After Khubilai Khan proclaimed himself as Great Khan in 1260, he planned to
construct a new capital. This new capital Dadu (大都), which is today Beijing,
was designed by Liu Bingzhong (劉秉忠, 1216-1227) based on the model of
classical Chinese Cities with the Ancestral Temple and the Altar for soil and
grain. The construction of the new imperial city was completed in 1271. However,
in this construction of the new capital, the Buddhist temples were also
built for the royal faith of Buddhism. The most important Buddhist emblem in
this new capital was the famous White Pagoda in the Great Temple of Sacred
Longevity and Myriad Peace (in Chinese Da Shengshou Wan’ansi, 大聖壽萬
安寺). This temple and the White Pagoda were built for Buddhist protection
of the new capital under the patronage of Khubilai Khan.
In 1271, Khubilai Khan heard that some miraculous lights were seen
every night from a collapsed Buddhist pagoda in Dadu. He excavated the site
and found the Buddha’s relics and the reliquaries buried in the Liao Dynasty.
After the discovery of the Buddha’s relics, he, as an emperor, worshipped the
relics and built a new pagoda for enshrining these relics. This is the White
Pagoda of the Great Temple of Sacred Longevity and Myriad Peace. In Chinese
history, many emperors such as Wendi (文帝) of Sui dynasty, worshipped
the Buddha’s relic and built a new pagoda enshrining the relic not
only for Buddhism itself but also for the political propaganda of emperors.
Therefore, this project of building a new pagoda by Khubilai Khan was another
example of the politically designed affair of Chinese Buddhism.
Khubilai Khan employed one Nepalese Artist named Anige (1245-
1306) as an architect of this new pagoda. Anige made the White Pagoda in
the style of Nepalese and Tibetan Stupas, and this was a totally different
and new style of pagoda in Chinese Buddhist Art. In addition, one Tibetan
monk designed the whole iconographic system of the pagoda and the reliquaries.
This Tibetan monk was presumed to be the same person as the
second Imperial Preceptor Rin chen rgyal mtshan (1238-1282) in Yuan
dynasty. According to the inscription of the White Pagoda, the monk
arranged many Buddhist deities of Tibetan Mandala inside and outside of
the White Pagoda, and he also made many kinds of dharanies and many
miniature pagodas made of clay and incense, which were deposited inside
the pagoda. These enormous pagoda deposits designed by this monk
would have been influenced by the Tibetan Buddhism and the Liao Buddhist
relic cult. This eccentric and exotic style of the White Pagoda represents
the new ideology of Khubilai Khan as a new Mongolian emperor in
China, and this White Pagoda became a very famous and important symbol
of the new capital in Yuan dynasty until now, although the Mongols all disappeared
Chinese history.
The building of the White Pagoda and the temple was closely associated
with the establishment of the new capital of Yuan according to the Chinese
traditional Buddhist faith. However the artistic style and iconography
of the White Pagoda is completely different from the Chinese traditions. It
is possible that Khubilai Khan wanted to represent the characteristics of the
new empire of Mongols in China through this new Buddhist monument.
This temple had preserved its status as the Imperial temple during Yuan
dynasty, but together with the fall of the dynasty, the temple also disappeared
due to a fire. Nevertheless, the White Pagoda still stands firmly in
Beijing evoking the glorious era of the Mongolian Empire and the Great
Khubilai Khan.