Zhenjue Temple

Zhenjue Temple

Zhenjue Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Zhenjue Temple is located on the north bank of the Chang River, east of Baishi Bridge outside Xizhimen in Haidian District. It features five uniquely shaped, exquisitely carved small stone pagodas built on a single raised platform and connected together, which is why people commonly refer to Zhenjue Temple as the Five Pagoda Temple. It is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

During the Yongle era of the Ming Dynasty (around 1413), Indian monk Pandita came to Beijing and presented five golden Buddha statues along with a design of the Indian-style "Buddhagaya Stupa." Emperor Yongle ordered the construction of a stupa based on the design, and in the ninth year of the Chenghua reign (1473), the Diamond Throne Pagoda was completed according to the submitted blueprint. The temple was completely destroyed during the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, but the pagoda survived. This type of pagoda is now found in only six locations across China: three in Beijing—Zhenjue Temple, Biyun Temple, and Huangsi Temple each have one—and the other three are located in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia; Miaolian Temple in Kunming, Yunnan; and Guanghui Temple in Zhengding, Hebei. Among them, the Five Pagoda Temple in Beijing is considered the most exquisite.