Being Buddhist (though i wouldn't be considered as devout), my dad and i put up our hands when Huan Huan, our tour guide in Guizhou, asked who would be joining her in the hike up Hongfu Temple in Qianlingshan Park at the provincial capital of Guiyang.
The over 900 steps climb up to the century-old temple was tiring but fun as we saw a lot of monkeys along the way. Furthermore, i love walking when i am overseas. In my recent trip to Hong Kong, it's a minimal 20,000 steps a day!
Located somewhere in the middle of Qianling mountain, the temple was built in Year 1672 during the Qing Dynasty and according to Wikipedia, "was designated as a National Key Buddhist Temple in Han Chinese Area by the State Council of China".
Two of the four heavenly kings! A standard feature in Buddhist temples, i first got to know about them in the Journey to the West drama adaption back in 1986; when the four kings were tasked to capture the Monkey King, Sun Wukong.
32-armed Bodhisattva!
Hand-written couplets for sale i presume. Luckily i am not into things like that; if not, there would be tons of things i could have brought back to Singapore from China.
Mahavira Hall (大雄宝殿); the main hall for any Buddhist temple and the one that's most important and attracts the most devotees. You may read about it here.
Reason for its importance; the placement of Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism. It's interesting that while Buddhism teaches us about merits and karma; many people pray to the various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas for wealth, safety etc, when it honestly doesn't matter according to its doctrine.
The practice continues though as Chinese like us in Singapore, believe in what-ifs and there's honestly no harm in praying for ease of mind (which i kind of agree).
View from outside the Mahavira Hall.
Statues of the renowned eighteen arhats said to be the original followers of Gautama Buddha although number differs from 10 to 16 and 18 (2 were added during the Later Tang dynasty period).
Sermon had started; as i don't understand the scriptures (told you i am not devout), i wouldn't have stayed longer to listen to it. Better to spend my time elsewhere.
In terms of enlightenment, this doggy has a better chance than i do! It was paying attention and appeared to be part of its daily routine!
I love roaming around the compounds of temples as you could chance upon something that could be thought provoking. In Singapore, it's common to have temples with mixes of both Buddhism and Taoism.
Guess it's the same in China too; there's a god of fortune in Hongfu Temple! While belonging to Taosim, it's said that the "Pure Land Buddhists venerate him as a buddha". p.s. while there's a center god of fortune (wealth), he's assisted by eight other directional gods.
The legendary shake the money tree (摇钱树)! Well, it doesn't count if you can't shake it to get the money to drop from the tree it's named after!
Kid looking at the water of a boulder bowl; it's an activity i like to do when i was a kid and wouldn't mind doing now that i am an adult inching towards the big 4 zero.
Make a wish and throw a coin into the water; praying extremely hard it would drop into the bowls inside which signifies that your wish would come true! It's not easy but again, no harm trying right?
Blossoming flowers! I love visiting China in spring!
A statue of a Bodhisattva in a picturesque garden.
Arhat Hall - i was all ready to step in to shoot photos but was told off by a lady at the entrance that photo taking is disallowed. Okay fine, i meekly kept my iPhone away under her suspicious eyes.
The risk of getting caught by her didn't stop me from whipping out the phone shortly after to take the above pictures! The place was clean and filled with hundreds of luohans; the other time i saw so many was at the 500 Luohan Temple [五百罗汉庙] on Bintan Island [Indonesia].
The above mentioned a way for you to choose an arhat and then count in accordance to your age. Once you have reached the arhat that corresponded with your age, take note of his number and then go to the temple's entrance for a luohan card (cost RMB 3.00 each).
Sunlight and smoke from the lighted incense sticks resulted in the picture above!
We had walked a loop and back to the entrance! See that entry point in the middle of the photograph? That's where we enter. An entry fee is RMB 2.00 was required although you can walk it from the other entrance (near the god of wealth temple) where there's no one around to collect the admission fees.
Remember this nine-dragon screen? In addition to being an aesthetic component for the temple, there's a wish-granting legend! Click here for the details!
Last shot taken before we climbed down the mountain!
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Address
No 187, 枣山路,
Yunyan, Guiyang,
Guizhou, China
Admission Fee
RMB 2.00 - Per Person
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