Yong’ an Temple
2 min readAlso known as a Yellow Temple, the Yong’ an Temple is the largest comprehensive Buddhist temple group in the Bayinguoleng Mongol Autonomous Prefecture as well as in Xinjiang. Lamas in the Bayinguoleng Mongol Autonomous Prefecture believe in the Gelug school(commonly knownas “Shamanism”) of the Tibetan Buddhism, so the temples built by them are named the Shamanism Temples. In addition, all the temple groups of the Yong’ an Temple have golden roofs, so it is called the Yellow Temple. The temple is located in Balguntay Town, so it is called “Balguntay Yellow Temple”.
The Yong’ an Temple is located in an old Balguntay ditch of Balguntay Town in the northeast of Hejing County.1,450m abovesea level, the Yong’ an Temple is a magnificent lama temple usually known as “Little Potala Palace”.Its religious name is “Charles Boudart Jay Len”, meaning “Shamanic holy land”.The Yong’ an Temple was built in the reign of Man Khan’s father Buyanmengku in 1887. The temple consists of 15 temples. The Shamanism temple is the master temple located at the center of the Yong’ an Temple, and other 14 temples are distributed around the Shamanism temple. Distributed strictly andintegrated harmoniously, the Yong’ an Temple was built in the 14th year (1888) of the region of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty. The total area is 24000m² with the length of 2.5km and the width of 600m. There are 2,990 big and small copper Buddha statues in total,1,392 silver musical instruments used in Buddhist masses,106 golden Buddha statues and golden wares,2 pairs of Gan bells,74 thousand of other copper wares,740 carpets, some golden bars, jewelries and jades,1,104 large scripture books and 341 small scripture books.
There are a lot of precious sutras and rare cultural relics preserved in the hall of the Shamanism Temple.A great golden Maider Buddha statue is presented at the center of the hall.A great number of copper Buddha statuessuch as Maitreya Buddha and Buddhist Goddess are presented in east and west rear court rooms. Four walls of the hall are decorated with guardian Buddha statues which are vivid and beautiful. The pilgrims coming to recite the sutras and pilgrimage everyday are in an endless stream. The joss sticks and candles are extremely prosperous, and it is more bustling at religious festivals. In 1988, the Yong’ an Temple was listed as the national key cultural relic protection unit by the State Council.
