Lama Temple 雍和宫
雍和宫大街
Elaborate complex with three-storey hall housing 26m-high Buddha figure
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of North and East of the Imperial City
Although usually known as the Lama Temple, Yōnghé Gōng means ‘The Palace of Peace and Harmony’. It was built during the reign of the Qīng Kāngxī emperor in 1694 as the princely mansion of his fourth son Prince Yōng, who later became the third Qīng emperor to rule from Běijīng (Yōngzhèng, reigned 1723–35). Under Qīng law, since the palace had ‘nurtured a dragon’ it could no longer be used as a residence (see Princely Privileges). It was converted to a lamasery during the Qiánlóng reign in 1744 and now functions partly as a genuine place of worship and teaching for around 80 monks and innumerable visitors, and partly as a vehicle for Chinese propaganda concerning Tibet.
Their former role as an imperial residence has left the main halls of the Lama Temple with the same yellow roofs as the Imperial Palace, and with the same figures on the eaves. Running south to north, these increase in size and importance, ending with the towering and impressive Wànfú Gé (Pavilion of Ten Thousand Fortunes), with its aerial passages to side halls. Reflecting the Tibetan and Mongolian roots of Lamaist Buddhism, and the Manchurian origins of the dynasty that set up the temple, signs and stelae within the temple are carved with Tibetan, Mongolian, and Manchu, as well as Chinese scripts.
Passing through the first courtyard with its drum tower, bell tower, and stelae pavilions, you reach the Tiānwáng Diàn (Hall of the Heavenly Kings), with the four statues found at all Chinese Buddhist and Lamaist temples. The next courtyard is bordered with halls for teaching various disciplines such as mathematics, as well as halls for exoteric (public) doctrines, originally coming from an inner circle of adepts. As elsewhere, esoteric Buddhism is represented by statues of larger male figures enjoying sexual pleasure with smaller female ones, although due to official prudery these are usually draped. The courtyard contains a substantial and ornate incense burner, dating from 1747, and a pavilion housing a single four-language stele carved with Qiánlóng’s views on Buddhism, its Chinese characters in his own calligraphy.
Ahead is the Yōnghé Gōng after which the whole temple is now known, with bronze and gold statues of the past, present (Sakyamuni, in the middle), and future Buddhas, along with two of Sakyamuni’s favourite students and the 18 luóhàn (saints).
Beyond is the Yǒngyòu Diàn (Hall of Eternal Blessing), with further figures, and through that the main hall of the complex, the Fǎlún Diàn (Hall of the Wheel of Law). Despite the chatter of visitors, this cross-shaped hall is gloomily atmospheric, lined with racks of cloth-wrapped religious texts and dominated by a 6m-high bronze of Tsongkhapa (宗喀巴, Zōngkābā), the founder of the ‘Yellow Hat’ sect of reformed lamaism (see p.258), to which this temple belongs and of which the Dalai Lama is the leader. Closer examination of the walls reveals their covering of painted scenes, while rows of kneeling places lit by Ikea-style desk lamps shows the hall’s continuing purpose as a place of teaching. Behind Tsongkhapa is an elaborate carving, ‘The Mountain of the 500 Arhats’.
The smaller halls to the left and right of the Yǒngyòu Diàn are entered from the rear, the left (west) side hall containing Qiánlóng’s court dress and crown and, perhaps inappropriately for a Buddhist temple, the gun and sword he used when out hunting. Other Buddhist ceremonial items include masks used in religious dances and an enormous rosary with beads the size of cricket balls (or softballs). The hall on the east side is named after the Panchen Lama, the most senior reincarnation after the Dalai Lama, and whose last adult version resided in Běijīng and did much as he was told, although he showed signs of rebellion towards the end of his life. The hall contains an exhibition about Tibetan Buddhism, whose aim is to show, falsely, that Tibet has always been subservient to China, and suggesting that Běijīng always authorised the appointment of the new Dalai Lama and other important reincarnations. There are paintings and photographs of all of the Dalai and Panchen lamas and of other important monasteries, as well as gold and bronze statuary and other valuable and beautiful religious items.
