Dabei Si
The Dabei Si (Mahakaruna Temple， Chinese:大悲寺) is the only Buddhist temple of good size in Tianjin. It differs from its counterparts in that it is composed of two parts, the Old Temple and the New Temple, that are linked by a moon-shaped gate. Because Tianjin is a relatively young city, the Dabei Temple has had a relatively short history.
The Old Temple was built in 1661 (18th year of the Shunzhi reign, Qing Dynasty) and rebuilt in 1669 (8th year of the Kangxi reign, Qing Dynasty), and went through major repairs in 1875 (1st year, Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty) to assume its present shape as a tripartite compound comprised of a gate hall, a Mahavira Hall, and a Posterior Hall. Consisting of a Hall of Deva-kings, a Mahavira Hall, a Mahakaruna Hall, and ancillary halls and anterooms, the New Temple was built in the 1940s and is larger than the Old Temple. All the halls are linked by corridors. The major earthquake that hit Tangshan in 1976, and the 1966-1976 “cultural revolution” rendered great damage to the Dabei Temple, and it was not until the 1980s that the temple was repaired and given a new look with municipal support. The temple today operates two memorial halls, one of which is dedicated to the celebrated monk of the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang (part of his skull was enshrined here prior to 1956), and the other is in memory of Hongyi, an eminent monk who happened to be a Tianjin native. The Tianjin Municipal Buddhist Association is also headquartered here.
