Yonghe Gong (Buddhist Monastery/Temple)

I started to smell wifts of good smelling incense and other burning papers from about 2 blocks away. I didn’t comprehend that it was the temples offerings and paid homage’s to Buddha and his fellow friends (other gods, essentially “saints” ect.). The entrance is a parking lot inside the walls that enclose this temple. It’s hard to miss since this is the only building with this type of architecture for at least 5 or so blocks. I liked this place although I don’t know the price I don’t think it is worth it unless you’re Buddhist and want/ need to pray for some reason.
The visit consisted of walking from prayer house to homage building and to other prayer places inside the temple walls. This would either be a good spot to come if you want to see some Chinese architecture and pay some homage’s or if you want to see how the biggest religion in China rolls. I enjoyed it a lot because I learned a lot about how committed some of these followers are I observed a college age student and his father go to every prayer building and alter and pray. This prayer has 3 steps… Palms down and bow, palms up bow then bow deep into your knees (there are some variations).
I had 2 favorite parts besides smelling free incense for an hour or so. The first was seeing some of the lama’s (followers) learning there and seeing them study in this huge open air building. Hands down for my most favorite part was this 3 story building incased Buddha! I stood in amazement for nearly 10 minutes. I learned from my friend and a sigh that this 18 meter high Buddha was made from one tree from a Nepalese (Nepal) forest and took 2.5 years to make and 3 years to transport. This is the most amazing part… listen to this because most these buildings were built in the 16 to 17th century so how in the hell did this get here??? Truly Amazing! BUT most unfortunately The Temple does not allow any photos in any of the temples so nor I or you will every be able to show our friends. You can try to zoom in and take pictures though (see picture of Big Buddha’s foot*). If you go it is close to other attractions such as the Garden of Heaven if you plan on doing other things.

This Buddhist temple is in fact a series of many many temples each to different Buddhas and bodhisattvas. It was very convenient to get to because there is a subway stop with its name that brings you right next to its walls. From there you can follow the smell of burning incense and the ever increasing amount of stores selling packages of incense and Buddha souvenirs to the entrance.
There are a few English signs explaining what the temples and buildings are. But they are not too helpful if you are not an expert on the Buddhist philosophy. Unlike the other parks and temples you can visit, this is a very active place of worship. It was fascinating to watch both the young and old praying at the temples, waving around the sticks of incense.
There were a few interesting Buddhas, the giant buddha at the end of the temple is the most famous. It is amazing to see such a large Buddha in a space which seems impossible for it to fit in. They must have built the temple around the Buddha.
The yellow hat sect Buddhas were also some of my favorites, with the most serene expressions.
The entrance fee is 25 Yuan and comes with a mini cd.