(1) Next to Puning Temple in Chengde is Puyou Temple. (Entrance is actually through Puning, but I will present it as if entered from the front.) This is the "Mountain Gate."
(2) These gentlemen are Generals Heng and Ha, who, as at many temples, live inside the Mountain Gate. Ancestors of Japan's "Ni-O," there's a lot to say about them (and I have, elsewhere), but mostly I wanted to give them special honors because there just isn't much else to see at Puyou Temple.
(3) This area is labeled "Grand Hall." In fact, it's not a hall at all, just three statuary platforms covered by temporary shelters. Some might be disappointed, but not me: Sometimes I'd rather see a few old crumbling stones than some slick reproductions. Note Puning's Guanyin Hall in the background; Puyou was built as a school for the study of sutras, and served monks from Puning and the other Eight Outside Temples.
(4) The "Dharma Wheel Hall," too, has gone missing. In fact, the temple goes like this: Mountain Gate, check; east and west halls and Grand Hall of first courtyard, missing; Four Kings Hall, check (but with only two of the six usual statues); east and west halls in second compound, check; Main Hall in second compound, missing. A dismal score.
(5) Here are some of the 175 arhats that occupy the side halls in the second compound (90 on one side, 85 on the other). "175?" you say. "That's an odd number." True; there are usually 16, 18, or 500. Well, there were 500 in this collection, but there have been, ah, vicissitudes. Frankly, these guys weren't that impressive as arhats go.
(6) These guys were sitting in the corner of one of the halls; their "eyes hadn't been opened" yet, so they wait under wraps. I have no idea where they'll put them, as the few halls there are are fully "staffed."
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Last Updated August 6, 2019
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