Wofo Temple () is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...

located near the

Beijing Botanical Garden The China National Botanical Garden () is a national-level botanical garden in People's Republic of China. The garden is located in Haidian District, Beijing, between Fragrant Hills Park and Jade Spring Hill in the Western Hills. The National Bot ...

from the center of

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. The temple is the location of a recumbent

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

sculpture, created in 1321.

History

The temple was first built in the 7th century and known as the Doulu temple. During the following centuries temple was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times while also undergoing name changes. The current incarnation dates from 1734. The temple's first recumbent Buddha was carved in sandstone. In 1321, during the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

the sandstone carving was replaced by a 5.2 meter long statue made of bronze and weighing 2.5 tons.

Layout

Following a north–south axis, the temple contains an entrance gate followed by three halls. On either side of the axis are buildings used by the monks for lodging as well as to accommodate guests. The first hall is called the Tianwang hall, the second the Sanshi Buddha hall, followed by the Recumbent Buddha hall.Liao & Pin (2006), 34.

Notes

References

*Liao Pin and Wu Wen. ''The Temples of Beijing''. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2006. {{coord, 40.0053, N, 116.201, E, source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Beijing Buddhist temples in Beijing