Located at the Xibianmenwai Avenue in Beijing City, the Baiyun Taoist Temple is one of the most famous Holy Lands of Taoism in China. It was first constructed in the 27thyear (739) of the Kaiyuan reign in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the original name was the Tianchang Taoist Temple (the Temple of the Supreme Ultimate). As the ancestral temple of the Quanzhen Longmen Sect of Taoism, it is a Taoist building of the largest scale in Beijing City and known as the First Taoist Temple of Quanzhen Tao.
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Most of the extant buildings in the Baiyun Taoist Temple were rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). After entering into the Temple Gate, you can find that the temple consists of four parts: middle, east, west parts and the backyard. Buildings inside are magnificent and the layout is compact. Middle part includes the Linggong Hall, Yuhuang Hall, LaolüHall, Qiuzu Hall, Sanqing Pavilion and other main halls. The Sutras-Storing Building is situated at the east of the Sanqing Pavilion. East part includes the Nanji Hall, Doulao Pavilion, Luogong Tower and so on. West part includes the Lüzu Hall, Banxian Hall, Yuanjun Hall, Yuanchen Hall, the Wall of Twelve Animals (representing the twelve Earthly Branches, used to symbolize the year in which a person is born), and the Wall of Twenty-four Duties, etc.
Many precious cultural relics are stored in the Baiyun Taoist Temple, and the most famousSanbao(three treasures) among them are the Orthodox Taoist Sutras edited in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the stone sitting statue of Laozi made in the Tang Dynasty (618-907); the stone inscriptionSongxue Moral Sutraand its attached inscriptionYin Fu Sutraby the great calligraphist Zhao Mongzhao of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
Several important repairs were carried out for the Baiyun Taoist Temple with the support of the Chinese government in 1949, giving it a new look. Now it is the place where the Chinese Taoist Association is situated.
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