Sacred Buddha Tooth Relics and Relics in the World

Famous Chinese Monks Who Viewed The Buddha Tooth

Sacred Buddha Tooth Relics in the World

Other Sacred Relics of the Buddha in the World

Beijing Lingguang Monastery (Badachu, Beijing, China)

The Badachu (simplified Chinese: 八大处; traditional Chinese: 八大處; pinyin: bādàchǔ; also known as "Badachu Park"), is a complex of monasteries located on the outskirts of urban Beijing, which means "Eight Great Sites" that refers to the eight Buddhist temples and nunneries scattered across the Cuiwei, Pingpo, and Lushi hills in Shijingshan District, at the foot of Beijing's Western Hills.

Less than half a kilometer up Cuiwei Hill one comes to the Temple of Divine Light. Originally called the Dragon Spring Temple, its name was changed to the Mountain of Awakening Temple in 1162. In 1428, during the Ming Dynasty, it was restored and resumed its old name, and in 1478, it was finally given its present name.

The Temple of Divine Light originally contained a number of fine old buildings, carvings and statues, but the Eight-Power Allied Forces destroyed all these when they occupied Beijing in 1900. One notable structure was a large octagonal Liao Dynasty pagoda constructed in 1071 of carved bricks. Originally situated to the east of the goldfish pond, it was called the Pagoda for Entertaining Immortals. All that remains now is its foundation. The pagoda is important in the history of Buddhism in China since, according to the records, when Buddha was cremated all that remained in his ashes were four teeth, one of which was brought to China in the 11th century and placed here. The Liao dynastic history records that Emperor Daozong (reigned 1055-1100) placed the Tooth in a pagoda here. After the destruction of the pagoda in 1900, monks searching through the rubble found a stone chest containing a wooden box in which they discovered the Buddha's Tooth. In 855-108 years before the building of the pagoda in 963-the monk Shan Hui carved the words "The Tooth of Shakyamuni", the date and some Buddhist incantations in Sanskrit on the inner and outer surfaces of the stone chest. The Tooth remained in the temple until 1955 when it was removed to the Guangji Temple by the Chinese Buddhist Association and placed in the Hall of Buddhist Relics.

In 1956, the People's Government erected a new 13-story pagoda on the site of the Liao foundation and named it the "Pagoda of the Buddha's Tooth."

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