Yonghe Temple: Mandala of Mount Sumeru
Gilt silver
Yonghe Temple: Mandala of Mount Sumeru
CHINA, Beijing; Qing dynasty
The mandala is made of gilt silver and represents the central mountain in Buddhist cosmology, Mount Sumeru. Together with eight mountains and eight seas, it forms the Sumeru world.
The round base is decorated with various patterns, such as keys, lotus petals, curled leaves, and a Tibetan inscription. At the center of the base stands Mount Sumeru, surrounded by 12 two-story palaces which are three bays wide and have verandas. Lotus petals decorate the spaces between Mount Sumeru and the Twelve Palaces. On top of the mountain, there is a palace with a double-eave pyramidal roof; it represents the Palace of Trayastrimsa Heaven, where Sakra resides.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts, page 379.
Cite this article:
Hsingyun, et al. "Yonghe Temple: Mandala of Mount Sumeru." Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts , vol. 18, 2016, pp. 379.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Youji, Stefanie Pokorski, Mankuang, and Wen Fan. 2016. "Yonghe Temple: Mandala of Mount Sumeru" In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts , 18:379.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Youji, Pokorski, S., Mankuang, & Fan, W.. (2016). Yonghe Temple: Mandala of Mount Sumeru. In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts (Vol. 18, pp. 379).
@misc{Hsingyun2016,
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Youji and Pokorski, Stefanie and Mankuang and Fan, Wen,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts },
pages = 379,
title = {{Yonghe Temple: Mandala of Mount Sumeru}},
volume = 18,
year = {2016}}
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Youji and Pokorski, Stefanie and Mankuang and Fan, Wen,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Artifacts },
pages = 379,
title = {{Yonghe Temple: Mandala of Mount Sumeru}},
volume = 18,
year = {2016}}