Dà Jué Sì 大觉寺
海淀区苏家坨镇北安河乡
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond
In the summer of 1866, Dà Jué Sì superseded the Temple of the Azure Clouds at what is now Fragrant Hills Park as the summer retreat of the pompous British attaché Algernon Freeman-Mitford:
It is too far from Peking to be very convenient; but it is well worth the extra ride, and the advantage of being fifteen miles from the other temples inhabited by Europeans is incalculable; one is not subject to perpetual interruptions by people who, being bored themselves, come in and inflict their boredom upon others. It is a great undertaking moving out to the hills. We are obliged to take absolutely our whole ménage, and almost all our furniture with us… there were fourteen carts of every kind of movable — our whole poultry-yard clucking and cackling out of coops and baskets, and a cow with her calf.
Algernon B. Freeman-Mitford, The Attaché at Peking, 1900 (written 1865)
Freeman-Mitford goes on to delight in the temple as the prettiest in the area, as well as cooler and with better air than others taken over by diplomatic colleagues. Signs in Korean, Russian, Japanese, and French indicate a continuing appeal to foreigners. As hazy on China as many a modern expat, he misreads the middle character of the temple’s name as jiào, or ‘repose’. But 觉 is a duō yīn zì, or ‘many sounds character’, here pronounced jué, meaning ‘enlightenment’.
The sizeable temple complex on three main axes remains pleasant and quiet despite also operating as a conference centre that offers delegates mahjong and karaoke and having the occasional obtrusive strings of electric lights over its courtyards. It makes an attractive day trip or even an overnight stay. There’s a small but lively market for incense and religious paraphernalia opposite the entrance.
It was founded during the Liáo dynasty in 1068 (as recorded on an ancient stele that now needs a brick frame to support it) and rebuilt during the Míng in 1446, with later Qīng additions. Like the very few other surviving Liáo dynasty temples, it is oriented from east to west. Several curious trees include a rattan growing around a cypress, a ginkgo which is claimed to be 1000 years old, and entwined magnolia, plum, and cypress trees. Above the temple there’s a small spring whose waters are channelled round the site and emerge from a stone dragon’s mouth to fall into the Lotus Pool near the entrance.
The Hall of the Deva Kings has modern statuary and a Maitreya Buddha, but the highly atmospheric main Mahavira Hall, of Míng date, battered and unpainted, retains a fine caisson ceiling with a carved dragon peering down on dusty seated Manjusri, Avalokitesvara, and Samatabahdra Buddhas below. They are flanked by 18 coppery faced luóhàn in their own gallery with its own pillars, the roof supported by complex brackets. Great towers of fruit stand in offering to the deities.
The Amitabha Hall behind, with its Qiánlóng calligraphy boards, Buddha, two boddhisattvas, and further luóhàn, has been renovated and has another fine ceiling. The two-storey Temple of Supreme Kindness, behind that, with calligraphy above the door by Prince Chún, father of the Guāngxù emperor (see East Bank of the Hòu Hǎi), contains a model of how the complex appeared at its peak, as well as the official history. Much around the site is explained in English, and treasures include stelae with calligraphy by Qiánlóng and Cíxǐ, and earlier stones recording the presence of the tripitaka, texts canonical to some variants of Buddhism.
Behind this is a white flask-shaped stupa topped with umbrellas and with a lotus flower base, seated on an octagonal plinth carved with flower motifs and dragons, and reached by uneven stone steps to the left. The stupa is named for a cypress and pine, which form a rather elegant natural canopy over it.
The site also boasts a smart little guesthouse (standard rooms a bargainable ¥480), an over-priced Shàoxīng restaurant, a vegetarian one, and the Mínghuì Cháguǎn (a tea house), making a weekend stay within the quiet temple grounds a possibility. The temple has now also built other residences amongst neighbouring hills. Call ahead, and perhaps you can pretend to be Freeman-Mitford (although he booked his summer retreat the previous February).
▶ 43km from central Běijīng, just outside the NW Sixth Ring Rd, gps 43º03’06”N, 116º06’02”E, t 6245 6163, 8am–4.30pm. ¥20 (¥10 after 5pm for courtyards only); on Weds first 200 visitors enter free. b to 大觉寺: 633, 919专线 (from m Píngguǒ Yuán); 346 from Summer Palace to 周家巷, and change to 633.
Just round the corner from where the bus drops you, a sign with large white characters points to the right. From there it’s less than ten minutes’ walk gently uphill through one set of lights and across a railway track.
Next in Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond: Yúnjū Sì
Previously: Bā Dà Chù
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
