Episode 2, Temple of 10,000 Gold Buddhas (jan 12, 05)

So I went to the nearby Temple of Ten Thousand Gold Buddhas. It's really amazing, let me rephrase that, it's just about the most amazing thing I've ever seen. They were having some big monk convention there so it was supposed to be closed to the public but the girl I was with snuck us in a side gate, we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. You'll see in the picture there is almost no one there which apparently is an exceptionally rare treat. We actually attended the prayer service and by the end of it I was in tears. It was so beautifull, so much faith in that room full of peasants praying under the eyes of 10,000 gold buddhas.
THe big tower in the photo is well over a thousand years old (as are the obelisks) and was built over the ashes of an incarnate Buddha himself. I don't know if you can see in the photo but there are thousands of bells around every turret all in different tones chiming in the wind. I put some incense in the altar and ran around the tower three times with a wish in my heart, it should come true as long as my wish was completely honest. I won't tell you what I wished for, not a Chinese rule, just good old western superstition! The Foo dogs guarding the gate are actually lions, maybe I'm an idiot, but I never knew that Foo dogs were supposed to be lions. Anyway, these were about ten feet tall. You can see the notice taped to the main gate in red paper saying that the temple is closed in that picture.
Also, I did not snap the photo in the prayer room, that was taken by the CHinese that brought me there. Though is seemed sacriligious and disrespectfull to me to even go in there, it really was OK. THere were devout chinese people wondering around with video cameras during the whole thing and no-one seemed to mind. I wonder how many home movies include a big funny looking white guy getting all choked up for no apparent reason? Overall it was a really awesome experience, and I think I'm going to be quite a temple hound for the next few months, they are all over this region. Hope you are all doing well,


"Lead, kindly Light, lead Thou me on; for the night is dark, and I am far from home"




Aaron Rasch
Shijiazhuang