Located at No. 12 Lama Temple Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, People's Republic of China, Lama Temple is a religious activity site, museum and tourist attraction, and is the largest Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa monastery in Beijing.
Lama Temple was built in the 33rd year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1694), it was originally the residence of the Yongzheng Emperor before the accession to the throne "Prince Yong's Mansion", the Qing Yongzheng 3rd year (1725) was upgraded to the palace, the beginning was called "Yonghe Palace", and the ninth year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1744) was rebuilt into the Gelugpa monastery of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Tibetan name of Lama Temple is "Kadan Golden Forest", which means Tushi Magnificent Palace, and the whole building has a unique artistic style that integrates Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan and other ethnic buildings. Among them, the axis building complex is mainly composed of six main halls: Yonghe Gate Palace, Yonghe Palace, Yongyou Palace, ** Palace, Wanfu Pavilion and Suicheng Palace. On both sides of the central axis, there are also bell towers, drum towers, lecture halls, tantric halls, Kalachakra halls, medicine master halls, east side halls, west side halls, Panchen Towers, ring platform towers, Yongkang Pavilion, Yansui Pavilion and other buildings.
The 10th Panchen Lama and the 11th Panchen Lama once preached the scriptures in the ** hall of the Lama Temple, and blessed Moding. Now the main hall is dedicated to the gilded bronze statue of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, and the thrones of his two major ancestors, the Panchen Lama and the Lama, are set on both sides. There is also a stele pavilion in the Lama Temple, and a square stele is erected in the pavilion. High 62 meters, each side is 145 meters, engraved on all sides of the four sides respectively Manchu, Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan four languages of "Lama Said", is the Qing Dynasty to strengthen the management of Tibetan Buddhist affairs "Anzang Ji Domain, set the foundation of the country's Qing Ping permanent" important documents.
In the Wanfu Pavilion, there is also a Maitreya Buddha with a height of 18 meters and 8 meters buried underground, which was made in the thirteenth to fifteenth years of Qianlong. The wood used is a giant sandalwood tree with a length of 26 meters, which was purchased by the 7th Lama from Nepal at a large price. The Big Buddha was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records in August 1990.