Beijing revisited - The Lama Temple

I first visited The Lama Temple in 2014, it is a beautiful, spiritual temple, the largest Tibetan Buddhist temple in China. The photo above is part of the ceiling in The Hall of Boundless Happinesses. 

I have combined some of the photos from my visit in 2014 with some taken this year.

The Temple is full of beautiful, highly decorated wooden buildings, housing numerous wonderful Buddhas. Surprisingly this time I was able to get some photos of these Buddhas, whilst being respectful to people worshipping in the Temple.

The entrance to this lovely place.

Just one of the gorgeous buildings in the complex.

A female Foo Dog (Guardian Lion) with her paw firmly on her cub.

The same Foo dog from the back, just wonderful :)

The incense holders outside one of the halls, the smell of incense fills the site :)

This amazing statue of the Buddha Maitreya is housed in the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses. When I visited last time the building was undergoing renovation work, and as you entered you walked round a screen and found yourself staring in amazement at this wonderful wooden statue. This time the screen had gone and the Buddha in all its glory was right in front of us.

Photography was not allowed on my previous visit but this time virtually everyone was taking photos.

A small bowl sitting next to the Buddhas foot, which gives some idea of the size of this amazing statue. 

As explained in my previous blog (August 2014) the statue is carved out of one piece of White Sandalwood, which was gifted by the seventh Dalai Lama to Emperor Qianlong in the 1750's. The statue is 18 metres high, with another 8 metres of wood under ground. Needless to say it is a truly wonderful sight, I am so pleased that I got to see it once, let alone twice!

This is one of the decorated walls in the same building as the Buddha above, glorious in its own right but I suspect it is sometimes overlooked, as the Buddha statue takes 'centre stage'.

Buddhas, above and below, every building on this site houses wonderful pieces of art, with many people burning incense and praying at their chosen buddha.

I believe the Buddhas above and below are two of the three bronze Buddhas which the Temple is famous for, they are just awe inspiring.

The clothing on the Buddhas are made from sumptuous silk :)

A smaller Buddha in a glass case, complimented by the lovely peonies.

A prayer wheel :)

My previous blog about this beautiful place can be seen here:

http://poppysplace-poppy.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-lama-temple.html, published in August 2014 :)