The Great Wisdom Hall is the eastern side room the main Zhihua Hall of this court. It is also known as Great Mercy Hall. As such, its door faces to the west against the direction of the afternoon sun. Today this Hall functions as the gift shop of the Temple, however in the past centuries of the Ming Dynasty Era it enshrined statues of Avalokiteshvara, Manjusri and Samantabhadra, each god seated on a different (mythical) animal. Avalokiteshvara was depicted riding a dog like beast, whereas Manjusri was seated on the back of a Lion. Finally Samantabhara was depicted riding a six toothed mythical white elephant. Unfortunatly all of these statues were looted and have now been lost most likely having been destroyed.
SCRIPTURE CABINET HALL:
On the opposite side of the central Zhihua Hall in the west facing the Great Wisdom Hall stands the Hall of the Scripture Cabinet, which is the place where the greatest treasure of Zhihua Temple, the so called Dragon Scriptures are stored.
The Hall of the Scripture Cabinet is the western side hall of this court and as such its exterior and design is identical to the Hall of Great Wisdom.
The Hall of the Scripture Cabinet derives its name from the unique collection of wooden carved printing blocks made in the first half of the 15th century, the only such collection in existence today.This treasured collection of wooden blocks is stored inside a Zang, which is an equally unique made-to-fit hectagonal Cabinet decorated with hand carved deities and other divinely inspired depictions. In addition to the exquisitely carved exterior of the zang engraving cabinet, one can feast ones eyes on the superbly crafted caison ceiling, the original crafted by the best workman available from the Imperial Palace in the heydays of this Temple and its patron Wang zhen.
Above: The exterior of the Hall of Great Wisdom at the secondary or middle court of the Zhihua Temple. Although the interior of the Hall now serves as the gift shop there is no photography allowed inside. But then by all means this hall is identical to the opposite hall of the Scripture Cabinet which holds far more interesting objects.
ZHIHUA HALL:
The Zhihua Hall takes the place which would be taken by the Hall of Majesty in an average Ming Dynasty Era Temple. A large guilded sacrificial incense burner stands in front of it.
In the past during the Ming Dynasty Era, the white sumeru thrones atop of which stood the deities were ones dispersed among the central hall and two side-rooms. In that same period the Hall enshrined guilt wooden statues of the deities Sakayamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha and the medicine Buddha accompanied by 18 arhat guardian statues.
The current day Zhihua Temple regrets it severely that these statues were moved out of the Temple (presumably looted or sold to a foreign nation).
The Three much smaller statues that now stand inside the Zhihua Hall were originally enshrined in the east side-room known as the Great Wisdom Hall.
On the wall behind the statues in the Zhihua Hall is an elegant mural depicting Ksitigarbha Boddhisattva and the Ten Kings of Hell.
The masterpiece coffered caison ceiling of Zhihua Hall , created along with the Temple itself in the year 1443 AD, was a square shaped intricate and exquisitely carved masterpiece of the highest artistical grade befit to decorate an Imperial
Above: The exterior of Zhihua which is the central Hall at the secondary or middle court of the Zhihua Temple. Although plundered the interior of the hall still holds a few minor treasures.
Temple, as was intended by its founing father the eunuch Wang Zhen. In the 1930s however, the ceiling was removed and sold off to an unspecified Foreign buyer traveling to the United States of America thereafter. Once in the United States it ended up in the hands of the family of Mister and Mrs. Joseph Wasserman who donated it to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
IThus, the caisson ceiling has not been returned to this day and can not be seen at the Zhihua Temple.
The empty space in the ceiling is kept open as reminder until the day that the ceiling will return to its rightful place inside the holy Zhihua Temple of Beijing.
the year 1443 AD. Each panel in the ring of paneling and brackets surrounding the central dragon well carry a letter from the North Indian script known by Tibetans as Lantsha, which is invoked here to symbolically recreate the universe.
The Phildelphia Museum of Art informes that the caison ceiling is displayed together with an additional outside layer of model temples supported by cloud decorated brackets a feature which may have been added during a repair and renovation of the Temple carried out at some time during the reign period of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1661 AD - 1722 AD).
Apparently the ceiling has been withstood the strains of the decades well enough for most of the red laquer covering to remain in tact. However most of not all of the rich gold paint has faded to dust and disappeared.
