TEMPLE OF LONGEVITY

History

Built under the Emperor Wanli of the Ming dynasty, he was the place of worship originally, from Gu Da Yong's family, great eunuch of the Imperial Court.

Chosen to keep Buddhist canons in Mandarin, it was enlarged and became Imperial Temple. He was again the object of restorations and works under the Qing, and it is in his walls that Emperor Qianlong addressed his mother's wishes, accompanied by prayers read out loud by a thousand monks. Initially composed of three parts, in the middle stood the temple, the west buildings served as secondary residence in the imperial court and the eastern part, with an area of 31,800 m ², was the prayer house and the residence of the monks. Today, the western part, partially destroyed by fire in 1982, was transformed into a museum. As for the eastern part, it has been converted into a residential district for residents.

Visit

The only part of the temple that is visiting and is open to the public is the central part: several courses cross the temple on a south-north axis.

In the first courtyard, there is the tower of the Cloche and the Tower of the Drum, and at the bottom, the palace of the heavenly king where four celestial guards stand. The room houses an exhibition of Zhuan Ke, dealing with the art of sculpture of classical character seals. The two side halls are transformed into an exhibition site in the history of Buddhism.

At the bottom of the second courtyard, we arrive at the Palace of Heroes at the center of the three Buddha statues surrounded by the 18 armored clay arhats. Note the roof curve of the palace covered with tiles painted with beautiful colors.

Then in the third courtyard is held the pagoda of Longevity. Burning towards the end of Qing, it was recently reconstructed and houses a collection of ancient Chinese inks, porcelain and art objects.

In the fourth throne on some kind of rock hill the palace of Guan Yin (Pu tuo), goddess of Mercy or Avalokitésvara. On the left is the palace of Wenshu (Manjusri), and on the right the palace of Samantabbhadra. At the foot of the hill, a pond is rounded off the bridge of the Immortal Gathering which leads to a cave a little further. On the site of beautiful pine trees, cypress and ginkgos very old. Behind the hill, there are stacks protected by kiosks. Set up by Qianlong and Guangxu, these stoneware who report the history of this temple are memory. We'll note, in the eastern room, very beautiful antique furniture. From the middle of the Qing at the end of the dynasty, this secondary residence served as a resting point to the emperor when he traveled by boat from the Forbidden City to the Summer Palace.