The Center for International Studies

August 6, 2008

The Lama Temple

Within Beijing's $40 billion Olympic makeover, an unexpected transformation.

Today we visited the Yonghegong, better known in the US and Europe as the Lama Temple. It is one of the small number of temples in Beijing devoted to Tibetan Buddhism. I have been going there since the late 1980s and seen the temple go through a number of phases, including complete restoration and the inclusion of many deities and tankha paintings that may or may not have been at the temple prior to the twentieth century.

The site is an eighteenth century creation of the Manchu-Qing emperor Qianlong and was originally where the Tibetan Buddhist canon and texts on Tibetan medicine were translated into the other three main languages of the Qing empire (1644-1911), Manchu, Mongol and Chinese. There are stelae in the temple commemorating various events, all of which are written in the four languages. One of these, the Lama Shuo (Discourse on Lamaism), was written by the Qianlong emperor and took the important step of altering the selection process of the Dalai and Panchen Lamas. In it, Qianlong declared that henceforth the lamas would be selected at random from names deposited into a golden urn. One of contemporary China's claims to sovereignty over Tibet comes from this historical precedent.

Up to two years ago, an exhibition hall at the rear of the temple told this story and others about Tibet having long been part of China. But today, we discovered that the historical narrative of Tibet in China had been replaced by a new display of quite marvelous Tibetan Buddhist artifacts, including mandalas, tankhas, statues of aspects of the Buddha and guardian gods. There is also a tankha of the Qianlong emperor as the bodhisattva Manjusri, and one of his instructor in the esoteric mysteries of Tantric Buddhism, the Zhangjia Rinpoche, a reincarnated lama.

But perhaps the replacement of one form of exhibition with another was not the most striking feature of the temple today. Far more moving were the sheer numbers of people worshipping, few if any of whom seemed to be Tibetan. Like many temples in Beijing, the Lama Temple has developed a following of loyal worshippers. And like all temples, the Yonghegong contains special features to draw devotees. These include halls of worship for the transmitter of Buddhism to Tibet, Tongkhapa, halls to various aspects of the Buddha, and halls for deities who help the sick and infirm. People burn incense and make offerings to the deities on altars in front of their statues. There is also a side temple near the rear with a statue of Guanyin, the Buddha of compassion, a goddess worshipped all over China. Her altar was especially interesting today. It contained an offering not only of incense or fresh fruit, but also a full set of the mascots for the Olympics, the Five Friendlies (those little creatures next to the candle holders at the front of the altar).

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