In Philadephia meanwhile, the ceiling is found in the East Asian art section where it is displayed as coming from the the second of five main halls at the Zhihua Temple of Beijing, one of the great buddhist temple compounds in Beijing, a place conceived on a grand scale. According to the Philadelpia Museum, the caison ceiling measures 891.5 cm by 1137.9 cm with a thickness of 10.2 centimeters. It depicts the central motif known as Dragon Well which has a writhing dragon surrounded by clouds at its center. Around this central Dragon feature are bracketing and 8 canted panels each depicting another smaller sized writhing dragon flying among clouds. Lining this central Dragon Well are further panels upon which are carved images depicting lotuses, flying apsaras and other buddhist symbols showing the strong influence of Tibetan Buddhism as it prevailed when the Temple was opened in
Although to some degree thoroughly plundered the Zhihua Hall still holds some minor relics. A few finely crafted Buddha and Arhat statues complete the interior of Zhihua Hall and in addition, at first almost overlooked, there is the large dragon drum that used to be placed inside the drum tower of the Temple at the front and entrance court. In 2002 this drum was removed from its tower to be restored using original ancient methods and subsequently be put on display for the visiting public inside the Zhihua Hall. All this is appropriate considering that in the current day set up Zhihua Hall also serves as the main hall to experience the wonder of the unique intangible cultural heritage of the Temple, its peculiar Buddhist music.
View of the second court of the Zhihua Temple with the Hall of Great Mercy on the right and beyond the centrally placed Zhihua Hall.
The second court of the Zhihua Temple with from left to right, the Scripture Cabinet Hall, the Zhihua Hall and a tiled roof section of the Hall of Great Mercy in the upper right corner.
Frontal view of Zhihua Hall as placed on the northern side of the second court along the central line of Zhihua Temple.
Apart from its wooden carvings the Zhihua Temple is particularly renowned for its regular performances of a branch of traditional Buddhist music known as Jingyue which is supposed to have originated here. After its development at Zhihue Temple is gained a legacy and has become considered one of the "Five Classical Forms of Music in China", these being the music performed at Chenghuangsi in Xi'an, at Kaifeng's Xiangguosi, Qinghuangsi at Wutaishan's in Hebei Province and the Nan Music (Nanyue) of Fujian Province.
During the warmer months apparently prefered by visiting tourists, regular live
Photo-scroll of the interior of Zhihua Hall; the Three Central deities, the missing caisson ceiling and the large original Ming Era dragon drum. Minor Buddhas and Arhats complete the scene.
Colorful clay depiction of a Zhihua Monastery monk playing the Dizi, a bamboo flute. The photo of the Monk as in real life is depicted adjacent the statue for comparison.
performances of the special music of the Zhihua Temple and Monastery are held, most of which take place inside the Zhihua Hall or in front of it in the courtyard. Up to four performances are put on every day, it is said at 9 am, 10, 11 and again at 15:00 pm.
At other times visitors will have to make do with the interesting livelike depictions of the monks as crafted into small instrument playing statues displayed in a display case on the eastern side of Zhihua Hall. Souvenir CDs are sold at the Hall of Great Mercy which by all means now serves as Temple Gift Shop.
Jingyue - Special Music of Zhihua Temple :
In addition to its significant cultural and artistic relics the Zhihua Temple is also known for its intangible cultural heritage. Supposedly, although it appears now to be falsely, the Zhihua Temple was the original place where a rare and unusual style of Buddhist Music was invented. Carrying forth the spirit of its original founder, the Music is a rare combination of traditional Buddhist chants and the (then) 'modern' influence of Ming Dynasty court music, so loved by patron eunuch Wang Zheng. As the legend of the Temple holds, Wang introduced his own music taken from the court into the Buddhist music of his Temple. In the following period both distinct music styles fused into what is known as the unique sounds of the ZhiHua Temple, known in Beijing as 'The Capital Music of Zhihua Temple'.
On a limited number of days, mostly during the spring and summer high seasons for tourism, one can actually come and enjoy life performances of this original music at the Temple. The monks playing the instruments in this performance are truly masters at their play.
When the monks of the Buddhist band are unavailable or out traveling giving demonstrations of their art elsewhere one can get CD copies of their best music at the temple gift shop. They other items on sale at this gift shop greatly vary but have included books (in Chinese language) and what are best described as historically inspired objets D'Art at seemingly exaggerated prices.
The old ritual music of Zhihua Temple has been handed down over 27 generations. The six-member group is led by the octogenarian Buddhist monk Zhang Benxing (张本兴, born c. 1922), the only surviving member of the 26th generation of musicians, and the last person to have learned the music in the traditional manner. In addition to singing voices, the instruments used include guanzi (oboe), dizi (bamboo flute), sheng (mouth organ), yunluo (a set of ten small tuned gongs mounted vertically in a frame), and percussion including drums and cymbals.
