Five Lamaist Dastobas on the Brick Hall at Wannian Temple on Mount Emei of Sichuan Province
Mount Emei, one of the four sacred places for Buddhists in China, was where Samantabhadra, Bodhisattva of Universal Benevolence, carried out his Buddhist activities. Wannian Temple is halfway up the mountain. In the temple stands a huge exquisite copper statue of Sarnantabhadra, made in the Song Dynasty, but the brick hall housing the statue was built in the Ming Dynasty. The hall has a brick vault ceiling, but no beams or pillars, thus it is also called the Beamless Hall. The hall's exterior is in the shape of a pagoda with a vajrasana. The square hall's thick walls form a huge pedestal. Sitting on top are five Lamaist dagobas, the one in the center slightly larger than the ones at the four corners. Because of the huge statue of Samantabhadra in the hall, the roof was built into a dome, thus the dagoba in the center is higher than the other four. It was very common to build five dagobas on the roof of Lamaist temples.
