Yonghe Temple

Yonghe palace is located in the northeast corner of the inner city of Dongcheng District of Beijing, that is, east of Yonghe Palace Street road. It is the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in Beijing. The former site of Yonghe palace was the official house of Ming Dynasty. In 1693, it became the residence of the fourth son of the emperor. In 1983, it was designated by the State Council as the national key Buddhist temple in the Han nationality area.

The temple is mainly composed of three exquisite archways and five grand halls. It covers an area of 66400 square meters from the East and West archways with cornices to the antique buildings in the East and West shunshan, with more than 1000 temples.

Yonghe Temple

The Lama Temple is located in the northeast corner of Beijing. In 1694, Emperor Kangxi built a mansion here and gave it to his fourth son, Prince Yong. In the third year of Yongzheng (1725), the Royal Palace was changed into a palace, which was called Yonghe palace. In the 13th year of Yongzheng (1735), Emperor Yongzheng died, and his coffin was placed here. Therefore, the original green glazed tiles in the main hall of Yonghe palace were changed to yellow glazed tiles.

Yonghe palace, because Emperor Qianlong was born here, Yonghe palace has two emperors, which has become a "dragon hidden blessing", so the palace is yellow tile red wall, the same specifications as the Forbidden City Palace. In 1744, the Yonghe temple was changed into a lama temple. The special prime minister, Wang, was in charge of the affairs of the palace. It can be said that Yonghe temple is the highest Buddhist temple in China in the middle and late Qing Dynasty.

Yonghe temple was designated by the State Council as the national key Buddhist temple in the Han area in 1983. The temple is mainly composed of three exquisite archways and five grand halls. It covers an area of 66400 square meters from the East and West archways with cornices to the antique buildings in the East and West shunshan, with more than 1000 temples.

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Historical evolution

The original site of the Yonghe palace was the eunuch's office of the Ming Dynasty. Kangxi 33 years (1694) began to build, early Yongqin palace. After Yongzheng ascended the throne, he changed half of them into the upper court of Huangjiao, the other half as the palace, and the later palace was burned by fire. So in 1725, Yongzheng changed the upper court into the palace, which was called "Yonghe Palace".

In 1735, Emperor Yongzheng stopped here. The green glazed tiles in the main halls of the palace were replaced by yellow glazed tiles.

In the ninth year of Qianlong (1744), the Yonghe temple was transformed into a formal Tibetan Buddhist temple and became the center of the Qing government in charge of Tibetan Buddhist affairs.

Opening to the outside world

After liberation, the government carried out comprehensive renovation in 1950, 1952 and 1979, and announced it as a national key cultural relics protection unit in 1961. It opened to the outside world in 1981.

In October 1957, the Beijing Municipal People's Committee announced the first batch of 39 cultural relics protection units in Beijing, including the Yonghe palace.

In March 1961, the Yonghe palace was listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

Layout structure

The Yonghe palace faces south, covering an area of 6.6 hectares. According to the statistics in 1950, there are 661 rooms, including 238 Buddha halls. Its architectural style is very unique, integrating the architectural art of Han, Manchu, Mongolian and other nationalities. The building of the whole temple is divided into three parts: the East, the middle and the West. The middle road is composed of seven courtyards and five storey halls. There are many kinds of auxiliary halls and buildings on the left and right.

The buildings in the middle road mainly include pailou courtyard, Zhaotai gate, Tianwang hall, Yonghe palace, Yongyou hall, Falun hall, Wanfu Pavilion, etc.

The archway courtyard is located in the southernmost part of the Yonghe palace. The gate faces east and West, with a wooden archway in the East, West and North, and a screen wall with yellow and green glazed tiles in the south.

In the north of the pailou courtyard is Zhaotai gate, in the middle is a main gate, with a side gate on each side, yellow glazed tube, tile top and chessboard gate.

Five rooms wide

In the north of Zhaotai gate is Tianwang hall, also known as Yonghe gate. The hall was originally the palace gate of the palace, but later it was rebuilt as Tianwang hall. The hall is five rooms wide, with yellow glazed tube on the top of the hill, five steps on the Dougong, and colored paintings on the Hexi. The front eaves are made of barrier panels, the Ming and the second rooms are made of Bi gate, and the tip is made of Bi gate type diagonal lattice windows. The back eaves are five obliquely checkered doors and windows, the open and secondary rooms are doors, and the top rooms are windows. Inside the hall, there is a ceiling at the mouth of the well, and the floor is paved with square bricks. There are statues of the cloth bag venerable and the four heavenly kings.

In the north of the hall, there is the imperial stele Pavilion, also known as the four body stele Pavilion. The yellow glazed tube tile double eaves have four sharp corners. The upper eaves are chongang Wuta Dougong, and the lower eaves are danqiao Danang Wuta Liujin Dougong. In the pavilion, there is a square stele. On the top of the stele, there are four kinds of inscriptions in Manchu, Han, Mongolian and Tibetan.

Hanging sculpture art

Yonghe palace is located in the north of the stele Pavilion. It was originally the yin'an palace of the royal family, but now it is equivalent to the main hall of the general temple. There are seven rooms on the top of the yellow glazed tube tile hill, with single cocked Dougong and colored Hexi painting. There is a platform in front of it, surrounded by yellow, green and red glazed brick walls. In the Ming Dynasty, there is a plaque with Longhua hanging on it, inscribed with the words "Yonghe Palace" in Manchu, Han, Mongolian and Tibetan. Inside the hall, there are three bronze statues of mud and gold Buddha and eighteen Arhats of mengmapo gold.

