The most beautiful temples to visit China

Literally «Palaces of the Eternal Harmony». It's a visit to not miss under any pretext! Located north-east of the Forbidden City, it is one of the largest, one of the most beautiful and best preserved among the temples of Beijing.

History

Formerly designed to be the palace of one of the emperor Kangxi's sons (1661-1722), Emperor Yongzheng, the building was rebuilt under the emperor Qianlong (son and successor of Yongzheng), who transformed him into a temple Tibetan where more than three hundred lamas were established responsible for studying Chinese and tattoo students. Every day there were ceremonies strongly inspired by Tibetan rites, sometimes barbarian, so we were reproducing with a doll the ritual of human sacrifice, some books even say that «red liquids were incorporated into the paste in which the doll was shaped, in order to reproduce the blood!» '. Everything was accompanied by dances executed by masked men… All this belongs to history now and you will not have the opportunity to attend such ceremonies that are no longer practiced and have been replaced by mere recitations of collective prayers around rice offerings and coins. At the fall of the last dynasty, the temple fell into ruins, and had to wait until an order was made the "national monument" to restore it… and reopen its doors in the 1980 s. Today the temple is inhabited by a community of monks, disciples of the Dalai Lama, members of the reformed Yellow Bonnets Cult (Gelukpa).

Visit

The temple consists of a succession of five courses planted with rooms of worship to the increasing importance as progress progresses northwards.

The first hall, the door of the Harmony (Yonghemen), is traditionally dedicated to Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, which welcomes the faithful at the entrance of the temple. On both sides of Maitreya are the two pagoda of Longevity, incrusted with long-lived Buddhist symbols. Two pairs of guards protect the God of evil spirits, because according to Buddhism the Earth would be divided into four worlds protected by armed guards. Behind the screen, facing the north, is a statue of Wei Tuo, the protector of Buddhism.

Then we enter the second courtyard, the buildings that framed it are devoted to studying medicine, mathematics, eyelcerism and Buddhist philosophy. You will notice a beautiful collection of tankas (roller-colored paintings) and, at the bottom of the courtyard in the hall of the Eternal Harmony (Yonghe Dian), the three Buddhas of the present, the Past and the Future.

At the bottom of the third courtyard, the Hall of the Eternal Protection (Yongyou Dian), formerly the bedroom of Emperor Yongzheng while still only a prince, now houses three Buddha wooden Buddhas; the Longevity Buddha in the center, framed on the left by the Buddha of Medicine, and on the right by the Buddha to the roaring lion (the one who scares bad spirits).

Then we enter the fourth court. Do not forget to pause for a few moments to admire some examples of lamaic art in the side galleries, and you will discover in front of you the Salle de la Loi (Falun Dian), or take religious services on a daily basis. The architecture was developed according to the plan of a Greek cross and, by lifting your eyes, you will notice the complexity of the ceiling, unrelated to the previous flags. In the center of the hall, a huge golden statue of Tsong Kapa, the founder of the reformed Gelukpa doctrine, which instituted the abolition of marriage and hereditary mandate for its members. On the side walls of the temple, great frescoes reveal the story of Tsong Kapa, and on the wall of the Five Hundred Arhats, disciples allegedly slept in writing the sutras made by Sakyamuni.

The fifth and last courtyard reveals the Ten Thousand Bonheurs flag (Wan Fu Ge), a three-story pavilion, connected to two side pavilions by two hanging galleries. It is also called the tower of the Great Buddha, as it contains a giant statue of Maitreya. This 26 m high statue (18 m above ground and 8 m below), carved in a single trunk of santal wood from Tibet, is a gift made to Emperor Qianlong by the seventh Dalai Lama.

Located about 7 kilometers southwest of the town of Pingyao stands a magnificent but often forgotten, small Buddhist temple. This temple says both forests (literal translation of its name) date from the Wei dynasty of the north (more specifically from the life of the century), but the current buildings were built under Ming and Qing. Apart from this rather common architecture in the region, we will come above all here for the interior of the temple. In fact, it presents nearly 2,000 clay statues of different sizes, stained with vivid colors, dating from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing (a period between xiie and the nineteenth century): fabulous!

