Baita Temple

Miaoying Temple

synonym

Baita Temple (Baita temple, Xicheng District, Beijing) generally refers to Miaoying Temple (Miaoying temple, Beijing)

Miaoying temple, commonly known as Baita temple, is located at 171 fuchengmennei street, Xicheng District, Beijing, China. The temple was built in the Yuan Dynasty and was originally named as "the great saint shouwan'an Temple". The white pagoda built in the Yuan Dynasty is the earliest and largest lama Pagoda in China.

In 1961, the White Pagoda of Miaoying temple was announced by the State Council of the people's Republic of China as one of the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

After two years and seven months of renovation, Baita Temple reopened on December 6, 2015.

On November 19, 2019, the White Pagoda of Miaoying temple was closed for two years from June 2019 due to the renovation of cultural relics and the protection of color paintings.

Historical evolution

In the Liao Dynasty, Miaoying temple was located in the northern suburb of the capital of southern Liaoning. As early as the second year of shouchang (1096) of the Liao Dynasty, a pagoda was built to worship Buddhist relics, incense pagodas, Buddhist scriptures and other Buddhist relics. Later, it was destroyed in the war. In 1271, Kublai Khan ordered the reconstruction of a Lama tower on the basis of the Liao tower site. After eight years of design and construction, the white pagoda was finally built in 1279, and the Buddhist relics were invited to the pagoda.

In 1279, Kublai Khan ordered to build a "great saint shouwan'an Temple" with the tower as the center. According to historical records, the scope of the temple is determined by the range of bows and arrows shot from the top of the tower, covering an area of 160000 square meters. However, according to the location of the streets and surrounding buildings at that time, the North-South range of Baita temple at that time is basically the same as that of today's Baita temple. As an important project for the construction of Dadu city at that time, the temple was completed in 1288. Because it is located in the west of Dadu City, it is also called "Xiyuan". From then on, it became a royal temple in the Yuan Dynasty, and also a place where hundreds of officials practiced rituals and translated and printed Buddhist scriptures in Mongolian and Uighur.

After Kublai Khan's death, the temple of God (shadow Hall) was built on both sides of the white tower for worship. In the first year of Yuanzhen (1295), when the emperor personally presided over a "National Memorial Day" Buddhist activity, the number of participants reached 70000, which can be called the heyday of the development of Baita temple. However, in 1368, a huge thunder fire destroyed all the temples of the temple. Only the White Pagoda survived.

In the eighth year of Xuande (1433), Emperor Xuanzong ordered the white pagoda to be repaired. In the first year of Tianshun (1457), the temple was rebuilt and named "Miaoying Temple" after it was completed. However, the area is only 13000 square meters, and the scope is only the central strip of the Buddhist temple built in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties and the Republic of China, the temple was repaired many times. Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong all had the epitaphs written by Yubi. In 1900, the Allied forces of the eight countries captured Beijing and stormed into the Miaoying temple to sweep away the ritual and sacrificial vessels. In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, monks rented out the side hall and open space, and gradually evolved into one of the famous temple fairs in Beijing. Every Spring Festival, it was so lively that the custom of "walking on the white tower on August 8" was formed among the people in Beijing.

After the start of the cultural revolution in 1966, the lamas in the temple were demobilized, the main gate and the bell and drum tower were demolished and rebuilt into shopping malls, and other parts of the temple were occupied by government agencies. A large number of cultural relics were lost or damaged. It was not until 1997 that the Beijing municipal government put forward the slogan of "open the mountain gate and show the white tower" that the shopping mall was demolished and the mountain gate and temple buildings were rebuilt. In 1998, Miaoying temple was finally reopened.

On November 19, 2019, the White Pagoda of Miaoying temple was closed for two years from June 2019 due to the renovation of cultural relics and the protection of color paintings.

Cultural relics in scenic spots

Main attractions

The White Pagoda of Miaoying temple is 51 meters high. It is of brick and stone structure and white body. The base of the pagoda is built with big city bricks. It is a T-shaped platform, two meters above the ground, covering an area of 1422 square meters. In the center of the tower foundation, a multi corner square tower base is built, covering an area of 810 square meters and 9 meters high. It has three layers. The lower layer is the retaining wall, and the second and third layers are xumizuo. Each layer has two corners symmetrically, so many corner stones and facades are piled up. In the waist part of xumizuo, each facade is set off by the corner columns on both sides and the upper and lower Xiao Fang. The whole tower has a beautiful shape and is rich in layered changes. The body of the tower on the base is a huge chalk covered bowl shaped like a gourd; the upper part is a long conical neck with 13 sections, which is called "thirteen days". 36 small copper bells are hung around the patterned copper plate on the top. The wind blows the bell, the sound is clear and sweet. The eight storey copper tower brake on the copper plate is five meters high and weighs four tons. It is divided into brake seat, phase wheel, treasure cover and brake top.

In the first year of the middle Dynasty, the white pagoda was first introduced to Tibet by aniko, a Nepalese craftsman, and later to Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty. The White Pagoda of Miaoying Temple combines the architectural style of Zhongni pagoda. It not only has rich Buddhist meaning and can meet the requirements of various activities, but also adds luster and momentum to the architecture of Dadu in Yuan Dynasty with its towering and beautiful tower style.

cultural relics and historic sites

In 1978, the white tower was repaired and reinforced. During the construction, the Tripitaka, wooden statue of Avalokitesvara, patchy cassock, five Buddha crown, Qianlong's handwritten "paramita Sutra", Tibetan "Zunsheng mantra", bronze III Buddha statue, red gold relic longevity Buddha, etc. were found in the gilded small area on the top of the tower in 1753.

Address traffic

No. 171 fuchengmennei street, Xicheng District, Beijing, take No. 823, 695, 604, 42 to get off at Baitasi station.

Address: Rongchang County, Chongqing, China

Longitude: 106.300166

Latitude: 29.967953

Chinese PinYin : Bai Ta Si