02.23.2011 Pt. 1 Visit to Yonghegong Lama Temple, and Confucius Temple in Beijing, China

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I must have walked more today than I ever have in Minnesota. I wanted to travel around as much as I could before I needed to leave so I packed the Yonghegong Lama Temple, Confucius Temple, Drum and Bell Tower and finally Lotus Lane into one day.

The first visit of the day was to the Yonghegong Lama Temple. Yonghegong is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. I stated before that China has a much larger scale of temples and tourist locations and this was another location that seemed to stretch for miles. There were indeed a lot of tourist in the area and I had no trouble finding direction or figuring out what was what since the signage was in English. The opening gates are just like every other temple entrance but then you walk in and the temple grounds are crammed with locals and Buddhist Monks paying homage to Buddha with three incense. Each gate leads to another deity and as you wonder further and further into the temple the deities become larger and grander. I have never seen a temple that had people praying at it while tourist and others walked by snapping pictures. Some stores inside sold bundles of incense, small charms to give to the deities, and also Rosaries. Each person praying seemed to have infinite number of incense and they looked so focused that you could hurl a boulder at them but they would not move. Everyone was calm and there was little to no noise inside the temple compared to the car horns blaring and streets and outside the walls.

The first gate called Yonghe Gate was simple yet elegant, which seemed to be a local favorite as far as burning incense was concerned. Inside the room Buddhist Monks walk around monitoring the deity and people praying. None of the Monks seemed to speak, the only communication was a simple eye glare and node to confirm if it was safe to take a photo or not. Each room has a specific deity and each deity has a specific stance, clothing, pose and decoration according to whom they are. Sometimes the walls are lines with other statues of worshipers. The difference is that the wall characters had flesh painted faces and painted cloths; whereas the deity in the middle of the room was painted in all gold.

Before entering each gate, large iron containers that hold the left over ashes of incense stand in the middle of the temple. Also, small kneeling benches are offered for those who wish to knee and pray. There are also small statues and incense bells where people tend to throw money, coins, or incense inside the bell for good luck. Just to let you know, the signs say “Do not place incense here” or “Please do not throw coins” but no one really listens or cares, I believe it is for the tourists.

Next was the Hall of Yonghe which presented a much grander scale of some Buddhist deities. The central altar has the Buddhas of three ages. The middle one is Sakyamuni (the present), the past Buddha is to the right and the future Buddha is to the left. The statues themselves glimmer in the sunlight and each one seems to look the same as the next, but they are all in different positions with different hand gestures. There was even a line to get in as the front was lined with people paying homage to each deity. Just to the right of Yonghe Hall is the Hall of Esoteric. This was a much smaller representation of deities but that didn’t seem to diminish the importance of each deity in the room. Several deities were held within intricately crafted wooden and glass boxes. Each corner of the room held more statues of worshipers and possible deities painted flesh tone skin and colorful clothing.

I arrived at the Hall of Yongyou and to my surprise it looked just like the previous hall. I honestly thought I went back until I noticed the difference colors and small golden statues in front of the three deities. The room covered the same ground and had very similar architecture style with the previous Hall. However the next Hall called Falun was a sight to see. This structure was enormous and covered almost half the temple grounds. Three large doors allowed crowds of people to enter and pray in front of the 6 meter (20 feet) deity. Long red tables with lamps stationed at each set surrounded the deity and seemed to be study desks for the Monks. The deity was covered in golden cloths and long silk scarves and a large gold summer screen dominated the backdrop. If you follow around the study desks you will find a sand mandala. Sand mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. A sand mandala is ritualistically destroyed once it has been completed and its accompanying ceremonies and viewing are finished to symbolize the Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life. At the end a large glass box is available for people to contribute financial support; there must have been at least one million Yuan or so.

The final building called Wanfu Pavilion had the Guinness Book of World Records plaque posted on the front of the building. The plaque was made to show that the statue of Maitreya at the Lama temple in Wanfu Pavilion was carved out of a single white sandalwood tree and is 26 meters (85 feet) tall. The Buddha statue was colossal and must have take years to carve. I needed to take a minute just to capture the beauty and make sure my mouth wasn’t hanging on the ground. One of the Monks walked over in front said a prayer and threw a golden silk scarf onto the Buddha. I learned that the Buddha was built first then the building to hold the Buddha was built around it. The paint is a brilliant deep gold that seems to suck up anything that is reflected off the statues surface.

