On the weekend, I went to Cloud Residence Temple, first visiting the Stone Sutra Mountain. The main activity was climbing; it’s not very high, with some steps, and it takes about half an hour to reach the top. There are mainly nine scripture caves that store over four thousand stone slabs of scriptures carved by monks since the Sui Dynasty. Only one Thunder Sound Cave is open, where some stone slab scriptures are displayed, but there are barriers preventing close viewing, making it hard to see the text on the scriptures; one can only get a sense of it. Additionally, there are two Tang Dynasty towers at the summit, but the path up is blocked, so one can only see the Golden Immortal Princess Tower from a distance halfway up the mountain; the other single-eaved Tang tower is not visible. In the middle of the mountain, there is a tea pavilion with half a Tang tower; the tower's spire and five-layered eaves are from the Tang Dynasty, while the tower body is newly built.
Descending from Stone Sutra Mountain, it takes about 1 kilometer to reach Cloud Residence Temple, mainly to see the famous North Tower. The base of the tower is built in a Chinese pavilion style from the Sui and Tang Dynasties, while the tower body above is built in a Tibetan stupa style from the Liao Dynasty, together with four Tang towers at the corners forming the Vajra Throne Tower. Among them, the tower in the southwest corner, built in the second year of Jingyun (711 AD), is the oldest existing tower in Beijing. The tower in the northeast corner, built in the tenth year of Kaiyuan (722 AD), is the best-preserved Tang tower in terms of text and images. The four Tang towers have similar styles, all featuring square niches with six levels of eaves, and both the inside and outside of the towers are carved with Buddha and human figures, while the outer wall of the tower body has an inscription recording information about the tower.
Around the North Tower, there are also some cultural relics moved from other places, including a Thousand Buddha Stele from the Sui Dynasty, a single-eaved tower from the Tang Dynasty, and some stone tablets and pagodas from the Yuan, Liao, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, which are worth appreciating slowly. From the North Tower, looking west at the mountain top, there is an old Tiger Tower from the Liao Dynasty; due to time constraints, I didn’t go up to see it closely. To the north of the North Tower, there are three towers in the Tibetan stupa style from the Qing Dynasty, commemorating three abbots of Cloud Residence Temple during the Qing Dynasty.
The South Tower of Cloud Residence Temple was also a Liao tower, but unfortunately, it was destroyed by the Japanese army. The rebuilt tower is very new and rough, not worth seeing. Near the South Tower, there are two Liao towers: one is the Wan Gong Tower built by Master Jingwan, the founder of the Sui Dynasty's scripture carving, and the other is the pressure tower above the Stone Sutra Underground Palace. The Stone Sutra Underground Palace holds over ten thousand stone slab scriptures, which can only be viewed through glass. Additionally, next to the highest Great Compassion Hall in Cloud Residence Temple, there is a more than one-meter-high Liao Dynasty Heavenly Opening Relic Tower; the relics need to be viewed inside the hall, and they are very small, about the size of a grain of rice, making it hard to discern any special features.
Cloud Residence Temple also has over 22,000 volumes of Ming Dynasty paper scriptures and more than 7,000 volumes of Qing Dynasty woodblock scriptures. In the central hall, there is a dedicated exhibition introducing the scriptures, allowing for close viewing, but unfortunately, I lack research on Buddhist scriptures and couldn’t discern much.
Cloud Residence Temple has numerous cultural relics, and if appreciated carefully, one could spend half a day to a full day there. The environment in the temple is also pleasant, with pines, cypress, and bamboo, as well as various cats patrolling and napping around the temple. The forty yuan entrance fee includes access to both the temple and Stone Sutra Mountain, which is worth the price.