The Mountain Gate at Guangyuan Temple, Chengde, Hebei, is closed with adobe. The abandoned temple's grounds are used as a plant nursery. Built by the lama in charge of nearby Puning Temple in 1780 under Emperor Qianlong, it was one of the "Eight Outer Temples" of Chengde. Few of its halls remain.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, August 18, 2025
The Mountain Gate at Shuxiang Temple, Chengde, Hebei. The temple is closed to the public, but it's part of a pleasant stroll among the outer temples of Chengde.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, July 28, 2025
Putuo Zongcheng Temple (seen in the background here) was built around 1770 to emulate the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. It is one of the "Eight Outer Temples" built in varying styles to honor China's various ethnicities by the Manchu Emperor Qianlong at his summer resort at Chengde, Hebei.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, July 6, 2025
The ancient five-arched bridge and the Xumi Fushou Temple in the Qings' Chengde Mountain Resort, Hebei, were built in 1780 to celebrate the 70th birthday of the great Buddhist patron Emperor Qianlong. Xumi is a transliteration of Mount Sumeru's name; Fushou means "long happy life." The Sixth Panchen Lama stayed there when he came to congratulate the emperor on his birthday.
Posted to Reddit and Bluesky, June 14, 2025
The Liuhe Pagoda (so-called for its prototype in Hangzhou) is all that remains from the time of the Qianlong Emperor at Yongyou Temple, Chengde, Hebei. It stands on what was once the grounds of the Qing emperors' summer retreat; I photographed it from outside of the walls.
Posted to Reddit et al, May 23, 2025
The 1330 carved-brick pagoda holding the remains of Zhaozhou (Jp Joshu, 778–897) is the only ancient structure at Bailin Temple, Zhaoxian, Hebei.When asked if a dog has Buddha nature, Zhouzhou replied Wu (basically, "no"), leaving generations of students to puzzle out this gong'an (Jp ko'an).
Posted to Reddit et al, April 21, 2025
These exquisite figures of Vairochana Buddha are part of the impressive collection at Longxing Temple, Zhengding, Hebei. He is the "Great Sun Buddha" and my personal favorite.
Posted to Reddit et al, March 30, 2025
Lingxiao Pagoda, known as the "Wooden Pagoda" for its resemblance to wood (but its actual material is stone), stands on the site of the former Tianning Temple, Zhengding, Hebei. It is one of the famous "Four Pagodas of Zhengding," the best-known of which holds the remains of the Chan/Zen patriarch Linji/Rinzai.
Posted to Reddit et al, March 20, 2025
When I approached this collection of headless statues at Longxing Temple, Zhengding (Shijiazhuang), Hebei, I burst into tears! This "temple" is actually a government-run museum, no longer an active temple. It gathers statuary from temples that are going to be (or have been) destroyed, so it's quite a collection. I suspect these guys were victims of Mao's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
Posted to Reddit et al, February 3, 2025