The rearmost hall accessible to the public is the three-storey Wànfú Gé (Pavilion of Ten Thousand Fortunes), with flying buttress-like foot passages forming connections to two side halls. It contains a serene 26m-high Maitreya (future) Buddha statue carved from a single white sandalwood trunk and transported all the way from Tibet as a gift to Qiánlóng from the 7th Dalai Lama. Its copper-coloured bulk is hung with scarves of respect, and enclosed by three storeys of galleries with many more statues. For once in China fact replaces hyperbole — there is an incongruous testament to the statue’s uniqueness in a brass reproduction of a Guinness Book of Records certificate displayed outside.
Kāngxī also granted Prince Yǒng a palace on land northwest of the city, which would eventually be part of the Yuánmíng Yuán, or Summer Palace.
▶ Yōnghé Gōng, Yōnghé Gōng Dàjiē, t 6404 4499, www.yonghegong.cn, 9am–4.30pm, Apr–Oct; 9am–4pm winter. ¥25. m Yōnghé Gōng (Lines 2 & 5) exit C. b to 雍和宫: 13, 116, 117, 684.
Immediately south of the Yōnghé Gōng the alley running east is Xìlóu Hútòng (戏楼胡同) whose name indicates there was once an opera theatre here. Follow the alley as it wriggles and turns left (north) then right again and comes to a turning called Zàngjīngguǎn Hútòng (藏经管胡同) whose name suggests Tibetan sutras were stored in the vicinity. As this hútòng swings round to the north there’s a small temple, overgrown and locked up, and huddling in the shadow of a large modern building. It is still in use as residences according to the people in the shop opposite.
For faintly better news on this topic, return to the junction and turn left (east) until, as it turns sharply right, the gate to an ancient compound stands in front of you. This is the Bǎilín Sì (柏林寺, ‘cypress trees temple’, sometimes rendered Bólín Sì), originally founded in 1347, and said, although renovated during the Míng and twice during the Qīng, to be both large and largely intact. There’s no easy way to check further since today it is occupied by government work units, and stern guards will not let you past the gate unless you have an appointment.
If you are genuinely interested in preventing further destruction of Beijing’s heritage and in seeing government and army units driven out of ancient sites, you might want to support that rare beast in China, an NGO, called the Běijīng Cultural Heritage Protection Centre (北京文化遗产保护中心, Běijīng Wénhuà Yíchǎn Bǎohù Zhōngxīn, www.bjchp.org, t 6403 6532). This organisation keeps an eye on illegal development projects and illegal uses of protected buildings by government and military organs, and whispers words of praise (which are the only ones they’ll listen to) into the ears of cultural protection cadres whenever they accidentally do the right thing, to encourage them to do it more often. The Centre deserves your support. Its website has details of a walking tour in this area southeast of the Lama Temple.
You can continue east and at the end of the hútòng turn right into Dōng Zhí Mén Běi Xiǎojiē (东直门北小街) to reach the small, very little-visited, recently reopened, and actively working Tōngjiào Sì. But the closest major sight, and one which typically offers calm after what can sometimes be tour bus bedlam at the Lama Temple, is the Confucius Temple and Imperial College, usually tour bus-free, down Guózi Jiàn Jiē (国子监街) to the west opposite the Lama Temple’s main entrance.
There are several restaurants including vegetarian and vegan options, on both sides of Yōnghé Gōng Dàjiē, along with a Costa Coffee. There was a good choice of Western and Japanese food in Wǔ Dào Yíng Hútòng (五道营胡同) just north of the Yōnghé Gōng main entrance and west, or reached by taking northbound hútòng either side of the Confucius Temple, but this was much reduced during 2018 as part of the ‘great bricking’, which saw back alley businesses in hútòng across the city bricked up, pulled down or otherwise driven away.
Next in North and East of the Imperial City: Buddhism and Lamaism (story)
Previously: Dōng Sì Mosque
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
