Lama Temple, 雍和宫

The Lama Temple, 雍和宫, Yōnghé Gōng, is one of the biggest Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries in the world, and use to be considered as one of the big attractions in Beijing. If you are Buddhist, or have a special interest of it, then this is extremely interesting, or else it is a nice two hours outing.

The temple is pretty big, and have five bigger halls, with different constellations of Buddha sculptures. I think the last hall, The Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses, 万福阁, Wànfúgé, is the most interesting one that hold a 18 meters high wood sculpture of Maitreya Buddha that is cut out from one single piece of wood.

The temple is located just south of the north 2:nd ring road and have a subway station that is named after it (YONGHEGONG LAMA TEMPLE) on line 2/5, so it is very easy to find the place. When you already is in the area, you can also visit the mellow and quiet Temple of Confucius, 孔庙, that is located just west of the Lama Temple, and you can also pass the ring road and have a walk in the Temple of Earth, 地坛.

The Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses, 万福阁. The last one in the row of five halls at the Lama Temple.

The 18 meters high Buddha sculpture that is cut from a solid part of wood. It is forbidden to take photo of it, so you have to watch out for the monks if you like to try.