(1) Getting there was not that fun: I got to Xuefeng by taking a bus to a bus station, and then a two-hour mini-bus ride, over half of which was on a windy mountain road. Unlike yesterday's temple, Chongsheng Si is s-p-a-c-i-o-u-s. I got off the bus right in front of a gateway, and when I stepped through, I saw this mini-lake-sized pond in front of the Mountain Gate.
(2) And here's the amount of space between the gate and the Heavenly Kings Hall.
(3) And from the Heavenly Kings Hall to the main hall. Huge!
(4) Compare the size of these ponds, immediately behind the Heavenly Kings Hall, to the ones yesterday. (This, too, seems a "regional trait": square ponds in the main courtyard.)
(5) There is a statue of Dizang, the bodhisattva who saves all beings from the six hells, in the Nirvana Hall. That's not surprising. What was surprising was the wall of photos of this temple's deceased monks and patriarchs behind the statue's cabinet.
(6) This is a typical "merit" hall, containing tablets bearing the posthumous names of deceased loved ones. Unusual to see Guanyin here, but I guess Dizang was busy in the Nirvana Hall.
(7) To the left of the main compound (as you face the main gate) there are some open fields where vegetables are grown. This is the view looking back toward the main temple grounds.
(8) Behind me in the last shot was a compound with a Jade Buddha Hall. As I left it, I noticed the firewood stacked by the gate. The village here is called "Xuefeng" (Snow Peak); it's around 3000 feet high (the documents say "one kilometer"), and a guy on the bus ride back told me it usually snows in December, sometimes sticking until February.
(9) This "pagoda" resembling a bell marks the remains of Xuefeng Yicun, a Chan (Zen) master two of whose disciples (Yunmen Wenyan and Fayen Wenyi) founded two of the five major sects of Zen (called Yunmen and Fayen after them). I said my devotions here.
(10) Here is the same "pagoda" in a painting as it might have looked years ago. I prefer this to the concrete box it's in now--and the pavilion really detracts, though I recognize it's necessary, especially in snow country.
(11) The ceiling of the pavilion protecting the pagoda reminds me of the one in the Dizang Hall I saw yesterday.
(12) These little statues in the "Fatang" (Dharma Hall) intrigued me. I took lots of close-ups so I can figure out who they are. There are 37, so I suspect it's a mixed group; anyway, they're ranged in front of a statue of the Great Sun Buddha, my personal Buddha.
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Last Updated August 7, 2019
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