Dahui Temple

Dahui Temple (Great Wisdom Temple) is located on Dahuisi Road at Weigongcun. The temple is now closed to visitors. During the "Cultural Revolution", it was used as a factory, and various materials were piled up in the temple courtyard. Now it is looked after by the Beijing Cultural Relics Bureau.

The temple was built in 1513 in the Ming Dynasty, but only a hall now remains extant. The hall is Great Mercy Hall (Dabeidian), which once housed a 16-metre-high giant bronze statue of Buddha, and this is why the temple was also known as Great Buddha Temple (Dafosi). The bronze statue was destroyed by Japanese invaders in the 1940s. Now the most valuable and interesting part of the temple are the painted clay sculptures of Buddhist images and murals. The 28 clay statues are all works of the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century, and the murals in series depict a man who did good deeds for his whole life so that the Buddha made him immortal. From the murals, you can see the daily life of the people in the Ming Dynasty. Both the clay sculptures and murals are regarded as great treasures of Buddhist art.