Tianning Si

I've  been a real slacker when it comes to posting pictures on the blog. I'm way behind but hope to catch up soon.

These pictures are from a Buddhist temple called Tianning Si. I took these pictures on a walking tour organized by the Chinese Culture Center back in July.

The temple contains a 900 year old pagoda built of brick and stone. Although it is not hollow, it is built to resemble similar wooden structures with over-hanging eaves.

The name Tianning is made up of the characters  天 (tian) and 宁 (ning). Tian means heaven or sky and ning means calm, peaceful, or serene.  Si means temple.

That is the same tian as in Tian'anmen Square.

The stone carvings are starting to show their age but look pretty good for 900 years old.

Click to enlarge.

This wooden Buddha is in one of the temple buildings on the grounds.

I see coconut milk powder, oranges, peaches and crackers left as offerings.

It is a working temple and you can talk with the monks (if you speak Chinese). I believe this monk is a woman.

I wish I could tell you more about these murals. I'm sure there is a story in them.

These are incense sticks burning in one of the incense burners in the temple.

The person on the right is our tour guide, Feng Cheng. He always makes a point to engage with the locals and almost always learns some interesting tidbit about the location. This was back in July. I don't recall the discussion.












When this temple was built it was out in the countryside  or suburbs surrounding Beijing. Many years ago the city grew to surround the temple and the city wall was extended to include it. Now there is a heating plant next door to supply heat to city residents in the area during the winter.