Jietai Temple is in Mentougou District, west of Beijing city. The whole temple occupies an area of 4.4 hectares.  The former name of Jietai Temple is Huiju Temple. First built in the reign of the first emperor of the Sui Dynasty (581- 600) and named as Hui Ju Temple, though this was changed during later dynasties.

Along with Zhaoqing Temple in Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province) and Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou (Fujian Province), it is one of the famous Three Altars in China. The altar in Jietai Temple is the largest one among the three.

The main Mahavira Hall originally contained ten carved sandalwood chairs made in Ming Dynasty. Outside the hall, there are two steles, one erected in the Jin Dynasty and the other in the Liao. In the north compound is the Ordination Altar, made of white marble. The base is carved with figures of several hundred deities, twenty-four of which are one-meter high. The rest are about one-third their size. South of the altar is the Upali Hall, which contains the image of the Arhat Upali, one of the disciples of Buddha. Three stone pillars are enclosed within a pagoda to the south of the altar, and throughout the temple are many ancient and famous pine trees.