Stone scriptures in Yunju Temple

Plan your Beijing tour? If you are interested in Buddhism, you must include on your agenda the Yunju Temple, or Cloud Dwelling Temple. It is located in Fangshan District, about 75km in the west of Beijing. Yunju Temple is well known for its storage of a total of 14,278 well-reserved stone scriptures – Buddhist stone scripture tablets. Yunju Temple was submitted on March 28, 2008 to World Culture Convetion for approval for being listed as world culture heritage.

The first stone tablet of sutra of Yunju Temple was carved by the monk named Jingwan in late Sui Dynasty ((581-618) in an efffort to avoid possible persecutions of Buddhism. He carved all scriptures on stones and stored them in the nine caves around Yunju Temple. The stone engraving work continued for over 1,000 years through six dynasties – Sui (581-618, Tang (618 – 906), Liao (907 -1125), Jin (1115 – 1234), Yuan (1271 – 1368), and Ming (1368 – 1644).

All the stone scriptures were carved according to the Canon of Buddhist Writings printed in Tang Dynasty and Qidancang printed in Liao Dynasty (907 -1125). Totally there are 14,278 well-reserved stone inscriptions which were found.

Above an original place just south of Yunju Temple an underground sutra palace was built in 1999 to protect the Buddhist stone scripture tablets. The underground palace is a cellar-like brick and concrete structure. Now the Underground palace houses all the 10082 tablets made in Liao Dynasty (907 -1125), Jin Dynasty (1115 – 1234).

So Underground Stone Sutra Palace is a must see attractions inside in Yunju Temple.

How to get there

By Bus: Take the bus 836 from Tianqiao (天桥） in south of Beijing

Tel: 61389612

The outside look of Underground Sutra Palace

The outside look of Underground Sutra Palace of Yunju Temple

All the stone scriptures are stored in the six layered room with glass windows open for glimpses. The corridor is shielded from the windows as a way of protections.