The Badachu Eight Great Sites (simplified Chinese:八大处; traditional Chinese: 八大處; pinying: Ba Da Chu; literally “Eight Temples” ) is a classical Chinese Buddhist garden located in the south edge of West Mountain, Beijing, China. The park is surrounded by three seat-like mountains:Cuiwei Mountain, Pingpo Mountain, and Lushi Mountain. All the eight temples scatter within the mountains, forming twelve wonderful scenes, which have long been praised for their natural beauties. The park is one of the first important heritage sites of China under state protection, and is now a state-level scenic areas.
What makes Badachu Eight Great Sites Park a world-famous attraction is that inside the Lingguang Temple (simplified Chinese:灵光寺; traditional Chinese: 靈光寺; pinying: Língguāng Sì; literally “the Temple of Holy Spirits” )stores Sakyamuni Buddha’s Tooth Relic. Recently, new arhat statues and Xinjing Wall (simplified Chinese:心经墙; traditional Chinese:心經牆; pinying: Xinjing Qiang; literally “ Wall of Buddhist Scriptures”) have been built to enhance the sacred atmosphere among the temple. The oldest temple in the park is the eighth one, Zhengguo Temple(simplified Chinese:正果寺; traditional Chinese: 正果寺; pinying:Zhèngguǒ Sì; literally “Temple of Attaining Enlightment” ), first built in the early year of Tong Dynasty (around AD 618), while the biggest one is Xiangjie Temple, which used to be Emperor Kangxi and Qianlong’s temporary imperial palace. In 2000, archaeologists discovered “Moya Shike”(simplified Chinese:摩崖石刻; traditional Chinese: 摩崖石刻; pinying: Mó Yá Shíkè; literally “Cliff with Buddhist inscriptions” ) from Ming Dynasty(AD1368-1644), making the ninth Great Site in the park, drawing attentions of Buddhists all over the world.
From the 1980s on, the park has adopted many new modern tourist facilities, such as aerial ropeway and chute. At the dawn of 21th century, a capsule was set up and a new inkstone sight spot was built. Tourists could now enjoy both beautiful scenery and delicious food, and try various kinds of adventure in the park. Time has changed and the Badachu Eight Great Sites Park now is no longer a simply religious attraction. No matter what you are looking for, you can find it here.
The park is becoming one of the best places for mountain climbing and recreation now. The managers of the park arranges four different hiking trials according to the terrain, so that climbers could chose a suitable one according to their own physical conditions. In 2011, the park was established for one of the four places for mountain climbing fitness. Also, in some special period around the year, the park would held grand festival on various themes, for example, during every April, there will be a Tee Culture Festival, and every October, the Chongyang Mountain Festival, which are definitely worth visiting. Come to visit the Badachu Eight Great Sites Park now!
From the 1980s on, the park has adopted many new modern tourist facilities, such as aerial ropeway and chute. At the dawn of 21th century, a capsule was set up and a new inkstone sight spot was built. Tourists could now enjoy both beautiful scenery and delicious food, and try various kinds of adventure in the park. Time has changed and the Badachu Eight Great Sites Park now is no longer a simply religious attraction. No matter what you are looking for, you can find it here.
The park is becoming one of the best places for mountain climbing and recreation now. The managers of the park arranges four different hiking trials according to the terrain, so that climbers could chose a suitable one according to their own physical conditions. In 2011, the park was established for one of the four places for mountain climbing fitness. Also, in some special period around the year, the park would held grand festival on various themes, for example, during every April, there will be a Tee Culture Festival, and every October, the Chongyang Mountain Festival, which are definitely worth visiting. Come to visit the Badachu Eight Great Sites Park now!
Badachu Eight Great Sites Park Attractions
Badachu Eight Great Sites Park Story
1.Zhaoxian Tower
There used to be a Zhaoxian Tower(simplified Chinese:招仙塔; traditional Chinese:招仙塔; pinying:Zhāoxīan Tǎ; literally “Tower that brings about celestial” ) on the east side of the Goldfish Pool in the Lingguang Temple. It is a 13-floor pagoda, later destroyed by war in 1900, only little debris left. One might ask, why is this tower called”Zhaoxian Tower”?
It’s said that, one a morning a long time ago, a little monk found a stout monk sitting in the middle of the front door. He thought its weird and ran to told the abbot. The abbot paid no attention at first, but he became extremly anxious when realize that the stout monk was still there three days later. He packed all his stuff and tried to ran away. You know why? The abbot himself had broke the Buddhist rules, eating meat and flirting with women. It had come up to his mind that the stout monk is a celestial, and would punish him seriously. Certainly the bad guys get what they deserve, he was killed by the stout on his escaping.
The other monks in the temple were worried about the same misconduct in the future, so they asked the celestial, the stout monk to help them. The stout monk agreed, he pulled out his whip, chanted incantations, and turn the whip into a tower, which became the Zhaoxian Tower later. He told the monks in the temple that the tower could act like a celestial, helped them overawe the villains. This is the story of how the Zhaoxian Tower got his name.
2.Guan Gong
When you arrive at the Eight Great Sites Park, the first thing you see is a steep mountain. Viewed from a distance, it looks like a ferocious tiger, hence its name “Tiger Head Mountain”. At the foot of the mountain is Chang an Temple. Built in the Ming Dynasty, Chang an Temple was originally for the worship of the Four Heavenly Kings, Maitreya Buddha and Skanda Buddha; but later it turned into a temple for the worship of Guan Gong and is called the Guan Gong Temple. Why?
Before the change, a ferocious tiger came to the mountain and attacked many people. The villagers went to Guan Gong for help. One night, Guan Gong took his saber and went into the mountain to kill the tiger. Before long, the tiger came out. It was very hungry and tried to kill Guan Gong. Guan Gong wielded his saber at the tiger’s waist, and, bang, the tiger turned into a rock, and the blade of the saber was turned. So Zhou Cang, Guan Gong’s friend, started whetting the saber against the rock until there was a deep groove in the rock. Now people can still see the groove at the foot of the mountain.
Afterwards, the villagers made donations and built a temple for the worship of Guan Gong because he had help get rid of the tiger and the people were safe.
The strange thing is, the Tiger Head Mountain looks like a ferocious tiger when viewed from the front; but from the Buddha-viewing platform, it looks like a benevolent Buddha. Perhaps it means that as Guan Gong helped kill the tiger, he has become a Buddha in the heart of the people.
3. The Spirit of Xiang Fei in the Xiangjie Temple
The legend has it that during the rein of Qianlong, in the Xiangjie Temple there was a monk called Guifang or Haiyou. He was proficient in Buddhist scripture. Every time Qianlong visited here, Guifang accompanied him and talked with him about the Buddhist doctrines.
One day, the emperor came again. During their talk, Guifang noticed that the emperor looked ill and worried. Later the eunuch told him that Xiang Fei, the most beloved concubine of the emperor, had died recently. So he said to the emperor, “I would like to help you, my lord, and call Xiang Fei to come and see you.” The emperor was very pleased to hear this.
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