Due to our extensive stay in Beijing, we had the opportunity to see three of Beijing's temples. Two were touted by LP as members of China's five finest temples, and the last was a sort of "why not?" excursion. The temples were the Temple of Heaven, the Lama Temple, and the Dongyue Temple.
Our trip to the Temple of Heaven was a day trip by itself. Lucky for us, the new line 5 of the subway was up and running, so we could go straight to the East Gate of the temple. Unfortunately, when we left the underground we started walking forward instead of walking backward 10 steps. It therefore felt as though we'd decided to circumambulate the temple rather than enter it. We ended up entering through the North Gate. The main entrance for ceremonies and such is the South Gate, so we ended up seeing everything a little backwards. The temple complex is extensive, but all the beauty and improtance are concentrated in 3 structures.
We walked through the trees and came upon the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. This was the main ceremonial hall. It's huge and circular (representing heaven - earth is square), with a three-tiered roof. The zillions of pillars support the structure without any nails or cement. I learned that the pillars represent the 4 seasons, 12 months, 12 hours of night and day, and constellations. I think the best part of all the buildings was the decorations. They were so elaborate with flying dragons, snakey dragons, flowers, and swirlies in every color. The ceiling was even better, but you're not allowed to go into the buildings (never are), so you have to admire what you can from the barred open doorways.
Next came my favorite building. It was smaller, but easier to see and admire, with a stunning ceiling. See photo. It was the absolutely gorgeous Imperial Vault of Heaven, which held the tablets of the emperors' ancestors. Additionally, just for fun, it was surrounded by an echo wall, so we could hear disembodied voices all over, but there were too many people for us to hear each other across the circle as is suggested. Oh well.
The last big thing was the Round Altar - a 5 m high, three-tiered structure revolving around the number 9 (it being the greatest single-digit, odd integer and therefore harbinger of all good things). One mom had a counting lesson with her small daughter on the top tier. It was a neat spot, though not as decorative or elaborate as the buildings. Very marbley.
Connecting the Imperial Vault of Heaven and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests was a long walkway with a smooth, raised line running down the center. This pretty thing was reserved for god to walk along. People seemed magnetically drawn to walk on god's turf. I scolded Travis for doing it.
Before we left I wanted to see the seven star stones. When we got there I counted eight stones and gasped at the error. Then we learned that when the Manchu dynasty took over it added one more. You see, the stones represented the seven provinces of China, and Manchu really, really wanted to make itself felt as being a part of the greater China. They made all the men wear that stereotypical Chinese hairdo with the shaved front and long braid down the back. That hairdo actually originated in Manchuria. Fabulous factoid of the day!
There was nothing too exciting about the stones except for the group of Chinese adults hopping around them. Not kidding. That's why we love China! You never know what crazy thing you'll see next.
Just a side note before I leave. After visiting the Temple of Heaven we walked across the street to the Pearl Market. It's a highly entertaining shopping experience in which you will see millions of wonderful things that are not useful at all. And piles of pearls. We had a lovely time.
I was so happy to know that the other two temples were just off the metro as well. So one morning we made our way to the Lama Temple. Said temple was originally the residence of a prince. It was then converted into a Tibetan temple and then made into a lamasery. Outside of Lhasa, it is the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in China (and I would assume by extension in the world, although there could be bigger ones now in Nepal or northwestern India).
So this place that totally looks like a palace is awash in monks (they might be lamas, but I don't want to invest them with extra powers), worshippers, and really weird statues. This is because Tibetan Buddhism is a mix of your standard Buddhist philosophy and ancient Tibetan animism. So you don't just have one Buddha in the temple - you have Buddha and a herd of Bodhavistas or some crazy multi-armed guys that look like nothing more than the Hindu Bhairab. You will remember from Nepal that Bhairab is the fiercest incarnation of Shiva. Interesting.
So there were bundles of buildings and bigger bundles of worshippers running around with sticks of incense praying at specific halls for specific things. The temple boasts an enormous standing Buddha made out of a single sandalwood tree. We saw a big Buddha in the building before it and were quite impressed. Then we saw the real big one and couldn't get over how gigantic it was and how it couldn't possibly have from only one tree trunk. You couldn't even look at the whole thing at once. It was that big.
Next we wandered into the Dongyue Temple, our only Taoist temple thus far. We wanted to see this temple because LP described it as a sort of temple of death and destruction. It was pretty much the weirdest temple ever. The center was a pretty normal pagoda surrounded by a garden of stelae, but the outside was a ring of strange rooms filled with even stranger...statues? I don't even know what to call them. They were an odd, almost papier-mache substance, so even the ones that were supposed to look normal looked weird, and they were all very dusty. The rooms represented all the Taoist departments, and as Travis and I walked around we could only wonder: who thought of this stuff? Some of the departments were boring, some were odd (see the Mammal Birth Department), and some were seriously grotesque - particularly the Punishment Department. Our highlight was the Department for Implementing 15 Kinds of Violent Death. Seriously?
As a temple it's not so very interesting, but it's so bizarre (at least by Western standards) that it's totally worth a look. So if you're in Beijing and have some extra time and the inclination check it out. I think you really have to experience it. So weird.
And so it was that we had a very memorable time wandering through Beijing's temples.
Erin
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