The 113 Precept Gods of Jietai Temple, the story behind an old photo. The symbol of Jietai Temple - the Jietai is square in shape, with three levels, each with a Sumeru seat.

The 113 Precept Gods of Jietai Temple, the story behind an old photo💕 🌟The symbol of Jietai Temple - the Jietai is square in shape, with three levels, each with a Sumeru seat. The waist of each seat is carved with many small Buddha niches. The Jietai and small Buddha niches are original Ming Dynasty artifacts. There are 28 on the top level, 36 on the middle level, and 49 on the bottom level, totaling 113 Buddha niches. Inside the Jietai Buddha niches are 113 painted clay Precept Gods. 🌟These Precept Gods are all different, lifelike, and vivid. They were sculpted by the fourth-generation master sculptor Mr. Zhang Ming and his disciples during the renovation of Jietai Temple in 1980. The renovation process was full of twists and turns. The original Precept Gods in the Jietan Hall niche were said to have been destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion. There were no samples during the renovation. Yonghe Palace once had a black and white old photo from the Republic of China period, which had the figure of the Precept Gods. The Precept Gods of the Yonghe Palace Jietai Tower were also destroyed from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period. Master Zhang Ming created this group of exquisite Precept Gods group statues based on this picture, completing the restoration of Jietai Temple. But this old photo was later lost, which caused difficulties for the later renovation of the Precept Gods of the Yonghe Palace Jietai Tower. Because the statues and Buddha niches restored in Jietai Temple have no names, it is impossible to restore the Precept Gods of Yonghe Palace based on the Precept Gods of Jietai Tower. Even if they are restored, they cannot correspond to the honorifics above the Jietai Buddha niches (the statues and Buddha niches of Jietai Temple have no names, and the Buddha niches of Yonghe Palace have names). In 2022, the Museum Department of the Yonghe Palace Management Office miraculously found this precious black and white old photo while sorting out the old archives of the museum. The photo also lists the Chinese transliteration of the Tibetan names of each statue. Yonghe Palace finally commissioned the National Intangible Cultural Heritage Boxwood Carving Inheritance Institution to use cypress wood, carefully crafted, and completed the carving of all 113 Precept Gods in nearly a year. They officially reappeared in the Jietai Tower at the end of 2023. 🌟The Precept Gods are the gods who protect the precepts. They were originally demons or heretics, but they converted to Buddhism because they were influenced by the Buddha's teachings, served the Three Honors, and protected the monks in the world, so they were called Precept Gods.