Built under the Northern song dynasty (960-1127), the temple of the god of the city was restored and enlarged under the Ming and then the Qing. Today it consists of four courses whose architecture and ornaments illustrate the blend of taoist, Buddhist and Confucian influences. The first large building serves as theatre stage during the temple celebration, which takes place every year at the end of May. The six big boxes on the stage actually serve as a sounding fund to amplify the voices of the players: a simple but efficient acoustic system, probably one of the oldest that exists. On both sides of the scene, the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower give access to the second court, dominated by the main prayer room. 16 murals include mythical or historical events.

The pavilion of the last court houses a statue of clay representing the God of the city, as well as 48 statues with custom faces and expressions, embodying local officials in the service of God.

This "mountain temple" (as indicated by the characters above the door) built in 2000 reflects religious architecture under the Tang Dynasty (th-century). Buddhism was at its peak in China. The building is entirely wooden. The épis of its fin-shaped roof symbolize the dragon in the water and protect the potential fire site. The first Buddha statue is accompanied by one of its protectors, Vanda, which controls wind, rain, storm and light. In the second court, the statue on the right represents the head of medicine, the one on the left represents the god of Compassion, one of the most révérées deities by the Chinese. Note the absence of incense sticks in the main chapel housing Buddha and his disciples. The faithful, when entering the temple, must not be decentralized by material objects. This temple, as its name indicates, houses Buddhist bonzesses.

If there was only one reason to come to Zhangye, here she is. This complex - 23,000 m ² - of sumptuous temples and immense historical value (Emperor Kubilay, the first of the Yuan dynasty, would have been born), contains in its largest building a real jewel, a 34.5-meter long Buddha, which would be the longest in the world (or at least China). Built in 1098, its wooden structure, covered with a kind of plaster, has crossed the ages, no less than ten centuries in total! Besides, it's the same Buddha that Marco Polo would have seen and that he tells in his book about the World's Imagination. During the Cultural Revolution, red guards did not have the courage to deteriorate it, but they were still digging a tunnel, as to prove that Buddha sounded hollow. These minor damage was repaired afterwards and the small holes you see on the side of the huge statue are aeration. The rest of the complex presents interesting collections related to the history of the silk road and the spread of Buddhism in China.

An unavoidable visit.

This Taoist temple, one of the oldest in the island, is dedicated to two deities: Man, God of literature, and Mo, God of war better known as Guanyu. The latter is also the protector of restaurants, loan shops, the police… and Triades. Both gods were venerated by students and officials before their exams during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Let yourself be impregnated by the thick smoke flowing from the incense waves, some of which are so large that they burn for four weeks. We love the atmosphere that comes out of the place. Note, however, that there are several Man Mo temples in Hong Kong and that this one is the most famous (and most popular) of them.

A little further than the Lotus Flower, built on a platform at mid-height of the hill, it is the largest structure of Longmen, it represents Buddhist art at its peak. Wooden structures, including the roof, no longer exist today, exposing the wind and rain statues even though the authorities put forward the roofs on the edge of the cliff. Built in 672, the temple was commissioned by Empress Wu Zetian to increase his aura. She would have invested the budget for a year of beauty products to build this place. The Losana Buddha, in the centre, with its 17,14 m height, is the largest statue of Longmen: His head is 4 m long and his ears 1,90 m. Despite its enormous proportions, sweetness and inner beauty come from, producing a sense of kindness and rare humanity in the Buddhist style. The artist would have made a Buddha with a feminine delicacy in homage to Empress Wu Zetian. On each side of the Buddha Losana, two disciples, two bodhisattvas, two heavenly kings, two warriors and two apsaras, this estate formed in some way a replica of the Imperial courtyard of the Tang.

On the other bank, nestled along the slopes of the East Hill, there are some interesting structures: the Temple of the Reading of Buddhist Scriptures (Kanjing), which dates from the end of the th and early th centuries, the great cave of the Fifteen Thousand Buddhas (Dawanwu Dong), built at the same time as the temple of Adoration of ancestors.

A visit that is worth a visit. Set in a traditional village, the 500-year-old temple was founded by the Tang family. Nowadays, every member of the village still bears the same name. It is one of the most important clans in the New Territories. There are tablets dedicated to every ancestor, including that of Wong Kuwu, a princess of the Song Dynasty fleeing Mongolian troops in the th century. One of Tang's ancestors passed the mandarinal exam and was designated as an official at the Imperial Court. The site still hosts meetings (one pays tribute to the ancestors) according to Confucian morality. Once only men were accepted on the premises.