YONGHEGONG: IMPERIAL UNIVERSALISM AND THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF BEIJING'S "LAMA TEMPLE"

Yonghegong ("Palace of Harmony and Peace"), popularly known in English as the "Lama Temple," is often described as Beijing's largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monastery, but from its establishment in 1694 during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) to the present, Yonghegong has continued to evolve physically and functionally, from imperial prince's residence, to "travelling palace" (xinggong), to imperial ancestral shrine and Tibetan Buddhist monastic college, and finally to its current role as monastery, monastic college and museum. Despite its history and ubiquity as a Beijing landmark and destination for pilgrims and tourists, it has received limited academic attention. Furthermore, previous studies have emphasized the site as a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, downplaying its political significance. This study will provide a more comprehensive interpretation of Yonghegong as an expression of the Qing ideology of imperial universalism, focusing on the site during the reign of its major patron, the Qianlong emperor (r. 1735-1796). In order both to describe and interpret the multidimensional complexities of Yonghegong in a systematic fashion, I will employ as a heuristic device an interpretive model for the site inspired by two aspects the Indo-Tibetan tradition of the mandala: symbolic mapping and spatial ordering. The many symbols at the site will be arranged according to what I call the "three spheres" that center on the person of the Qianlong emperor: microcosm, the somatic sphere (symbols of the emperor's presence and personal history at the site); mesocosm, the socio-politcal sphere (multicultural symbols of the emperor's legitimacy); and finally macrocosm, the eschatological sphere (symbols of the emperor's role as enlightened ruler, ushering in the coming of the next buddha, Maitreya). Interpretation of the three spheres at Yonghegong is then applied first to the site's external features (e.g. site plan, architecture, what I call the "outer mandala") and then to examples of the internal features (e.g. sculptures, inscriptions, what I call the "inner mandala"). This study will both contextualize much of the overlooked symbolism of the Qianlong-era art and architecture at Yonghegong, as well as provide the first comprehensive interpretation of the site as a whole