In my latest weekend escapade, I visited the Dazhenjue Temple, meaning the Temple of Great Righteous Awakening, or just Wutasi, the Five Pagoda Temple, as the building became known in modern Beijing.
The Indian-style construction makes this temple one of only six of its kind in China. Legend says that a high-ranking Indian monk brought the plans of the building to China during the reign of emperor Yong Le, but the construction was only completed around 60 years later in 1473, under emperor Chenghua.
Twice this temple was looted and all surrounding constructions burnt to the ground. First, during the Second Opium War, in 1860, by the French and British soldiers, and then during the Boxer Rebellion, in 1900, by the Eight-Nation Alliance, formed by the Russian, Japanese, British (with Australia and India fighting under the British flag), French, American, German, Italian and Austria-Hungarian armies. The only original building that still stands is the temple itself with the five pagodas, made of white marble.
The temple has five pagodas on the top, associated to each of the five Dhyani Buddhas. In the front, with the green tiles, is a Chinese style construction, adding to the uniqueness of this building.
The outer walls are engraved with images of Buddha. The original white marble has turned to black in the past centuries due to oxidation of some of its metal components. It's fairly easy to spot what I suspect are "new" sculpters from recent renovations, such as one on the top left corner.
The grounds where the temple once stood have been turned into the Beijing Art Museum of Stone Carvings. Many statues and tombstones are on display on both sides of the temple.
From this angle you can actually see the tip of four pagodas. On the top there is a pair of footprints engraved in the marble that represent the spreading of Buddhism around the globe. Access to that area is currently closed to tourists.
On the right side of the temple many gravestones of catholic priests stand with inscriptions in both Latin and Chinese. I assume that these are reminiscent of the Zhalan Cemetery that was close by and was destroyed during the Boxers Rebellion.
"Here lies Jean Baptista Lebou...", reads the engraving in Latin of this tombstone. Most of the stones I saw were of priests with French sounding names, I could only assume they were from France.
A common sculpture I've seen throughout China is of this turtle carrying a slab on their back. Update: the turtle is not a turtle, it is a 赑屃 (bìxì) and is the son of a dragon. (Thanks, Vance!)
Behind the temple there is a museum with activities for children. Here a child inscribes in sand the word stone (石 ).
After running around in a maze made of bushes in the back, kids take a break doing calligraphy with sand over blocks of stone.
Inside the temple there were 4 statues of Buddhas, one on each side of a center block. The space is very small, only a corridor you can walk around all the way back to the front door. Unlike many attractions in China, this place had a lot more information in English.