Lama Temple

In an effort to "get off me arse" and away from a neon tan, I had a lovely 3 days off. With a reporter away and a produce in Tianjin, I took advantage of the time to sleep late and go to bed early. Well as early as I could.

Saturday morning here brought a light dust of snow and a somewhat windless day. So of I wondered to Lama Temple. One of the more touristy attractions it is located just of line 2 subway at Yonghegong stop.

It’s part of the yellow hat sect. (no I’m not making that up). Built according to Wikipedia in the 1694 Qing Dynasty era. Here is Wikipedia’s take….

Building work on the Yonghegong Temple started in 1694 during the Qing Dynasty. It originally served as an official residence for court eunuchs. It was then converted into the court of the Prince Yong (Yin Zhen), a son of the Kangxi Emperor and himself the future Yongzheng Emperor. After Yongzheng's ascension to the throne in 1722, half of the building was converted into a lamasery, a monastery for monks of Tibetan Buddhism. The other half remained an imperial palace.

After Yongzheng's death in 1735, his coffin was placed in the temple. The Qianlong Emperor, Yongzheng's successor, gave the temple imperial status signified by having its turquoise tiles replaced with yellow tiles which were reserved for the emperor. Subsequently, the monastery became a residence for large numbers of Tibetan Buddhist monks from Mongolia and Tibet, and so the Yonghe Lamasery became the national centre of Lama administration.

The temple is said to have survived the Cultural Revolution due to the intervention of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. It was reopened to the public in 1981.

Beautiful spot. Lots of people burning incense and a few of us tourists taking photos. I’ll have to start reading a bit about the Buddist, but I would image the government here would want me to mention the Big Guys name here so the code word now for the Dali Lama will be referred to as Rene Lévesque and the movement will now be know as the Free Quebec society.

Enjoy.