Baozhu Cave at Badachu

Baozhu Cave at Badachu

is the seventh temple in Beijing's Badachu Park.

Baozhu Cave is located atop Pingpo Mountain and was established in the 46th year of the Qianlong Emperor’s reign during the Qing Dynasty (1780). The temple stands high on the summit of Pingpo Mountain. By exiting the north side gate of the sixth site and climbing westward along a stone stairway path for over a mile, you can reach it. The roadside is lined with trees such as smoke trees and torch trees, lush and verdant in spring and summer, and glowing crimson in late autumn.

In front of the temple stands a wooden memorial archway, with the inscriptions "Solid Forest" on the outside and "Joyful Land" on the inside on its plaques, both written by Emperor Qianlong. Passing through the archway and continuing forward, you will see a massive natural rock prominently located by the roadside, on which a running script calligraphy piece titled “Poem on Baozhu Cave” can be faintly seen, with the seal impression of Emperor Qianlong at the signature.

Baozhu Cave features two-story temple halls built along the cliff. Among them, the Guanyin Hall, also called “Tiaowang Pavilion,” together with its side rooms, forms a front courtyard. Behind the Guanyin Hall is a stone cave about four meters wide, where the pebbles inside are black and white like pearls, glittering brilliantly—hence the name “Baozhu” (Treasure Pearl) Cave. It is said that during the Kangxi era, a monk named Haixiu practiced Buddhism here and was summoned by the emperor several times. Legend has it that he could recite scriptures to drive away evil spirits, thus earning the name “Ghost King Bodhisattva.” The cave once housed his flesh-body statue, which has long been destroyed, and now a white marble sculpture remains. Above Baozhu Cave is the Amitabha Buddha Hall. The original horizontal plaque read “Supreme Marvelous Fruit,” and the right-side plaque read “Clouds Lie Down, Heaven Peers Down”—both inscribed by Emperor Qianlong.

At a bend in the mountain path, a cluster of sparse woods shelters an ancient building with a rolled roof and red walls and gray tiles—this is the “Temple of the Deity.” The temple hall has three bays and is fronted by an embracing porch. Its location atop a massive rock on the mountain peak makes it appear even more towering and prominent. The central shrine enshrines a seated statue of Guan Shengdi Jun (Lord Guan). Guan Yu is depicted with a ruddy face, long beard, golden armor, and green robes, exuding solemn majesty. Zhou Cang leads the Red Hare horse on the left; Guan Ping holds the Green Dragon Crescent Blade on the right—both figures are powerfully imposing.

In the past, an unusual couplet once hung from the bright pillars of this temple: “Sun Crystal Pacifies the World; Moon Friends ?T Stabilize the Universe.” For a time, the strange characters in this couplet baffled numerous officials, scholars, poets, and men of letters, leaving them utterly puzzled.

Legend has it that one day, an arrogant “literary genius” came here out of curiosity. After pondering for a long while, he still couldn’t decipher the mystery of the strange characters, and his face flushed red as he stood there speechless. Just at this awkward moment, the temple door suddenly opened, and an old monk arrived gracefully. The “genius” humbly asked for an explanation, and the old monk smiled and replied, “According to what the elders say, the upper line is read as ‘Warm sunlight and crystal radiance pacify the world,’ the lower line as ‘Moon friends and sala blossoms stabilize the universe,’ and the horizontal scroll reads ‘The One Since Ancient Times.’” With that, the old monk turned and left. To this day, this peculiar couplet continues to puzzle scholars and men of letters.

A few steps south of the Temple of Guan Yu stands an exquisite Qing-style memorial archway. This archway has four pillars and three bays, with a hip-and-gable tiled roof. The brackets under the eaves crisscross intricately; the colorful paintings are rich and bright. The horizontal beams are inlaid with two white marble plaques, the outer one inscribed “Joyful Land” and the inner one “Solid Forest,” both gleaming with gold and particularly eye-catching. The plaques are stamped with the vermilion seal “Qianlong’s Calligraphy.”

Not far from the archway, a massive rock is partially covered by a half-veranda structure. The rock surface is weathered and eroded, with faint traces of running script poetry remaining, and the seal impression of “Qianlong’s Calligraphy” can still be discerned at the signature. These are three seven-character quatrains composed by Emperor Hongli (Qianlong) during his leisure visit to Baozhu Cave in the early winter of the 13th year of his reign (1748). One of the poems reads: “How does such a deep cave exist at the mountain’s peak? / Celestial winds carry the music of eight clear tones. / Within it, dragons seem to guard the realm, / Sending down timely rains like those of June.”

Location

Badachu Park, No. 3 Badachu Road, Shijingshan District, Beijing, China