Day 2 - January 27th, 2011
After every hundred steps we would come onto a temple - sometimes they were simple, humble little enclaves within yellow walls; other times more extravagant, big wooden structures with pointed roofs, statues of Chinese dragons, colorful red and turquoise ornaments, with towering incense burners on the outside...
Visiting the insides of these temples was also awe-inspiring. There was always a golden centerpiece in front of the entrance—usually either Dizhang or a Buddha.
After the Teng Dynasty, most Chinese Buddhist temples honored the Chinese interpretation, also known as, 'future Buddha' in Indian Buddhism. This is the Buddha I think we are all most familiar with in the West: a smiling face (happiness), long ear lobes (signifying longevity and long life, since the earlobes are the only part of the human body that never stops growing), and a big, fat belly (signifying prosperity). If you rub it, it brings you good luck!
The Buddha statue is almost always accompanied by a statue of the 'defender of Buddhism' (a scary guy with a sword), and by a series of 'Buddhist saints' - monks that held an important place in the history of Buddhism, but didn't quite make it to Nirvana.
-Seb
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