Jueshan Temple 觉山寺

About Jueshan Temple

Jueshan Temple (觉山寺), also called Puzhao Temple (普照寺), is a Buddhist temple in Jueshan village (觉山村), Hongshileng township (红石塄乡), Lingqiu County (灵丘县), in Datong (大同), Shanxi. Its thirteen-tier Liao-dynasty brick pagoda is a national key cultural relic site.

The Lingqiu county government records that Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei ordered the temple built in 483 to repay his mother's kindness. It declined in the Five Dynasties and was repaired under the Liao. In 1626 a major earthquake brought down every hall, and only the Liao brick pagoda stayed standing. The temple was rebuilt in 1630, repaired in 1688 and then fell into ruin again. Between 1885 and 1889 the monk Longcheng (龙诚) rebuilt it with the help of the local scholar Du Shanghua (杜上化); the present halls date from that Guangxu-era rebuilding.

The temple faces south and follows the slope, laid out on three axes with five linked courtyards, 134 rooms and 8,100 m² of ground, according to the county. The pagoda, rebuilt in 1089, stands at the front of the western axis. It is an octagonal, densely eaved brick tower about 44 metres high. Its base carries carved figures of Buddhas, bodhisattvas, dancers and musicians, guardians and paired dragons. The first storey holds a chamber with 62 m² of Liao murals of bodhisattvas, wisdom kings and flying apsaras. The pagoda was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 2001.

In a 2019 People's Daily article, a senior engineer of the Shanxi Ancient Architecture Group (山西省古建筑集团), which carried out the work, wrote that the restoration, approved in 2014, repaired the finial, whose base had almost entirely collapsed, and recorded 218 inscriptions, including dated Liao ink writing and Jin-dynasty inscribed bricks. The work also showed that the densely eaved body of the pagoda is hollow inside, not solid as long believed. On the cliff northwest of the temple is the Xuanzhongyan relic cave (悬钟岩舍利洞), also called Cuiyun Cave (翠云洞), whose Guanyin Hall was destroyed late in the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt from 2000. On a hilltop to the southwest stands a 5.33-metre solid brick pagoda that the county calls the smallest in northern Shanxi.

What to look for

• The Liao brick pagoda, octagonal and thirteen tiers high, rebuilt in 1089
• Carved base of the pagoda, with Buddhas, bodhisattvas, musicians and paired dragons
• Liao murals of bodhisattvas, wisdom kings and apsaras in the pagoda's first-storey chamber
• Guangxu-era halls laid out on three axes and five courtyards
• Xuanzhongyan relic cave, or Cuiyun Cave (翠云洞), with its rebuilt Guanyin Hall on the northwest cliff
• The 5.33-metre brick pagoda on the hilltop southwest of the temple

Location & getting there

Getting to Jueshan Temple

• Search for 觉山寺 with 大同市 and 灵丘县.