Summer Palace Wisdom Sea

Summer Palace Wisdom Sea

The Wisdom Sea is a religious structure located at the highest point of Longevity Hill in Beijing's Summer Palace. It is a beamless Buddhist hall entirely constructed of bricks and stones, featuring a crisscrossed arch structure. The Wisdom Sea, situated at the highest point of the Summer Palace, is a beamless Buddhist hall composed of intersecting arches. Its outer layer is covered with exquisitely crafted yellow and green glazed tiles, while the upper part is topped with a small number of purple and blue glazed tiles, giving the entire structure a vibrant and magnificent appearance. Particularly distinctive are the more than a thousand glazed Buddha statues embedded in the outer walls of the hall. The term "Wisdom Sea" is a Buddhist expression, originally used to praise the boundless wisdom of the Buddha and the infinite Dharma. Although the structure closely resembles wooden architecture, it contains not a single piece of wood. It is entirely built from stone bricks using an arch technique, without any beams or purlins to bear the weight, hence the name "beamless hall." Additionally, because the hall enshrines the Buddha of Infinite Life, it is also referred to as the "Infinite Hall."

Location

No. 19, Xinjian Gongmen Road, Summer Palace, Haidian District, Beijing