Cloud-Embracing Temple Pagoda

Cloud-Embracing Temple Pagoda

The Cloud-Embracing Temple Pagoda is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Cloud-Embracing Temple Pagoda is located within the Cloud-Embracing Temple on Phoenix Mountain, about 15 li southeast of Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province. As there are temple pagodas both on the mountain and at its base, this pagoda is also known as the Middle Temple Pagoda.

The pagoda is a square, thirteen-story, dense-eave solid brick structure, 37 meters in height. It is divided into four parts: the base, the body, the eaves, and the top. The base is built in the Sumeru style, with a false door on each of its four sides, three niches carved on each side, and inside the niches are statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, flanked by musicians, with powerful figures at the four corners. Above it, inverted and upright lotus petals support the body of the pagoda.

The four corners of the pagoda body are adorned with round pillar-like structures. At the center of each of the four sides of the body is a seated Buddha carved in relief, sitting atop a lotus throne. On either side of each seated Buddha is an attendant figure, wearing a crown and draped in celestial robes, with reverent expressions. Beside each attendant are small miniature stupas, resembling scaled-down versions of the main pagoda. Above the pagoda body are thirteen tiers of eaves, which gradually converge from the bottom to the top. Between each tier of eaves, copper mirrors are inlaid, and wind bells hang from the four corners. The top of the pagoda features an inverted lotus and a dome, crowned with a steeple of four precious beads.

The Cloud-Embracing Temple is a masterpiece of ancient architecture. In May 2006, the Cloud-Embracing Temple Pagoda, as an ancient structure from the Liao Dynasty, was approved by the State Council to be included in the sixth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units