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| The Pagoda Forest in the Tanzhe Temple |
| CCTV.COM 2003-06-20 21:06:18 |
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 Located in the west suburbs of Beijing and having a history of a dozen or more dynasties, the Tanzhe Temple has seem numerous monks do Buddhist practice here and finish their lives in this world, thus leaving many pagoda tombs in different styles close by the temple.
The earliest pagoda tomb is for the Master Haiyun, over 800 years old, a solid brick hexagon construction in hexahedron and dense－eave style.
Probably the best known is the one for Master Miaoyan, daughter of Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty, called Princess of Miaoyan. In order to redeem his father from killing so many people in battles, she converted herself to Buddhism, and spent the rest of her life here. Her pagoda tomb is also a solid brick five－floor construction in dense－eave style, with one smaller pagoda on each side for company.
Shi fang pu tong Pagoda （meaning harmoniously unified in all directions） is the one for monks collectively buried. This is a solid brick construction shaped like an upside－down alms bowl. One of the brick, it is said, is movable from which ashes of a dead monk at a lower－rank could be added to join the others. As it had ashes of so many monks, it is called “thousand people pagoda.”
Due to different eras those pagoda tombs exhibit different styles. And their construction shows different ranks when their occupants were alive.
During the Ming Dynasty the Tanzhe Temple enjoyed a very high social status. Many Buddhist followers came to study from other countries.
Master Dehuada’s tomb is a solid stone pagoda of upside－down alms bowl style, constructed entirely with carved white marble, granite and other stone, eye－catching and very different in color from others in gray. No inscriptions are found on the body, but a stone tablet in the front has a short biography inscribed. She came from East India, lived and died in the house she built on the west of the temple.
Their construction took over 800 years. They provide an informational resource, both in written language and real objects, to the study of Buddhist pagoda evolution and the history of the Tanzhe Temple.
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Editor: Liu Baoyin CCTV.com
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