Jietai Temple stands on wooded slopes in the Mentougou district, about thirty-five kilometres west of central Beijing and only a few kilometres from the better-known Tanzhe Temple. It was founded in the Tang dynasty and rebuilt many times since, with the present halls mostly Qing work, but its name comes from the one thing that has defined it for a thousand years: an ordination platform, the raised stone stage on which monks formally receive their vows. Jietai means precisely that - the platform of the precepts.
The ordination platform
China has a handful of great ordination platforms, and the one at Jietai is among the largest and the most ornate. It is a three-tiered stone structure carved with figures and ornament, standing in its own hall, and the scale makes the point: this was a site of national importance for the Buddhist order rather than a local parish temple. Several of the halls around it hold Ming and Qing sculpture and inscriptions, and because the temple sits on terraces cut into the hillside, the courtyards step up one behind another with views out over the pines between them.
The pines
What most visitors remember is the trees. Jietai's slopes carry a grove of Chinese pines of unusual age and shape, several of which have been given names over the centuries - a sprawling low-crowned specimen known as the reclining dragon pine, and a cluster of tall trunks grown together and named for nine dragons, among others. The temple's own incense-burner grove and the covered corridor at the upper level are good places to sit; the air on the hillside is noticeably cooler than the city even in midsummer.
Practical notes
There is no convenient metro; take a car or a bus to Mentougou and then a local taxi, and plan on about an hour and a quarter each way outside rush hour. Jietai and Tanzhe sit within a few kilometres of each other and are conventionally visited together in a single day, with Tanzhe the larger and busier of the two. Admission is charged separately at each. Early morning is the quietest time and the light through the pines is best then; the temple is busiest in the autumn colour season and around Lunar New Year.
