Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Wild Goose Pagoda # 2

In the previous post we saw a few places in the Wild goose Pagoda. Here are the rest of the places.....

We were told that the entrance to this hall leads to the Monastery where students are taken in to learn Buddhism.This Buddha looks a lot different from the other Buddha statue- looks like he is in penance..We were not allowed to enter into this hall. Hence clicked from outside.

The Avalokiteshvara Hall

Avalokiteshvara or Guan Yin, one of the four Chinese Bodhi SattVas, is well known for her mercy and Kindness, who is the embodiment of truth, good and beauty. She has received the worship of all teh people and has become a ever lasting culture of believing in Avalokiteshvara.

Guan Shi Yin  is the full name of Guan Yin, also called Guan Zi Zai, Guan Shi Zi Zhai and Avalokiteshvara is her name in Sanskrit which means carrying the sufferings of all flesh in earth.

Guan Shi Yin is are the words chanted by the great wise Anasrava Bodhisatva when he saw the sufferings of all flesh on the Earth.
The Lotus Sutra- The universal door of Avalokitesvara Boshisatva tells teh reason why Guan Shi Yin got the name. It says the Buddha told infinite resolve Bodhisatva if people who suffered a lot called the name of Guan Shi Yin , she would come to help them relieve. It can be seen that Guan Shi Yin is the embodiment of great mercy of Bodhisatva to the people on Earth.



That's MIL, P and one of hubby's colleague in the Avalokiteshvara Hall

Way to another part of the monastery.

The next stop was the Xuanzang Tripataka Temple...

Xuanzang Tripataka Temple was built to commemorate Xuanzang's great achievement , which consists of which consists of three parts: Bright Hall, Perfect enlightenment Hall, BoRe hall, which are the display of Xuanzang's great achievement in life.
The hall name Bright hall shows Xuanzangs birth, pravrajana, determination to the west for Buddhist Sutra, his sufferings during the travel and finally becoming a well known dignitary.

Rabbi Xuanzang [960 - 664] , was born in Weishi, Henan Louzhou. His family name was Chen and his given name was Wei.When he was 13 years old, he became a monk and when he was 29 years old, he went to the west for buddhist Sutra and finally he came back at the age of 46.

Here are some clicks taken in this temple...



A portion of the roof - exquisite isn't it!!!!


A part of the sculpture on the wall....


A section of the paining that shows Zuanxangs's journey...


The Wild Goose Pagoda...


The Wild Goose Pagoda taken clicked from the courtyard


Taken from another angle...


We did not climb the pagoda. Instead we went to the souvenir shop and walked around the courtyard and the gardens....


One of the paintings that was on sale....

 Inside the shop. You can shop for artifacts. There are statues, paintings, jade jewellery and books on sale here.
This one is situated within the courtyard and not the one found at the entrance....


The staffs here give you a card stamped with the Zodiac symbol corresponding to your year of birth. All of us got one..

We came outside to wander in the garden.. Look how serene the place looks....


The statue of a Golden Buddha


A Bodhisattva in the Temple Gardens


Some of the Stupas...


The huge bell at the entrance to the Pagoda...


Even the table and chairs near a refreshment bar is artistically sculpted!!!

We spent nearly 2 hours at this place and I felt we could have spent a lot more time here visiting the other places that we had missed. But our guide assured us that we had seen all the important halls here..

As we left the Wild Goose pagoda, I clicked this snap of Hubby standing near the statue of Xuanzang and the Pagoda visible in the background...


The time was around 4pm and Kelly, our guide,wanted to take us to another historical site that was just a  a few minutes travel the Wild Goose Pagoda...

So see you all in the next post where we shall be visiting  the Emperors tomb...

 Take care until then...


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