Jietai Temple, or temple of the ordination
altar, is located 35 km (22 miles) west of Beijing. It takes its
name from the famous Ming marble ordination altar. Built some 1,300
years ago, this altar is nearly 5 meters (16 feet) high and
decorated with delicate, exquisite carvings.
Renovation on the Thousand-Buddha Pavilion, a major part of the
Jietai Temple, will start this year. The geological survey has now
finished and bidding work is under way. However, the whereabouts of
Buddha statues, wooden frameworks and some historical documents
such as architectural techniques relating to the pavilion is still
unknown. The management staff of the pavilion have called on the
whole country to bring back these Buddhas.
The Thousand-Buddha Pavilion was first built during the reign of
Xianyong (1065-1074) of the Liao Dynasty, rebuilt in the
25th year of Jiajing reign (1546) of the Ming Dynasty
and renovated to a large scale in the 31st year of the
Guangxu reign (1905) of the Qing Dynasty.
The Thousand-Buddha Pavilion was 21 meters wide and measured 24
meters from entrance to rear. It was a wooden structure pavilion
with a three-eaved roof. The pavilion went as high as 30 meters, in
the center of which a bronze Buddha of Losana was worshipped. Brick
walls on two sides were ornamented with a colored blaze. The
pavilion had two stories, each of which contained 10 big niches,
five on the left side and five on the right. Each big niche
included 28 small niches, which were further divided into three
smaller niches each. A 10-centimeter-high wooden Buddha was
worshipped in each of these smallest niches. Altogether, they
numbered 1,680.
Aged Beijing citizens preserve a custom of climbing mountains on
the Double Ninth Festival, which falls on the 9th day of
the 9th lunar month. The Thousand-Buddha Pavilion used
to be a favorite destination of these climbers. Due to historical
reasons, however, the pavilion has fallen into disrepair. What’s
more, the subsidence of its northeast foundation has led to the
slanting of its girders, which has caused further serious rain
leakage. Therefore, the state decided to overhaul it on a large
scale in 1965. However, shortly after the pavilion was dismantled,
the “cultural revolution” started and renovation work had to be
halted. All disassembled components and wooden Buddhas were
lost.
It has become a great obstacle for the managers to restore the
original appearance of the Thousand-Buddha Pavilion, especially to
re-establish the 1,680 Buddhas and reset them to their exact
positions, for now the existent materials about the pavilion only
include a golden colored painting of a hundred-dragon niche drawn
during the Ming Dynasty, three little Buddhas, photo of the look of
its exterior and a few architectural materials.
What is encouraging is that Qin Baoyuan, who participated in
dismantling the Thousand-Buddha Pavilion, has got in contact with
the management department of the temple. Qin, now in his 70s, said
that he, and another two engineers, spent more than a month
measuring and registering details of each component of the pavilion
during the dismantling. The thick book of archives, however, was
later lost. If these materials can be found, the overall framework
of the pavilion will become very clear.
Currently, the relevant departments hope to find complete
documents about the Thousand-Buddha Pavilion so that they can start
the restoration project as soon as possible. The Jietai Temple is
part of the Western Beijing Temple Scenic Spot, which is one of six
Beijing suburban sceneries included in the cultural relics
protection program. The Beijing municipal government worked out the
program to boost its cultural sense for 2008 Olympics.
(China.org.cn by Li Jinhui, February 7, 2004)
