The rise of Dongyue Temple is closely related to the heyday of the orthodox school "Jiao Xuan" in Yuan Dynasty. Because Jiao Xuan master Zhang Liusun and his successor Wu Quanjie are deeply respected by Yuan Di, the Dongyue Temple, which was built and presided over by them, certainly received the attention of the royal family. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, although the status of Dongyue Temple was reduced, it still had a strong influence in the upper class and the people because it sacrificed to the Emperor of the East Yuetai Mountain, who was in charge of the dignity, life and death, and the fortunes of all people. Although it was destroyed several times in history, it was rebuilt every time with the donation of royal family members.
There are stone tablets in the courtyard of Dongyue Temple, with a maximum of 160, ranking first in Beijing. The existing 100 stone tablets are all works of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, and most of them are stone tablets of Dongyue Temple built in past dynasties and stone tablets of folk charity. They are complete in variety, noble in taste, rich in content and of high artistic and historical value. One of the most famous is Zhao Mengfu's running script Tombstone of Zhang Tianshi (commonly known as "Daobei"), which is a treasure of calligraphy art in Yuan Dynasty. In addition, Zhao Shiyan's regular script "Zhaode Temple Monument" and Yu Wenjing's official script "Rensheng Palace Monument" are also quite famous. In addition, in front of most of the main halls of Dongyue Temple, there are couplets and small seals with black characters on a white background, the contents of which are mostly the interpretation of the functions of the temple gods. The couplets in front of the halls of the main courtyard have been restored, and the characters are written by famous contemporary calligraphers.
During the Cultural Revolution, the stone tablets in the temple were severely damaged, most of them were knocked down and smashed, and the decorations were chiseled off. Some stone tablets also have revolutionary slogans written in black ink. After the inscription was pushed down, it was either used as a foundation or buried deep underground. At the end of 1995, when Dongyue Temple was taken over by Chaoyang District Cultural Relics Bureau, only the 18 stone tablet was intact. Later, the buried stone tablet was excavated again. /kloc-0. The stone tablet restoration project started at the end of 1997, which lasted for one year and was basically restored to its original state. There are 89 stone tablets in Dongxilin, the main courtyard of Zhonglu, which reproduces the characteristic landscape of Dongyue Temple with "many stone tablets".
Because the Emperor Dongyue was in charge of life and death on earth, many people went to burn incense. According to legend, March 28th is the birthday of Emperor Dongyue, so there will be a temple fair in Dongyue Temple from March15th to 28th. This custom lasted for hundreds of years, but it was naturally interrupted after 1949. Since 2002, the temple fair has resumed, but it has been changed to the annual Spring Festival. In addition, there are many folk stories in Dongyue Temple. For example, the old Beijing jingle "A smart card, a bright monument and a small golden bean are harmless" refers to four anecdotes and legends of Dongyue Temple.