In front of the hall, there are two buildings: wengsun Hall (Mizong Hall) in the East and chanite Hall (preaching Hall) in the West. They are both gray tiles with double eaves and hard hilltop towers, with seven rooms in width and three rooms in the back. The upper and lower floors all come out of the corridor.

Yongyou hall is located in the north of Yonghe palace, which was originally the main bedroom Hall of the royal palace. The back hall was renamed "Shenyu hall" because of the image of Yongzheng emperor. After the temple was rebuilt in 1744, it was renamed today. The yellow glazed tube was built on the top of the mountain, with five rooms wide and five steps on the top of the Dougong. The front and back of the hall are three cross six ribbed doors and windows, with turtle back pattern green glazed sill wall under, and three steps and two floors in front. In the center of the hall, there are three 2.35-meter-high white sandalwood Buddha statues. In front of the hall, there are East and West halls, namely, the forehead chair Hall (medical Hall) and ning'a Hall (Mathematics Hall).

Out of the back door of Yongyou hall, you can enter the courtyard of Falun hall. The hall of Falun is the place where the ritual is held. The plane of the building is in the shape of a cross with a width of seven rooms. There are five rooms in front of the hall and five rooms in back of the hall. The hall of Falun is built on the top of the yellow glazed tile Pavilion. On the four sides of the top of the hall, there is a yellow tube tile hanging on the top of the mountain. On the top of the hall and the top of the skylight, there is a gold-plated Pagoda with Tibetan style. In the center of the hall is a 6.1-meter-high bronze statue of master zongkaba, founder of the Yellow Sect. Behind the statue are 500 Arhats carved out of red sandalwood, and murals with Sakyamuni theme on the East and west walls.

The scale

Jietai building is located on the west side of Falun hall. It was built by Emperor Qianlong in 1780 to welcome the sixth Panchen Lama to Beijing to celebrate his birthday and receive precepts. The Panchen building is located on the east side of Falun hall. It was originally a Buddhist altar dedicated to pharmacists. It was called pharmacist building. When the sixth Panchen Lama came to Beijing, it was the residence of the sixth Panchen Lama.

The two floors are the top of Xieshan mountain, with nine corridors on the upper floor, 25 on the lower floor and three steps on the south.

To the north of Falun hall is Wanfu Pavilion, which is the highest building in the north of Yonghe temple complex. Pavilion for the yellow glazed tube tile top, double eaves tower, 25 meters high, upper, middle and lower levels of width, depth are five. The upper level is chongang Wuta Dougong with Hexi painted painting, and the central plaque is "Yuanguan Bingying"; the middle level is chongang Wuta Dougong with Hexi painted painting, with corridors and guardrails around, and the central plaque is "Jingyu Huiyin"; the lower level is danqiao Danang Dougong with Hexi painted painting, with three characters in front and back, Longhua with plaque in the middle, and Wanfu Pavilion in Manchu, Han, Mongolian and Tibetan characters. Inside the pavilion, there is a 26 meter high wood carving of Maitreya (Maitreya standing statue), 18 meters above the ground and 8 meters below the ground. Its main trunk is carved from the whole sandalwood.

The East and west sides of Wanfu pavilion are Yongkang Pavilion and Yansui Pavilion respectively, and the middle is connected by suspended attic corridor. Suicheng hall is located in the north of Wanfu Pavilion. It is the northernmost building on the middle road of Yonghe palace. It has yellow glazed tiles on the top of the mountain and double eaves on the top and bottom of the building. It is seven rooms wide. There is a platform in front of the hall to connect with Wanfu Pavilion.

The Yonghe palace is composed of five grand halls, including the hall of heavenly king, the hall of Yonghe palace, the hall of Yongyou, the hall of Falun, and the hall of Wanfu. In addition, there are the hall of East and West, and the hall of four learning (Lecture Hall, Tantong hall, mathematics hall, and pharmacist Hall). The courtyard gradually shrinks from south to north, while the palace rises in turn.

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Main building

Out of the Yonghe gate, there are bronze tripod, yubeiting, tongxumishan, manigan and Yonghe palace. The main hall, formerly known as yin'an hall, was the place where Prince Yong met civil and military officials. After the reconstruction of the Lama Temple, it was equivalent to the main hall of a general temple. In the north of the hall, there are three bronze statues of Buddha III, which are nearly two meters high. There are two groups of the three Buddha statues: one is Sakyamuni Buddha in the Saha world in the middle, and the other is pharmacist Buddha in the eastern world in the left.

On the right is amitabha in the western world. This is the third Buddha in the space world, which means that there are Buddhas everywhere. Space is horizontal, so it is also called horizontal third Buddha. Most of the three Buddhas in the Mahavira halls are Wang III Buddha. The third Buddha in the main hall of the Yonghe palace represents the time flow of the past, the present and the future, which indicates that there are Buddhas all the time, that is, Sakyamuni Buddha in the middle, burning lamp Buddha in the past on the left and Maitreya Buddha in the future on the right. Space is universe and time is universe, which means that the universe is Buddha everywhere. The northeast corner of the main hall is for the bronze statue of Guanyin, and the northwest corner is for the bronze statue of Maitreya. Sitting on the throne in front of two Gables

Chinese PinYin : Yong He Gong