Hiking in Beijing: Dishuiyan-Yin Qi Temple in Mentougou (Part II), a magnificent but unfinished temple.

Monday, 7 February 2022

Yin Qi Temple is located on Yangshan Mountain behind Yingtaogou Village. It is said on the Internet that its predecessor was Longshou Temple in the Taihe period of the Northern Wei Dynasty, which was over 1500 years ago. However, there is no trace of Longshou Temple in Yin Qi Temple now, and all the relics that can be seen are from and after the Liao Dynasty. In the Jin Dynasty, it was the most prosperous. It was Lingshui Hospital, one of the eight aquatic hospitals in Jin Zhangzong. It was repaired many times in Yuan, Ming, Qing and Republic of China. Eventually destroyed by war. In 2006, it was planned to rebuild Yin Qi Temple in its original site, and it was planned to open to the public on May 1 that year, but the opening failed and a large-scale destructive over-reconstruction began. The project was stopped by the relevant departments around 20 13, and now it has become the largest unfinished temple in Beijing. When it was rebuilt that year, all the publicity materials were called "the Forbidden City in the West of Beijing" and "the Small Forbidden City in the West of Beijing", which shows that the scale is not small.

After watching Tianquan Temple, Dishuiyan returned to the fork in the step path and walked along the dirt road. This section is a pure dirt road in Shan Ye, which is narrow and dusty, and the shrubs and branches scrape people, and the climb is particularly large. As long as you follow the ribbon with a fork in the middle, the route is still very clear.

It takes us about 1 hour for 40 minutes to walk 2 kilometers on the dirt road, and when we see the telephone pole, we arrive in expressway. Start down the hill from the dirt road across the street.

The scenery down the mountain is particularly beautiful, and it is a snowy mountain road.

Go along the dirt road for about 700 meters, reach expressway, turn left and take a shortcut to continue downhill.

This dirt road is also about 700 meters to kilometers, and then go right along the road.

Walk along this road for about 300 meters, and you will see a cabin. There is a small dirt road up the hill between the wooden house and the pine tree. This is the entrance to the Temple of Yin Qi.

If you don't cross from Dishuiyan and want to see Yin Qi Temple alone, you can use Gaode to navigate "Miaofengshan Town Forest Fire Prevention Station". After arriving at the destination, drive one or two hundred meters to the cabin, and you can park for free. You can go back to pick up the car after reading it.

This section of the road is only a short climb in front, and the back is quite easy to walk and the route is very clear. However, the ash is still big and the bush still stings.

When we approached the Yin Qi Temple, there was a broken wall on the dirt road, and there was a fork in the road next to the broken wall, so we first explored it.

There is a Gu Song with strange branches, and the ground is littered with old stone pieces, which are beautifully carved. You can also see some broken walls inside. It should also be a temple site, but I don't know whether it used to be a separate temple or a part of Yin Qi Temple. After all, the former Yin Qi Temple was very big.

After seeing the unknown temple ruins, go back to the path and continue walking.

About 3.5 kilometers from the entrance of Muwu Road, you will arrive at a courtyard on the west side of Yin Qi Temple. We'll just hang out here.

This is an unfinished courtyard with only exterior and interior, and building tools and materials are scattered on the floor of the temple.

Follow the path in front of the yard, cross the temple with two statues of King Kong, and Tallinn is on the wasteland ahead. It is said that there used to be hundreds of ancient pagodas, but later they were demolished to build terraces. Now there are only two ancient pagodas left, and the other pagodas are all rebuilt on the basis of the old ones.

But the steps have collapsed, so be careful when you get off Tallinn from here.

Through Tallinn, to the central axis of the temple, there are 8 temples and pavilions on the central axis. We came to the pharmacist Buddha Hall, which is the sixth temple. The last two seats didn't go because of time (to climb higher), so I don't know the names. The attic next to the tallest building was shut down before the outer frame was repaired. During the reconstruction, the old wall and an ancient pagoda in the north were demolished, and the valley was razed to the ground and extended to the middle of the mountain.

You can feel the grandeur of this temple when you come up. It's not finished yet and there are fewer people. Standing here, you will feel extremely empty and desolate. At that time, the incense was at its peak, and when the number of monks was the highest, it reached tens of thousands.

Then we walk from the back of the temple: the fifth Qilan Hall, the fourth Manjusri Hall, the remaining ancient wall, the third Thousand Hands Guanyin Hall, the second Mahatma Hall (Sakyamuni Buddha in the main hall), the first Tianwang Hall (Maitreya Buddha and the four heavenly kings) and the mountain gate.

There is a stone trough in front of the Thousand Hands Guanyin Temple, which is a relic of the past. The stone trough is engraved with the words "Golden Lantern Festival".

On one side in front of Tianwang Temple are two newly built stone tablets that haven't had time to engrave, and on the other side are ancient monuments and monuments that have fallen to the ground. This is a monument of the Ming Dynasty, which reads: Rebuilding the Yin Qi Temple Monument in Yangshan. The inscription was written by the right assistant minister pavilion of the Ministry of Industry and Liu, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy in the orthodox period of the Ming Dynasty, and recorded the construction process of the five peaks and eight pavilions of Yangshan in the Jin Dynasty and the eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty.

There is also a tablet head and body scattered in the east corner of Tianwang Temple.

The inscription at the head of the monument reads: The ancestor argued with the great monk and walked on the monument. To argue with the public is to argue with the famous monk Zen master in Liao and Jin Dynasties.

The first line of the monument reads: The 26th generation of Yangshan Yin Qi Temple ... can't be seen clearly behind.

The newly-built monument was erected in front of the door, but these precious cultural relics were discarded and scattered on the ground. They have escaped the ravages of time, but they have not escaped the contempt of mankind.

The newly-built mountain gate is still very imposing, with high steps. The middle door is carved with Buddha and eighteen arhats, and the small doors on both sides are carved with flowers and dragons. This sculpture looks good.

Out of the mountain gate, walk to the small dirt road in front of the right, overlooking Yingtaogou Village.

Walk a few tens of meters on the dirt road, turn left, go down a wide steep slope, and you will reach the step path. Stone lions are carved on the stone pillars. It is said that every expression is different. That's a good idea, but lions are roughly carved, and some of them are not like lions at all. Tucao, a dog-like stone lion, has become the pleasure of walking our steps.

After the lion's step, you will get on the highway, which is about 1.5 km from the mountain gate to the highway.

Then go down the mountain along the highway, and there will be a small locked wooden door not far away. Here, I need the help of my uncle on duty to open the door.

You can navigate "Nanzhuang Bridge" on foot and go back to the parking position to pick up the car. It's about three or four kilometers from Shishi steps to the parking place.