Next to the Wanfu Pavilion is the Panchen building. The building was originally used as a lounge for the Sixth Panchen Erdeni who visited Beijing to celebrate Emperor Qianlong’s birthday. It is now used as an exhibition room for the Lama Temple’s antiques and precious items and deities. The room is vast with many detailed and historical objects. Many of the displays contain statues of deities, clothing worn in the period, miniature replicas of buildings and historic sites, and old scrolls and writings. There were so many items to choose from I will only cover a few on display. The five offerings with designs of interlocking branches and coiled dragons are all handmade wooden objects that are placed in front of statues of Buddha in halls of monasteries. The Eight auspicious signs also called eight sacred emblems of Buddha are gold covered statues that represent happiness and auspiciousness. The collection is very well organized and interesting to go through.

Across from the Panchen building is the Jeitai Building. This is another exhibit gallery building, however this gallery is about the art of Tibetan Buddhist Statues. Some of the statues in the exhibit are offered from Tibet and some are from the royal court. Each section has a specific theme or style. Some styles include Devi symbolizing Jnana or wisdom, Samadani models are used for observing and pondering, and Buddha which stand for consciousness. Each is represented by a plaque and statues depicting a specific gesture or hand motion. A statue of Jie Tai sits firmly in the middle of the room. The statue was rebuilt for the 6th Banchen Erdeni who came to Beijing to congratulate the Emperor Qianlong on his birthday. The white marble altar has three stories, symbolizing the three levels of practice in Buddhism. I was very impressed with the displays and with the details for each exhibit.

I had some time to walk around the temple grounds and soak up the views and feeling of the people. I didn’t think it was appropriate for me to buy incense and pray in from of the deity but I did enjoy seeing other take part. Since the grounds were so large I had trouble finding the exit and had to ask one of the other tourists to point me in the right direction were I found myself on a new street.

I am still surprised at the sights I see while walking around. It’s so difficult to put into words what I felt and the drastic difference in buildings and people within one block of another. Picture a metropolis setting like New York, and about every ten feet or so replace the building with and empty space or with a half built building. Several people on the streets tried to sell me “something” while other people tried to tell me “I want to learn English, you teach me and I stay with you.” Or “I give you tour English best price.” I was followed by two students who wouldn’t leave me alone no matter how many times I told them “no” or “not interested”. An older gentleman was burning gold folded origami paper in front of a store on the street. I’m not sure what it was about but a woman next to him was folding the paper as he threw bundles of papers into the fire. I didn’t want to get any vendor food but I was told that Chinese dumplings are simply the best. I found a store and bought two hot buns for just four Yuan; one dumpling contained shredded beef with spices and the other was vegetarian with a type of Chinese grass inside. After a quick redirection I found my way to the Confucius Temple.

The Confucius Temple was actually had smaller grounds than most of the other tourist locations but that didn’t take away from the magnificent of it. Confucius Temple is originally where emperors offered sacrifices to Confucius. It was constructed with three rows of houses in the courtyard with areas of study and contemplation. It is also one of the key relics and cultural sites the government is committed to keeping around for future tourists. A life sized statue of Confucius stands serenely alone in the center of the temple court. As I passed through the gate of Great Success a bell, tablet, and several plaques are stationed on the left side of the gate for commemoration and explanation of the gate. The outlying houses in the side are spaced perfectly apart from one another with large obelisk in the middle of house. The Qianlong emperor, named a small lake in the compound Ink Lake. According to legend, writers who drank from Ink Lake would have an endless source of inspiration and could therefore easily pass imperial examinations. Along with this temple, the placement of the trees was foreseen to withstand the test of time. In the right corner of the temple one tree was dated to be over 500 years old. Walking forward I arrived at Da Cheng Hall. This is the main architecture of the Confucian Temple, where Confucius was enshrined and worshipped by emperors. Inside was a larger than life display of musical instruments and the altar where Confucius sat and pondered. Many of the instruments I had never seen before or even understood how they were used. However, the story goes that the music of the musical instruments in the hall were made of the size according to the ancient historical records. These instruments used eight kinds of material – metal, stone, string, bamboo, gourd, clay, leather, and wood. Qianlong Stone Tablets Engraved with Thirteen Confucian Classics is just behind to the left of Da Cheng Hall. These tablets were massive and every single one had hundreds of hand carved characters and messages. The classics have more than 626,000 Chinese characters, all written in regular script by Jiang Hang. The building is so silent that I could hear the small scrapping sound the heel of shoes make while walking down from one end to the other; the feeling is indescribable. Chong Sheng Memorial Temple is located at the end of Confucius Temple. The Chong Sheng Temple is where sacrifices were offered to the five-generation ancestors of Confucius. The walls, carpet, poles, hall, and prayer block were stained with amaranth red. I could tell why this where sacrifices were offered and commenced. The sides of the walls were lined with small prayer tablets and life size clay statues of philosophers and other attendants of Confucius Temple. For those readers who plan to visit Beijing, I would recommend checking it out and seeing for yourself what adventures you might have. I should mention that the ticket purchase for the Confucius Temple it is combined with a tour of the imperial College next to the Temple. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time to check it out.

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