Dabei Buddhist Temple

Dabei Buddhist Temple (Great Compassion Buddhist Temple)

The Dabie Buddhist Monastery is made up of two parts: the old monastery and the new monastery. The old monastery refers to the three great halls in the western yard. The construction of the old monastery started in the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and it was renovated in the eighth ruling year of the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing Dynasty. The eastern yard features the new monasteries and a statue of Sakyamuni offered in the Daxiong Palace, created during the Ming Dynasty. The entire Sakyamuni statue is seven meters high, weighs six tons, and has 9,999 small Buddhas carved on the lotus throne. Inside the Great Compassion hall, a 3.6-meter high mud statue of Thousand-hand Kwan-yin is offered.

The monastery was once famous for holding a skull relic of Xuanzang; however, the relic was presented to India in 1956 when it was taken to Nalanda—allegedly by the Dalai Lama. The relic is now in the Patna museum. From then on, the Great Compassion monastery uses the image of the Xuanzang Master during worship of the Buddha instead of the spirit bones.

Memorials for Xuanzang Master and Hongyi Master sit in the eastern yard, while the western yard holds an office for the Cultural Relic Palace, the Abbot Palace and the Chinese Buddhism Association, Tianjin Branch. In the Cultural Relic Palace are many collections from every dynasty since the Wei and Jin periods, including hundreds of Buddha statues made of various materials, such as bronze, iron, stone and wood.