You are in: Home » Beijing Religion » Tell Chinese Temples Apart

Beijing Religion

Tell Chinese Temples Apart

Chinese Temples - part of the detail at Beijing's Beihai Park

How to tell Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist Temples apart

All Chinese temples follow the same basic pattern – built with careful respect for feng shui they face Southwards and are symmetrical along the North-South axis.

They’re typically enclosed behind high walls, wide, low buildings with beautifully tapered roofs supported by enormous wooden columns. The temple consists of a series of halls, with the most important at the very rear of the temple.

Entrance is from the South end, through imposing gates which open onto a courtyard protected by a spirit wall (because ghosts can only move in straight lines).

It is by the interior that you can tell the various creeds of Chinese temple apart.

Confucian Temples

As one might expect, Confucian temples are in general the least noisy, colourful, and lively of all Chinese temples. Their courtyards are usually filled with stelae (stone tablets) dedicated to various local scholars.

Buddhist Temples

Buddhist Temples usually contain the same combination of fairly recognisable important deities. You pass first of all through a hall containing enormous, multicoloured statues of the angry looking Four Heavenly Kings (or the Four Directions). Next is a fat Laughing Buddha, (Maitreya, the Buddha of the future / the Buddha of Loving Kindness) facing towards you.

There may be other halls with other Buddhas and gods, but the main hall usually contains three enormous Buddhas side by side, these are the Buddhas of past, present and future. Around the back of them is the many-armed Guan Yin who appears in all kinds of Chinese temples.

Chinese have worshipped a figure similar to Guan Yin since before the advent of Confucianism, Buddhism or Taoism. She’s very popular because she’s believed to lend a hand during childbirth. Around the sides of the main hall are several dozen arhats, caricaturish statues of various Buddhist saints.

Other tell-tale signs you’re in a Buddhist temple are pagodas (built to house relics and sutras), the columns which are red in Buddhist temples and black in Taoist temples, and a general paucity of imagery other than the main Buddha statues.

Taoist Temples

Taoist temples tend to be the most colourful and snazzy. The main gates are painted with fierce-looking mythical heroes to scare off evil spirits. The halls can contain any number of different deities, the many-armed Guan Yin among them.

Other likely deities include the Eight Immortals who achieved immortality through Taoism, the Three Purities said to be the founders of civilisation. Taoist temples are also the place you’re most likely to see people burning ghost money for the ancestors to spend in heaven.

Visitor Comments

I’d just like to point out that Guan Yin does not predate the ‘advent of Confucianism, Buddhism or Taoism’. Guan Yin, originally Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit, arrived in China (as a male being) during the 1st Century AD. Guan Yin’s popularity then grew, being incorporated into the Taoist pantheon as a deity (Guan Yin is actually a bodhisattva, not a deity), and he/she became a sexless being.

Also, it should not be ‘many-armed Guan Yin’ but always either ‘Two-armed, Four-armed, Eight-armed or 1000-armed Guan Yin’.

Furthermore, the ‘fat Laughing Buddha’ is Maitreya, the Buddha of the future (the Buddha of Loving Kindness). The large-bellied Buddha is Chinese style, whereas the seated version next to Buddha Shakyamuni, the present Buddha, is Tibetan in style.

Most Buddhist temples in China are actually Tibetan or Mongolian in style – the Manchu Qing dynasty were after all fervent Tibetan Buddhists – and that is the best way to tell a Buddhist temple!

From Buddhist · 12 February 2007, 23:01

Hello Buddhist and thanks for your comment.

First of all I should say that the main point of this article is to enable people with no knowledge of Chinese religion to tell which kind of temple they are in – pointing out some basic features and thus enriching the experience.

We take your point about Guan Yin. What we should have said was that the Chinese had worshipped a figure similar to Guan Yin since before the advent of those three religions. We’ve edited the article to make it more clear.

Since the theme of the article is ‘tell chinese temples apart’, then perhaps you’d like to illuminate us further on the subject of how the visitor can tell if the temple they’re visiting is Tibetan, Mongolian or other style?

From BeijingMadeEasy · 13 February 2007, 00:15

Beijing Hotels

Great discounts on Beijing hotels

Beijing hotels – from backpacker hostels to elegant courtyard hotels, Beijing Made Easy gives you the lowdown on where to stay and how to book it – Beijing hotels made easy.

» FIND A HOTEL

Beijing Flights

Flights to Beijng from around the world

Beijing Flights – flying times and getting to Beijing Capital Airport, flight booking and who to fly with – everything you need to make Beijing flights easy.

» FIND A FLIGHT