a maximum diameter of 14 meters. The upper part is a slender "thirteen days" tower brake composed of thirteen heavy phase wheels.

At the top, there are two layers of copper casting and gilding cover, the lower layer is the construction site, and the upper layer is the Tianpan. The site weighs more than 2000 kg. Four embedded iron rings are cast under it, and four thick pull rods are suspended to firmly connect the whole canopy with the tower body. There are 16 bronze wind bells under the site, each weighing about 8 kg. The bells are hexagonal, with six character proverbs on the outside. The wind bells are hung with cross hanging inside and cross wind leaves on the bottom.

There is a 9 double pure gold relic box with cinnabar in it. There is one Buddha Tooth and 18 relic. The Tianpan is about 3 meters in diameter and weighs about 1500 kg. It is made of embossed wheels, snails, umbrellas, caps, flowers, bottles, fish and knots. These eight patterns all have auspicious meanings.

There is a hemispherical dome in the middle of the sky plate. The top of the dome has a rectangular base. On the rectangular base, there is a gold-plated flame pearl Tasha, including the cast copper and gold-plated half moon and the sun. On the sun is the inverted lotus xumizuo, holding a huge peach heart. The heart is surrounded by flames, which symbolizes that Buddhism shines like the sun and the moon and shines on the earth forever.

Tibetan pattern

Just to the south of the pagoda is the "Shilun Vajra gate", also known as the pot door vision gate. In the middle is the "Shilun mantra", which is a seven character Tibetan pattern composed of "hang, Qia, Ma, La, WA, RI, Ya", with the meaning of "auspiciousness".

Passionflower ornaments fired with tongs around. This group of characters was written by Zhang Jiaguo, the famous leader of Tibetan Buddhism in Qing Dynasty.

The whole tower body has 306 square green brick opencut ventilation holes, which are used for ventilation of the tower wood frame, in order to prevent the wood in the tower from being wet and rotten. The tower is surrounded by white marble columns. The patterns and carvings of the ventilation holes are complex and gorgeous, including the portraits of butterflies, banana leaves, trumpet flowers, chrysanthemums, lotus, Baoxiang flowers, Western lotus, etc.

There is a standing wood inside the tower, which is the main core wood of the white tower. It is made of cypress and is about 30 meters high. It goes straight from the base of the tower to the top of the brake.

Cultural relics

Different from most pagodas, the pagoda has a hollow interior, in which there is a Buddhist niche and a silver box for the relic. Underground there is a Tibetan well, and there are dry boats, Buddhist scriptures, alms and Buddhist objects, as well as gifts such as textiles, grains, medicinal materials, tea and fruits.

According to the historical records of Beihai White Pagoda:

"The Sakai pagoda contains one Hagar Tibetan Buddha, one foot high, made of copper and gold. In addition to poisons, there are five kilos of all kinds of medicines, nine taels of silver, nine taels of gold, nine taels of pearl, coral and lapis lazuli, ten taels of red copper, five taels of silk and satin, one or two taels of borneol, two taels of nutmeg, grass antler, painted stone, safflower and coix seed, cactus, Haipiao nitrate, Acorus calamus root, clove, liezhi and Gan There are two Jin of lotus and clam, one jin of Jianxiang, five hundred hoops of Gaoxiang, five hoops of xitianhong and Huangxiang, 21 pieces of auspicious grass, a bundle of turquoise grass, 100 Jin of Manchurian orchid, 100 Jin of cypress branches, nine No.1 Magnolia and white geomagnetic jars, which contain miscellaneous grains of various colors, nine Kangxi copper coins, 30 pieces of huanghangxi, 20 jin of wucaizhu, 10 jin of Bingtang, Mishi and Lama Each jar of milk, yoghurt and Tarak, four sheets of cotton, six thousand sheets of paper and four pieces of silver

Ten jin, four hundred pieces of double red rouge, ten jin of Bletilla striata, fifty Jin of white flour, sixteen stones and six buckets of common rice, 1720 Jin of alum, 20 jin of tung oil, five Jin of asphalt and five Jin of yellow wax. "

Folklore

There is a small hall in front of the tower, named "good cause hall". It is a wooden glazed building with double eaves, 4.4 meters wide, and a round Pavilion style gold-plated copper tube tile top;

The lower layer is square, covered with green glazed tiles, with yellow cut edges. There are five three intersecting clouds on the front gable, four copper doors, four copper frames, and four glazed doors inside. In the hall, there was originally a bronze gold-plated Buddha statue of "Daweide King Kong" (it is said that it is the incarnation of Manjusri Bodhisattva, with nine heads, 34 arms and 16 feet). It is commonly known as "Zhenhai Buddha". It is said that there is a sea eye under the white pagoda. Only with this Buddha body can it be used to prevent floods. The Buddha statue was destroyed in the "Cultural Revolution".

The wall of the hall is made of 455 glazed bricks with Buddha statues.

The top elevation of the white tower is 112.4 meters. When it was built, it was the highest point in Beijing. Behind the hall of good cause under the white tower, there is a five pole brake pole, which is the flag pole with the Sutra flag hanging in the temple, commonly known as the five tiger flag pole. Under it, there are five fort, called the white tower fort or the five tiger fort. The five tiger poles are hung with dragon flags or lanterns of green, yellow, red, white and black. Blue, white, red and black represent the East, West, South and North.

The nine gates in Beijing are also equipped with five fort and five flagpoles, on which the Dragon flag is hung during the day and lanterns are hung at night. In case of emergency, take shooting as the signal, flag during the day and lantern at night to indicate the direction. One shot, others responded. Officers and soldiers can move according to the actual situation to protect the safety of the capital. Emperor Qianlong has the words of "fearing people's rock" and "preventing sudden change" in "four sides of Tashan".

Religious significance

According to Tibetan Buddhism, the imperial city of Beijing is a mandala of Vajra, and the center of the mandala is Qionghua Island, which is located in Xiyuan near the imperial palace. The tower built here can live the country and protect the people. During the Qing Dynasty, many Buddhist activities were held here. It is said that "in the Qing Dynasty, every year, on December 15, from the foot of the mountain to the top of the pagoda, the lamas chanted Buddhist scriptures, played big Faluo, and beat round drums to pray.

Beihai white tower, which has been eroded by wind and rain, earthquake and war for nearly a thousand years, is still well preserved. In addition to its firm foundation and strict structure, the continuous maintenance in past dynasties is also an important reason, especially after the founding of new China, it has been systematically repaired and managed.

Preservation of cultural relics

From 1974 to 1981, the state allocated a large amount of special funds and high-quality timber to carry out comprehensive repair of the white pagoda.

Address: 300 meters south of dule temple, southwest corner of Jixian City, Tianjin

Longitude: 117.403414

Latitude: 40.042058

Tel: 022-29191626

Ticket information: market price: 4.0 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Bai Ta