Touring Temples

This cough/sore throat is really starting to get to me. When my roommates got up, I didn’t feel well at all so I decided to stay in bed. The maid actually came in to reset the room (which didn’t bother me, but I clearly bothered her) and apologized profusely for waking me. I was prepared to just sleep through her cleaning, but she left come back later.

When I did get up, I decided I would go tour some temples today. The only “touristy” thing left in Beijing that I hadn’t seen was Lama Temple, which is of the yellow Buddhist denomination of Tibetan Buddhism. Just across the Hutong from it is a Confucian Temple, and then back by Beihai lake is a Taoist Temple, I figured I’d hit the three big Chinese religions and call it a day.

I picked up some water and walked to the subway listening to music. I read on one of the travel blogs that I’ve been following that if you listen to music while traveling alone, It can really help keep your mood up so you don’t get lonely. Which is helpful, because I realized that yesterday, I barely spoke to anyone. I think the only conversation I had was figure out how the headset worked. Even so, my voice has been inactive for about 24 hours. I wouldn’t say it gets lonely, so much as…hmm, I don’t know the right word. Lonely sounds boring and kind of sad to me. It definitely isn’t either of those things. It just sort of becomes…its nothing bad…it just kind of is bland. I mean I laugh at all my jokes, and think some brilliant deep thoughts…but I don’t know. I like traveling alone and going at my own pace, but sometimes a conversation or two would be nice.

When I came out of the Subway station at Lama Temple, I had one of those moments where I was staring at the map and trying to figure out where I was, but I didn’t realize the temple was literally right behind me (as in, I was standing in the entryway, looking down at the map, facing the wrong way.)

But doing so let me find a Costa Coffee. I don’t know if these exist in America but they did in Prague, so I went over to enjoy a Panini and Mango Smoothie for breakfast.

The temple was really, really cool. It was built during the Qing Dynasty as a palace for one of the princes. Because of this, it basically resembles the Summer Palace in architecture and Suzhou style painting. Construction was complete around the late 1600’s early 1700’s, but it was only used as a residence for a short time before it was given to the Tibetan Buddhists. I found perspective when in one dark, incense filled room I was staring at a golden Buddha draped in yellow silky robes. As a single beam of light shown down through the prayer flags and onto the face of the statue, I realized, people have been praying here longer than the United States has been a country.

I was also struck by all the different Buddhas in the Temple. They were all cast of golden metal, with red lips and blue hair pulled back in a bun. Most of them were more skinny in appearance than the stereotype Americans think of, and they were all cloaked in yellow silk robes (since this temple was part of the temple.)

I’ve seen a lot of Buddhas now in Asia. Today, I realized that for billions of people, this kind of androgynous face is how they view the face of God. While there are many different Buddhas—for the many different incarnations and strengths of Buddha—all of them are very joyful and happy.

Today I also saw the biggest Buddha I have yet seen. In the final halls I visited, he was standing in full armor and looked ready for battle. Each of his toes was width of a twin mattress and he must have been at least 10 stories tall. In sort of a David and Goliath moment, I stood awestruck at this magnificent statue.

This temple felt very spiritual. Maybe it was all the incense burning, or the fact that the lights were off in most of the hall so that only flashes of sunlight crept in to light up the statues and murals, but there was something so mystical about being here. I prayed several prayers while walking the sacred halls and I know that my God must have heard them.

The only part that didn’t feel spiritual were some of the side rooms. They would also have altars to statues, but some of these statues resembled demons and monsters more than anything. Aside from two giant dog like creatures that looked ready to play fetch, most of them were very disturbing.

I think an important note (and I made this in one of my earlier posts about Japan, but it may have been lost) is that Buddhism very much takes on the culture of the culture. For example, in Japan, where Shintoism was already a religion prior to the arrival of Buddhism, there is definite influence of Shintoism on Buddhism. In China, Ancestoral Worship was (and is) the largest reglieon) but it has influenced the practice of Buddhism as well.

