Dajue Temple
Dajue Temple, also known as Dajue Zen Temple, is located at No. 9, Dajue Temple Road, Sujiaotou Town, Haidian District, Beijing. It was founded in the fourth year of the Xianyong era of the Liao Dynasty (1068), originally named Qingshuiyuan, and was one of the eight great water temples of the Western Hills during the Jin Dynasty. It was renovated during the Yuan Dynasty and renamed Lingquansi. In the third year of the Xuande era of the Ming Dynasty (1428), it was rebuilt.
Dajue Temple covers an area of about 9,500 square meters, facing east with its back to the west, built according to the mountain terrain. The main structures consist of the central temple complex, the southern imperial palace, and the northern monks' quarters. The central route includes six courtyards, featuring the mountain gate, stele pavilion, merit pool, bell and drum tower, Hall of Heavenly Kings, Mahavira Hall, Infinite Life Buddha Hall, Hall of Great Compassion, relic pagoda, Dragon Pool, and Dragon King Hall. The northern route houses the monks' quarters, and the southern imperial palace includes the Precepts Hall, Siyi Hall, Qiyun Pavilion, and Lingyao Pavilion. At the rear is a temple garden. The Liao Dynasty stele in Dajue Temple is an important physical material, of great value for the study of the Khitan script.
On August 21, 1979, Dajue Temple was announced by the Beijing Municipal People's Government as the second batch of municipal cultural relics protection units in Beijing. On May 25, 2006, it was announced by the State Council of the People's Republic of China as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
The scenery of Dajue Temple is mainly characterized by the 'Eight Excellences', which are: the ancient temple's orchid fragrance, the thousand-year-old ginkgo, the old vine on cypress, the mouseberry on cypress, the Lingquan spring water, the Liao Dynasty ancient stele, the pines and cypresses embracing the pagoda, and the clear pool with green tones.
In 1991, when I helped the Municipal Gardens Bureau to take photos for the 'Ancient and Famous Trees' album, I photographed the 'Mouseberry on Cypress', where a cypress tree had a fork, and somehow a mouseberry seed, brought by either the wind or bird droppings, had germinated. It grew together with the cypress tree, which was quite miraculous.