Jie Tai Building at the Beijing Lama Temple 雍和宫
The buildings here get less and less impressive as I reached the end of the Yonghe Temple grounds. The last building here is the Jie Tai Building. The Jie Tai Building is a non-descript two storey building with some bit of history attached to it. The Qing Emperors were avid believers of Tibetan Buddhism and there have been several occasions which the religious leaders of the religion were according a very warm welcome. The flamboyant Qing Emperor Qianlong was a devotee of Buddhism and had tremendous respect for the Tibetan Buddhist leaders.
Statue of a Bodhisatva at the Jie Tai Building 戒台楼 in the Beijing Lama Temple 雍和宫
Numerous buildings have been specifically built for the lamas who came all the way from Tibet to visit the emperor. For example the temples in Chengde were built for different visiting lamas and were specially designed to mimic the Potala Palace in Lhasa. The Jie Tai Building in the Yonghe Temple in Beijing, though far more modest, is an example of such a building. The Jie Tai Building is far more convenient then having to travel all the way to Chengde. In the Jie Tai Building, the Forbidden City just a stone’s throw away. Currently, the Jie Tai Building houses numerous Tibetan Buddhism religious figures.
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