The House Taoist Temple - Yangzhou, China - March 11th, 2012

During the adventure around the Old District, Randy and I would stumble upon an old house that had been converted into a Temple. I can't remember the man who owned the house years ago, but the House Temple itself is what really stands out. I believe it was a Taoist Temple, which I will explain more later in the entry.

The Temple was very much a mixture of Taoism and Buddhism. Upon the wall of the entrance was the Taoist symbol of the Yin and Yang, as well as the colors of Taoism...being orange and yellow. Most of the statues were bearded and men as well, which leads me to believe if it wasn't an outright Taoist Temple than it was the main influence of the place. Usually the only bearded Buddhist Bodhisattvas that are seen are of the Three Kingdoms warrior Guan Yu or local honored heroes...which may have been a part of the Temple considering the overlap between Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism here in China. I think it is more likely to be a Temple to the Immortals though, since all the men had very long beards which is a Taoist Temple trait.

There was an area for candles and where incense could be placed where the incense had burned down (you'll find this in any Temple in China be it Taoist, Buddhist or Confucian)and there were only two buildings. The first with the bearded deity at the entrance and at the back a large building where there were three different deities, all bearded men.

The Temple was small and had no entrance fee...it really hit back the better part of religion in serving the common good and community. It was here I saw it being practiced when a middle aged women came with incense to honor one of the deities. The abbot or monk present (bearded, another reason for why it might have been a Taoist Temple, Buddhist Monks don't have facial hair). The monk was pretty impatient though when helping the woman which gave a bit of a bad vibe since so much of Taoism is balance (it's like seeing an angry Buddhist Monk, though Taoists are much more comfortable with emotions and the randomness of them in my reading of the texts (Tao Te Qing, Writings of Chuang Tzu). His actions towards her where in contrast to the place which had older folks walking through it who were at peace as outside people bought tourist items and food. It was like an Oasis in a desert and I don't think I'll forget the visit to that tiny Temple anytime soon.

Lotus Temple and Slender West Lake - Yangzhou, China - March 10th, 2012

Last weekend Randy and I went to Yangzhou together. Yangzhou is one of the famous cities in Jiangsu Province and dates back 2000 years. We would see things from tombstones to gates that dated back to the Song Dynasty. I'll reach those areas when I come them...first I want to talk about the visit the Slender West Lake where the Lotus Temple was located.

First I want to talk about Slender West Lake or Shou Xi Hu in Chinese. It's a very beautiful location and is modeled after the West Lake in Hangzhou, which I visited last year when I was studying abroad in Hangzhou.

This lake is much easier to take in though since it is in a large park. The Original West Lake is enormous and is a major part of the city versus the Slender West Lake which is a tourist attraction/park with an entrance fee.

The fee was very worth it though. Throughout the entire length of the area was an assortment of locations to relax, to explore and to reflect. Exploration could be seen by folks who had rented electric boats to tour the lake to get the islands on it, and there were many paths that branched off to different areas...one could spend an entire day here.

Arrival at Lotus Temple
It was following one of these paths that Randy and I arrived at Lotus Temple. Lotus Temple is next to the White Pagoda which looks more phallic than most Pagodas, but is quite lovely with it's coloring of white and gold. It was from this area that we entered through the back of the Temple.

The Temple was peaceful and much emptier than Daming Temple, the large Temple Yangzhou that brings the tour busses...and because of it still had that naturalness to the place. Natural in that there was only one stand selling spiritual items connected to the Temple. It wasn't trying to be anything more then a place where people could come and worship. Not many people were though, so it was quite empty.

Along the walls were beautiful paintings of the life of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas and large Guan Yin's(The Goddess/Bodhisattva of Compassion) and Buddhas were in the main hall and at the back walls, much like Statues of Marys or Saints in a Cathedral. The similarities between Chinese Buddhism and Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity will be an ongoing theme you will find, since there are many even in the simple things like aesthetics and placement of objects representing "higher beings." I'll go into this more later in the next post about Daming Temple.
For now, Lotus Temple was a rest in a very interesting exploration of the Lake. The Temple has been around for a long time, like many of the sites would see, and with it, I've found in modern day China there is that awareness of the past that there isn't as much in America.


To reach Daming Temple we would follow the West Lake all the way to its back entrance. It was wonderful seeing the change in landscape and the amount of people became less and less until we saw only an old man with his young granddaughter. The old are very close with the young here in China. Any place you go, you will usually find a Grandma or Grandfather with their granddaughter or grandson. Something much rarer in the States to see.

We would eventually lose site of the Grandfather and his granddaughter and arrive at the gate. Across the street we saw the Nine storied Qiling Pagoda and Daming Temple, the next adventure awaited.