There are many Buddhist instruments and countless Buddhist treasures in the Lama Temple. The most commendable ones are the three woodcut works, which are called "Three Wonders". What are the "Three Wonders"? ? These are the Five Hundred Arhat Mountain, the Nanmu Buddhist Shrine and the Sandalwood Buddha.
Behind the statue of Tsongkhapa in the Falun Hall, there is a mountain carved from sandalwood, 3.40 meters high, 3.46 meters wide and 0.30 meters thick. There are five kinds of gold, silver, copper, iron and tin used on the mountain. The Five Hundred Arhats made of metal are the "Five Hundred Arhats Mountain", one of the "Three Wonders". The entire mountain is carved from red sandalwood. From a distance, you can see the mountains and lush green mountains. The forest and canyons are dotted with green pines and cypresses, exquisite pagodas, simple pavilions and deep caves. Looking closely, some of the Arhats are sitting on the ground meditating, some are talking about scriptures, and some are practicing fists and kicks. They are sitting or lying down, drunk or thinking, laughing or crazy. They are really full of different postures and lifelike. Unfortunately, after the war, there are only 449 Arhats left on the mountain.
Another masterpiece among the "Three Wonders" is in the Wanfu Pavilion. The Wanfu Pavilion is also known as the Big Buddha Tower because there is a tall and burly white sandalwood carved Buddha statue in the pavilion. It is one of the "Three Wonders" of the "Big Sandalwood Buddha". This giant Buddha is carved from the trunk of a white sandalwood tree. It is 26 meters high in total and 8 meters buried underground, so it is 18 meters above ground and 8 meters in diameter. With a total weight of about 100 tons, it is the largest single wooden statue in China. The reason for this is that Yonghe Temple is located to the right of Berlin Temple. Emperor Qianlong was afraid that it would affect the feng shui of the Longqian Forbidden Area, so he planned to build a high pavilion in the open space to the north of Yonghe Temple to house a large Buddha as a barrier and to rely on the power of Buddha to protect peace.
In 1750, Emperor Qianlong handed over the power of governing Tibet to the seventh Dalai Lama. In order to repay the "immense imperial favor", the Dalai Lama exchanged a large amount of jewelry for this huge white sandalwood tree from Nepal. It took three years to transport it from Tibet via Sichuan to the Lama Temple. After that, a "Lu Hall" was built to carve a giant Buddha, and then Wanfu Pavilion was built. This Buddha's whole body is covered with gold, and he wears a crown of five Buddhas on his head. There are necklaces hanging all over his body. Influenced by the Tibetan cultural and artistic style, his necklaces, bracelets and gold necklaces on his arms are all inlaid with turquoise and pearls. According to records, the project cost about 80,000 taels of silver that year, and the robe he wore, including the wrapper, used 5,400 pieces of yellow satin. Because the main trunk of this Buddha is carved from a single tree, which is rare in the world, it was included in the Guinness Book of World Records in August 1990.
Among the "Three Wonders" of the wood carvings of the Lama Temple, the "Nanmu Buddhist Niche" is located in the Zhaofo Building in the east wing of Wanfu Pavilion. It has two floors and 10 rooms. There is a shining Buddha. The Buddhist scriptures say that Sakyamuni went to Tushita Heaven to preach the Nirvana Sutra to his mother, Lady Maya. The disciples of the Buddha asked the Buddha to leave an image. It was inconvenient for the painter to look directly at the Buddha when painting the portrait, so he had to ask the Buddha to stand by the water and look at the image of the Buddha in the water. That’s why it’s called “Illuminating the Buddha”. After the Buddha statue is painted, use sandalwood to make it according to the image of the Buddha. The right hand is bent and stretched upward, which is called "the fearless seal", which means that the Buddha can eliminate the suffering of all living beings; the left hand is drooped, which is called "the wish seal", which means that the Buddha can fulfill the wishes of all living beings. .
Later, the Buddha statues made in imitation of this image were also called "Santan Buddha statues". The Buddha in the Zhaofo Building is imitating a wood-carved sandalwood Buddha and is made of copper. It is very valuable. There is a flame behind the Buddha. The backlight is carved from nanmu and painted yellow. A brass mirror is embedded in the backlight. When the sunset shines, the Buddha statue shines. It's a wonder. But the nanmu Buddhist niche enshrining this illuminated Buddha is even more valuable. The Buddhist niche reaches from the ground to the roof, about ten meters high, supported by two golden dragon pillars. The beams are covered with gold leather and wood, with many golden dragons carved on them, and in the middle is the pattern of "two dragons playing with pearls". It is said that there are 99 golden dragons engraved on the dragon pillars and beams of the Buddhist niche. The 99 three-dimensional golden dragons are tumbling in the sea of ??clouds using openwork carving techniques, and their shapes are lifelike.