Temple of Universal Peace (Puning si), Hebei, China

5Dillen_Fried 5:00 PM Oct 21, 2011

One of the most beautiful and active Buddhist temples in China
The Puning Si Temple, or Temple of Universal Peace is a Buddhist temple located near the Chengde Mountain Restort and alongside the Putuo Zongcheng Temple, modeled after the Tibetan Potala Palace. The temple is part of the Unesco World Heritage sites in Chengde. The Punning Temple is an active temple with annex monastery inside of the Tibetan Yellow Hat Buddhist school. There still are plenty of monks. We arrived there on the day of the Chinese Moon Festival (12th of September), so many Chinese had an off-day. The temple was crowded with worshippers, many (mostly young) Chinese were praying and offering incense to the many Buddha statues in the different halls. We had plenty of time observing the prayers and the burning of incense In the main hall of the temple complex you can see the large wooden Buddhist statue of Boddhisattva Avalokitesvara, said to be on of the biggest wooden statues in the world. The temple resembles the Lama Temple of Beijing a lot. Main difference is that in Beijing the place is full of tourist. In Chengde you don’t see Western tourist at all. And the Chinese people in the temple are mainly worshippers.

4codered202001 5:00 PM Mar 11, 2018

What a sight!
The temple is peaceful and serene, the big wooden Budda is a magnificent sight! To see how it was hand carved from one single tree over 300 years ago.I suggest this sight to see this magnificent structure.