Well, I think I've summed up the theme of this post fairly well. On Boxing Day this year Hui and I went to a place that I would call the most interesting place I've been in Hangzhou. Forget xihu, I'm talking about 灵隐寺(lingyin temple) and 飞来峰 (feilai peak), also known as the Lingyin Scenic Area. I had a great time going through here the day after Christmas. It was so fantastic, and the first time I've been to a place like this. I have a picture here of an explanation to introduce this area. The English is not totally clear, so I will explain a few things. First, I believe they have translated feilai peak as "peak flying from afar", but I honestly am just going to call it feilaifeng, because it sounds better. Second, I don't know why, but for some reason here they've called the Buddha by his proper name, Sakyamuni, so if you were wondering, that's who that is. I know this, because I studied Buddhism for a while in my university, so I can confirm that for all of you. The rest is pretty easy to understand. I know you all really appreciate their effort.
We started by climbing 飞来峰, which was filled with a ton of little niches with Buddha statues in them, which I thought was soooooo cool! Below this, you can see a really neat history of the statues at feilai peak, and this time the English is much better.
Now that you've seen everything, including the sign for the toilets in five different languages, how about some pictures of the actual place? haha
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| a buddha statue at the top of the cave |
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| inside a dark cave, taken with flash |
Lingyin Temple is a very famous temple in Hangzhou. It is home to China's largest sitting Buddha statue, and also the home temple of master Jigong. He is very famous in Lingyin Temple, because he lived there, so there is a special shrine to commemorate him inside. One of my favorite parts about this temple was the wall behind the giant Buddha, which was filled with hundreds of little statues of different Buddha, and one giant statue of Guanyin. Actually, taking pictures inside the actual halls are not allowed, and a little bit rude, but I took pictures anyway just for you all, but don't be like me. Don't do it! I said a little apology when we were showing our respect to Guanyin (sorry, Guanyin, you are just too good looking, I had to take a picture of you to show my family and friends). By the way, the thing you do when you go to a temple is called 拜佛(baifo), and there are a lot of different ways you can translate this. I wouldn't say worship is the right definition, because most people who do it don't really believe in Buddhism. I think I would just call it what I've said above, "showing respect", and you show respect by kneeling down on the pillows in front of the statue, and bowing three times with your hands forward. Though most people who go to the temples to just have a look don't actually believe in Buddhism, you will be able to tell that some of the people are really there to worship, so please be quiet and respectful when you are inside the halls!
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| this is the largest single story building in China |
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| there he is! |
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| Guanyin |
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| an explanation of master Jigong, who I didn't take a photo of |
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| a photo of the master Jigong statue from Lingyin temple's website |
If you are someone who really wants to take pictures of the inside of the halls, here's an idea. If you have a really nice camera, you should be able to focus enough to see the inside (providing that the weather is good) like the photo above. I took that one with my camera, which really extremely impressed me. With my past phones, the cameras were terrible, but I am super happy now after seeing this picture.
I was just online looking up some information about one of the places in Lingyin temple, and I have been seeing the funniest translations for feilaifeng. I think one of them I saw was "the peak that flew hither". What does that even mean? haha I mean, technically its right, but what?! Peaks cannot fly, so there. lol
Anyway, another one of my favorite things in Lingyin Temple was
五百罗汉堂(the hall of 500 arhats), and if you don't know what an arhat is, its like a kind of Buddhist saint. This was a really neat hall that was filled with 500 statues of arhats (every one different) that were arranged in hallways that formed the shape of a swastika, the symbol for peace. Yes, if you're going to go to China, you should be informed. Before it was a symbol for Nazis, it was a symbol for peace, and people in the east don't know otherwise. Also, in the middle of the swastika are four Bodhisattvas, with the names of China's four largest mountains above them. This is one thing that Hui and I suddenly noticed when we were walking through. So cool! I didn't take any photos there, so I am going to look up a few online, because I'm sure my description is not as good as the real thing.
Well, that's all for this post. I hope you learned something, and I hope you'll come check out this great place someday! Also, I don't know why all this text at the bottom is highlighted, but whatever.
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