Outside of these side halls were giant prayer wheels. I learned that you spin a prayer wheel by using both hands to gently move it clockwise. While I couldn’t read any of the prayers on the wheel. I found it very hypnotizing and soothing to pray in this way.

When I left Lama Temple, I crossed the street over to the Confucian Temple. Confucianism is from China and had been much more influential on Chinese society than Buddhism. In fact there is a “joke” about the three main religions in China that sort of explains the differences between them:

Loa Zi (the founder of Taoism), Confucius (the founder of Confucianism), and Buddha (the Buddhism guy) are making pickles. When Confucius tastes a pickle he says, “it is too bitter, we must find a better pickle recipe.” Buddha tastes the pickle and sayd, “It is bitter, but the only way to get rid of the bitterness is to stop desiring pickles.” Lao Zi tastes a pickle and says., “it is bitter, but that is how nature intended it to be.”

Thus, the primary differences between the religion are that Confucianism believes there is a universal truth and that behavior that follows this truth will be the most rewarding way to live; Buddhism believes that happiness can only be achieved by eliminating desire from your life; Taoism believes that everything in the world happens according to patterns in nature, and therefore happiness comes from accepting circumstances as they are.

The Confucian Temple didn’t look that different from the Buddhist Temple. There was a statue of Confucius at the entryway. The main worship room—where the Emperor would come to pray—was pretty much empty, except for a few statues and relics. The architecture again looked just like the Summer Palace.

It wasn’t until I went into one of the side rooms that I got a better understanding of what was going on. There was an exhibit on the life of Confucius which happened to be in English. It’s actually a pretty cool story, certainly infused with a bit of mythology, but beautiful and inspiring none-the-less.

Confucius had an ancestor that had been a noble man. At some point, he did something and was disgraced and barred from elite social ciricles. Confucius’s father was a warrior and somewhat of a Herculean legend. There are stories that during one battle, he held open the city gate on his shoulders so that the peasants could escape.

Originally his mother was barren. Ancestor worship and heaven worship were the only religions at the time. Confucius’ parents would pray for a child on a hill. One day, his mother felt a kick and realized she was pregnant. They named the child Confuzi, which I gather means something about a hill.

Because of his great-great-great-etc. grandfather’s noble past, Confuzi was allowed to attend school. The other children in his village were not because they were peasants and education was retained only for royals and noblemen. When Confuzi finished school, he began teaching outside on hillsides. He believed that all people should have access to education, and that each should be taught according to his own learning ability. Eventually, Confuzi opened the first private school which was for commoners to attend.

Confuzi had some “discoples” that followed him and studied with him as he traveled and taught. He would focus his lessons on ceremonies, music, archery, chariot driving, literature, and mathematics as he believed these skills were necessary for being well rounded ( ceremonies and music taught culture, archery and chariot driving taught fitness, and math and reading taught intellect.)

Eventually Confuzi became minister for the king of Liu (this was before China was united so it was just a bunch of neighboring kingdoms.) Confuzi was a brilliant political figure, believing in democracy and separation of church and state long before the west adopted such concepts. He passed the first laws the prohibited stealing and cheating. Unfortunately, his governorship came to an end when his king was set up in a sex scandal by a neighboring king.

Confuzi traveled to other kingdoms to look for work, but many kings rejected his ideas of virtue and honesty in leadership. They believed that kindness would make them weak so he continued to travel, gaining many followers who supported his ideas. After 14 years of traveling he returned to Liu. He decided to dedicate the rest of his life to interpreting and translating historical texts. He put his disciples to work and spent the remainder of his days translating. He eventually died at age 76 busy at work. His disciples recorded many of his lessons and teachings.

Confucius’ influence definitely permeates society. His pursuit of truth, tireless work ethic, division of spears of government are all still evident in China today.

I really wanted to see the Taoist Temple too, but this cough I’ve developed was driving me crazy. I considered trying to find a pharmacy or maybe even going to a doctor, but when I got inside air conditioning and started drinking water, I realized the heat was probably most of the problem. I decided to go back to the hotel, take a shower, and take a nap.