Beijing Haidian Juesheng Temple (Qing Yongzheng)

The Ancient Bell Museum in Dazhong Temple, originally named Juesheng Temple and commonly known as Dazhong Temple due to the presence of the Yongle Grand Bell, is located at No. 31 Jia, West Road of the North Third Ring, Haidian District, Beijing. It was founded in the eleventh year of Emperor Yongzheng's reign (1733) as a royal Han Chinese Buddhist temple and was converted into the Ancient Bell Museum of Dazhong Temple in 1985. In 1996, Juesheng Temple was listed by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit. Juesheng Temple was established in the eleventh year of Emperor Yongzheng's reign (1733), by imperial decree, and was officially named Juesheng Temple in the winter of the twelfth year of Yongzheng's reign (1734). The plaque 'Imperially Commissioned Juesheng Temple' above the temple's mountain gate was inscribed by Prince Guo, the seventeenth son of Emperor Kangxi, with the seals: 'Respectfully inscribed by imperial order' and two seals at the end: 'Zide Jushi' and 'Prince Guo's treasure'. According to the 'Imperially Commissioned Juesheng Temple Stele Inscription' erected by Emperor Yongzheng in the twelfth year of his reign (1734), the emperor chose the site outside Xizhimen, formerly Zeng's village (now within Haidian District), for the temple's construction, due to its high and dry location, lush forests, and the fact that it was 'separated from the noisy dust of the market on the right and surrounded by the beautiful mountains and rivers on the left', making it suitable as a 'quiet and pure place for cultivation'. The inscription also records Emperor Yongzheng's words: 'With the awakening of the unawakened, and the birth of the unborn... this is what is called Juesheng', hence the emperor named the temple Juesheng Temple, hoping to use the Buddhist temple to 'promote the great path of awakening and achieve the purpose of true enlightenment'. In the eighth year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1743), the Yongle Grand Bell from Wanshou Temple was moved to Juesheng Temple, hence the temple was also commonly known as 'Dazhong Temple'. During Emperor Qianlong's reign, he visited Juesheng Temple several times to pray for rain, and in the fifty-second year of his reign (1787), he ordered Juesheng Temple to be one of the places for praying for rain, and the rain prayer activities continued until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Juesheng Temple was one of the most important temples in the capital during the Qing Dynasty. According to the 'Detailed Account of Temples in the Capital' from the Qing Dynasty, there were 291 temples in the capital, and Juesheng Temple was only listed after Wanshan Hall and Wanshou Temple. The cultural relics originally in Dazhong Temple have mostly disappeared, so apart from the Yongle Grand Bell, the bells displayed in the Ancient Bell Museum are not from Dazhong Temple. The Yongle Grand Bell is the most important collection in Dazhong Temple. It was cast during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty (around 1420-1424), with more than 230,000 characters of Buddhist scriptures inscribed on the bell's surface and inner wall, weighing 46.5 tons, standing 6.75 meters tall, with an outer diameter at the shoulder of 2.4 meters and an outer diameter at the rim of 3.3 meters, making it the largest Buddhist bell in the world. After the Yongle Grand Bell was cast in the bell foundry in Zhonggu Hutong to the west of Beijing's Bell and Drum Towers, it was moved to the Hanjing Factory east of Jingshan, then to Wanshou Temple outside Xizhimen in the fifth year of the Wanli reign (1577), and finally to Dazhong Temple in the eighth year of Qianlong's reign (1743), where it has been preserved to this day. The Yongle Grand Bell was moved to Dazhong Temple because at that time, geomancers claimed that 'the capital should not have the sound of metal', and the location of Dazhong Temple happened to be situated among the positions of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, avoiding the taboo of 'it is not suitable for the bell to ring in the emperor's city where the White Tiger is divided'. Moreover, Dazhong Temple is located to the north of the capital, and the north belongs to earth, while the bell belongs to metal, symbolizing the 'generation of metal by earth', hence Dazhong Temple became the ideal place to house the Yongle Grand Bell.