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Beijing Miaoying Temple(White Dagoba Temple)

  • The Miaoying Temple, also known as the White Dagoba Temple, is one of Beijing’s oldest and most significant Tibetan Buddhist temples. Built during the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan, it features a stunning white stupa that dominates the skyline.

Profile

  • ID : 245
  • City : beijing
  • English name : White Pagoda
  • Chinese name : 白塔寺
  • Type :
  • Level : easy
  • Kids : possible
  • Elders: suggested
  • Best season : All seasons
  • Visiting length : 1-2 hour
  • Distance to city center : 6 km

Introduction

    • White Dagoba Temple is located at the Western District inside Beijing City. It got its name from a white old dagoba inside the temple. The White Dagoba standing over 50 meters high. It is the largest Dagoba from the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368AD) still in existence. The temple was completed in under the supervision of a Nepalese architect and it was considered an aesthetic masterpiece. White Dagoba Temple originally had the name "Temple of Great Holy Longevity and Eternal Peace". It was named "Miaoyingsi" after it was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644). The common people call the Temple by its more popular name, the White Dagoba Temple.

Helper to visit White Pagoda

  • Address in English : No.171 Fuchengmen Nei Street, Xicheng District, Beijing
  • Address in Chinese : 北京市西城区阜成门内大街171号
  • Tel : 86-10-66166099
  • Post code : 100034
  • Ticket time : 9:00-16:00
  • Open time : 9:00-17:00
  • Closing time : Every Monday (except public holidays)
  • Location : White Pagoda is around 6 km to downtown beijing

    Transportation

    • Public bus: 3, 13, 42, 101, 102, 103, 409, 612
    • Subway: Take Subway Line 2 and get off at Fuchengmen Station.
  • Private car is the best method to visit White Pagoda with local tour operator.

Admission

  • high season : 10 RMB/person.
  • shoulder season : 10 RMB/person.
  • low season : 10 RMB/person.

    History

  • Miaoying Temple is a Lamaist temple. Lamaism is a branch of Buddhism. Nepal was one of the sources of early Buddhism. Lamaism was introduced to china during the Tang Dynasty but was not widespread until the Yuan Dynasty. It became popular especially in Tibet. During the same period inverted-bowl-style dagobas were widely adopted by Lamaist monasteries. The oldest extant large-scale Lamaist dagoba is the White Dagoba at Beijing's Miaoying Temple also called White Dagoba Temple. It was designed and built by a Nepalese artisan, Anika.

    The White Dagoba has its own history of more than 700 years. It was initially built from 1271 to 1279 during the Yuan Dynasty and was designed and constructed by a famous Nepali at that time. In the same year after the dagoba was built, a magnificent temple was constructed with the dagoba as its centerpiece. Altogether, this Nepali built three dagobas in the whole of China, one in Tibet, one in Wutai Mountain, in Shanxi Province (one of the four famous Buddhist mountains in China) and the third one here in White Dagoba Temple. These dagobas are the combinations of Chinese and Nepalese cultures.

    The construction of dagobas on a large scale reflected the exploitation of Lamaism by the ruling class during the Yuan Dynasty to carry out ideological domination. During the Ming and Qing dynasties Lamaism continued to develop in China and more Lamaist dagobas were erected. Dagnhas, in fact, became the main style for tombs of eminent Buddhists, monks and lamas alike, so they were also called monks' tombs. The most famous Lamaist dagobas include the White Dagoba at Tayuan Temple on Wutai Mountain, the White Dagoba at Beijing's Beihai Park, and the White Dagoba at Lianxing Temple by the Slimmer West Lake in Yangzhou. Sometimes a single temple has several dozen or several hundred such dagobas. Some pagodas built on vajrasanas or across roads also have such a structure on top.

    In 1368 during the Yuan Dynasty, the Temple was destroyed by thunder and fire, only the dagoba remained intact. The Temple was reconstructed in 1457 during the Ming Dynasty and was repaired in the following dynasties. Most of the buildings you can now see inside the Temple were constructed in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).

    Renovated in 1998 and 2003, this temple features the largest Tibetan pagoda (also called chorten, dagoba or stupa) in China, towering over the neighborhood at 51m (167 ft.) tall.

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      Architecture

    • There are altogether three Halls in Miaoying Temple. The first one is exhibits on the history of the temple, as well as a display of several of the priceless Buddhist treasures that were discovered when the Pagoda was being renovated in 1978. The second Hall is an impressive display called the Hall of 10,000 Buddhas. Although there are not actually 10,000 statues in the Hall, there are over 7,000 of them, Walking into the Hall is a breathtaking sight, the place is literally covered in Buddha statues on all four walls. Behind this Hall is the Hall of Seven Buddhas, Which is home to seven large Buddha statues, as opposed to the thousands of little ones, behind this is the White Pagoda itself. Although visitors are not allowed to go up on the Pagoda itself, there is really not much to go up on, there are no doors leading into the structure.

      The White Dagoba is fifty one meters high like a gourd. The whole body was covered by Caltanissetta upper part is like a conic neck divided into three fragments.

      Its base is a three-layered square with a height of nine meters. Thirty six copper bells hang to a tray, also made of copper, under the roof of the dagoba. They sound beautifully well when wind blows unto them. This dagoba is on the opposite side of the White Dagoba in Beihai Park and fifteen meters higher. The Temple's White Dagoba is the biggest in Beijing and is considered the largest Lama Stupa of the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368) in present day China. There are many precious Buddhist cultural relics hidden inside the roof of the dagoba and are now displayed at the Temple. For example, there are the scriptures written by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty, and the little carved Buddhas figures.

      The temple has undergone numerous reconstructions. The Dajue Dian (Hall of the Great Enlightened Ones), the first building, contains thousands of little Buddhas in glass cases, set into the columns. An earthquake in 1976 turned up numerous artifacts, some of which are now on display in the museum. You'll find Buddhist statuary demonstrating ritualistic hand positions (mudra), a sutra copied out by the Qianlong emperor, and vivid thangka (silk hangings depicting Buddhist images). Just to the east is a potentially fascinating temple, Lidai Diwang Miao (Temple for Emperors of Past Dynasties). Constructed during the 1530s to house the ancestral tablets of the emperors of "Chinese" dynasties -- the Han, Tang, and Song, it was expanded by Qing emperors to include not only their Ming predecessors, but also the "barbarian" rulers of the Liao, Jin, and Yuan.

      The Temple was formally opened in 1980. By now, the reconstruction of the mountain gate of the Temple has already been completed.
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