The Three Mountain Temple(simplified Chinese: 三山庵; traditional Chinese:三山庵; pinyin: Sān Shā Àn; literally “The Temple of Three Mountains”) is the third temple of the Eight Great Sites Park. It was built in the Tian-De 3rd year of Liao Dynasty(AD 1151), and has a history of over 900 years. The gate to the temple faces the northeast. The temple is a quadrangle yard of elaborate layout and exquisite architecture. The temple gate is composed of three parts, with two corner gates on each side of the main gate. The main hall includes five principal rooms with two side rooms. The two side halls face each other and stand at each side of the main hall. Above the gate hangs a plaque inscribed “San shan an”(the Three Mountain Temple) with a couplet beside it. In the main hall there is another plaque inscribed “Shi da shi jie” (the grand world) with a couplet beside it. All the couplets in this hall are composed by contemporary people.
There is an open room connected to the back door of the eastern side hall. One plaque hangs on the inside and another on the outside, the former saying “Jian yang ban fu jing she” and the latter “Cui wei ru hua”. The original plaques were both inscribed by Yong Rong, the sixth son of Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. The couplet on the columns of the room says “The lake is far, the mountains are near, and the mist is thin; the breeze is light, the moon is bright, and the Buddhist mind is pure.” Here the land is open and offers a broad view of the scenery around. As you look out, you can see clear fountains, mountain towers, Kunming Lake and the Forbidden City as well as the different sceneries of the four seasons.
As you stand inside the Three Mountain Temple, you will be immersed in a sense of openness and purity and full of emotions. Since the ancient times, poets and painters have been overwhelmed by the picturesque scenery of this place and have made it the theme of numerous poems and paintings, including the paintings of River-Viewing, Fountain-Viewing, and Moon-Viewing of the Ming Dynasty and the paintings of Lingguang zhijing, Revisiting Xiangjie, and Qianlong’s Visit of the Qing Dynasty.
Not only the poets and painters but also those senior Buddhist masters feel strongly about the Three Mountain Temple. The most famous one of them is Master Datiantongli whom Qianlong Emperor deeply respected, awarded the purple kasaya and the honoured title of “the Master of the preaching of Buddhist doctrines”. He once lived here as a hermit to annotated The Lotus Sutra and Lengyan Zhizhang Shu. In the summer of the 19th year of Jiaqing Emperor of Qing Dynasty, Master Haifengyuanliang, abbot of the Great Bell Temple, also lived here for rehabilitation and promoted the renovation of the Zhengguo Buddhist Forest of the Eight Great Sites Park together with the famous Buddhist Master Chongligaojian.
The Three Mountain Temple is small in size but rich in cultural content. It does live up to the name of “a grand world”.
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