Dabei Monastery facts for kids
The Dabei Monastery (also known as the Great Compassion Temple) is a famous Buddhist temple in Tianjin, China. It's a very old and large place. The monastery was first built a long, long time ago during the Ming dynasty. Over the years, it has been rebuilt and made new many times. Today, it has two main parts: the West Monastery, built in 1669, and the East Monastery, built in 1940. It is the biggest and oldest temple in Tianjin, covering a huge area of about 10,600 square meters.
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Exploring the West and East Temples
The Dabei Monastery is made up of two main sections: the West Temple and the East Temple. The West Temple is the older part. It was built in 1669 during the Qing dynasty. This older section has three important halls in its west yard. The West Temple is also home to the Tianjin Buddhist Institute. This institute includes special halls like the Wenwu Hall and the Buddhist Abbot Hall.
The East Temple is the newer part. It was built in 1940 by a monk named Long Xian. This area has many beautiful buildings with traditional Buddhist designs. Some of the most important halls here are the Dabei Hall, Grand Hall, Tianwang Hall, and Dizang Hall.
Amazing Statues to See
Inside the East Temple, you can find a huge statue of Sakyamuni. This statue was made during the Ming dynasty. It stands 7 meters (about 23 feet) tall and weighs 6 tons! It has 9,999 tiny Buddhas carved onto its lotus throne. In the Great Compassion Hall, there is also a 3.6-meter-tall clay statue of the Thousand-hand Kwan-yin.
A Famous Historical Treasure
The monastery was once famous for holding a special skull relic of a famous monk named Xuanzang. However, this relic was given to India in 1956. It was taken to Nalanda and is now kept in the Patna Museum. Because of this, the Great Compassion Monastery now honors Master Xuanzang with a statue instead of the relic.
In the East Temple, you can find memorials for both Master Xuanzang and Master Hongyi. The West Temple now serves as an office for the Cultural Relic Palace and the Buddhist Association of China Tianjin Branch. The Cultural Relic Palace in the west yard has many old collections. These include hundreds of Buddha statues made from different materials like bronze, iron, stone, and wood. These statues come from various dynasties, starting from the Wei and Jin Periods.
Delicious Vegetarian Food
The Dabei Great Monastery is special because it is the only monastery in Tianjin that offers vegetarian food to the public. The food is made by the famous Tianjin Dabei Buddhist Monastery Vegetarian Food Corporation. You can find many tasty vegetarian dishes here. Some popular items include soybean vegetarian dishes, multi-vitamin-calcium noodles, and vegetarian dumplings. They also have deep-freeze eight precious vegetarian steamed-buns.
How to Find the Monastery
The Dabei Monastery is located on Tianwei Road in the Hebei District of Tianjin. It's about 2 kilometers (about 1.2 miles) west of the Tianjin North Railway Station. You can easily get there by bus. Many bus lines stop at the Jingangqiao Station on Zhongshan Road. These include bus lines 1, 2, 4, 12, 18, 34, 177, 609, 610, 611, 619, 632, 641, 646, 659, 670, 671, 818, 861, 878, and 904.
