Huayan Temple 華巖寺

(Main entrance to the Huayan Temple compound.)

(The main attraction of this temple is the 16 meter high golden Buddha.)

(Carvings on the base of the Buddha [佛 fo2 Buddha].)

(Posing awkwardly in front of the massive Buddha.)

(Path to the rest of the temple compound.)

(Gate to a smaller temple within the Huayan Temple compound.)

(Candles used for lighting incense. People buy them and then stick them on a bar over a vat of cold water for people to use to light their incense.)

(Incense holder.)

(The inner courtyard of the smaller temple.)

(I don't know what the purpose of these towers are. They were in front of the gate to Chongqing's Buddhist School located on the temple grounds.)

(Outer hallway of the Buddhist school. Those aren't monks there, they are nuns. They laughed a lot and looked really happy. One had a cellphone.)

(Gate to leave the temple.)

(A picture of a poster, to give you an idea what the temple looks like from the air.)

(I took this picture when trying to find a bus after leaving the temple. The area outside the temple was really industrious, noisy, full of huge trucks, and dusty.)

Yesterday Ben, James Spencer-Owen, and I decided that our weekly adventure should be going to see a large golden Buddha. This golden Buddha is considered to be one of Chongqing's "tourist areas" as the ten yuan ticket proudly displays. The temple grounds were quite peaceful apart from the infrequent tour groups that were lead by women with high-volume microphones. I was more amazed by all the green around the temple and less by the giant Buddha. In Chongqing one seldom sees a very green park. Or many healthy looking trees for that matter.

The journey to and from Huayan Temple was another story. We took a taxi there, I was sure we were to die of asphyxiation from all the exhaust that the heavy-industry trucks were releasing. The air was also very dusty from all these trucks and traffic. On the way back most of the main roads were clogged with these same colossal trucks. We had to walk quite a ways before we came to an opening in the road and jumped onto a bus heading back to our district.

One thing that is a let down for temples (Ben pointed this out) is they lack any information telling you what it is you are looking at. What is this alter for? Who does this statue represent? etc. However that doesn't make it boring. Just a lot of guess work and assuming. Sometimes we consult wikipedia afterwords. Or I try to ask a temple-visitor what the painting of the jumping naked monk is for.

At one point we almost got lost within the confines of the temple. Ben accidentally walked through a door that lead to the nun's dormitories. A nun with a broom froze in mid-sweep at the gate as she watched Ben casually walk on in. Next to the gate there is a sign in Chinese that forbids men from entering. Whoops! Good thing I could read the sign otherwise I may have wandered in myself.

The nuns wore different colored robes than the monks. Nuns wear yellow-orange, while the monks wear black-coffee colored robes. I passed through the Chongqing Buddhist School and saw several young nuns chatting, smiling, and a few making phone calls on their cellphones. A sight I didn't expect to see in a temple! But then again I don't know much about them.