perfectly clear sky
crispy clean air
after the rain
I like the fact that
they didn’t really touch up
with thick acrylic-like paints
everything is just fine as it is
Contrasting Jing An Temple 靜安寺
where you find elements of fusion
Long Hua Temple is a classic Chinese
from architecture, layout, to the
fine crafting of statutes
classic Chinese roof
this is the most “town-hall” version
I have ever seen
yet the crafting isn’t compromised at all
the statues of
Gautama Buddha and
the two Bodhisattvas,
Manjusri & Samantabhadra
釋迦三聖：釋迦牟尼佛、文殊菩薩、普賢菩薩
I think the golden colour is not
gold colour paint but
coated with pure gold which
is pasted on inch by inch from
the “gold-paper”
because the glow is glowing
the spiral roof is known as Zao Jing 澡井
the other side of the hall
reveal a greater surprise
Guan Yin 觀音 and the deities
I must say that these are not really
Buddhism, per say
but more of Chinese mythology
since (almost) everyone pray to Guan Yin
(especially) when they are in need
these deities who have their
respective roles to play in
the administrative government of heaven
they assist Guan Yin in solving problems
which are told by the people, like us
Three Sages of the Pure Land 西方三圣
Amitabha 阿彌陀佛 (centre)
Mahasthamaprapta 大勢至
Avalokitesvara 觀世音
who take care of the heaven where
the good people are supposed to go
that’s in a Buddhism’s perspective
different from the one illustrated above
Avalokitesvara 觀世音
I know this will be kinda confusing
but the Guan Yin belief is also
merged into the Buddhism concept of
Three Sages, as Guan Yin is Avalokitesvara
well.. this integration and blending
made it easier for the Chinese to
accept Buddhism, maybe?
because Guan Yin is what the Chinese
have faith in for a long time
down the history
so there’s another hall
dedicated to Her
the Thousand Faces of Guan Yin 千手觀音
33 Manifestations of Guan Yin
觀音33相
this is Guan Zi Zai 觀自在
which represents a mentality of
being Free
as portrayed by the statue
it’s somehow easy to identify Her
out of her 32 other counterparts
and the other one who is easy to identify
and being really popular is
Child-endowing Guan Yin 送子觀音
who is always holding a little baby
really cheeky pair of Lion parents
this is exactly how I felt
about spending a Sunday morning
here at Long Hua Temple
and by the way
the Lo Yan noodle is real good
awwh.. especially after a long missed
pure veggies meal
How to get here:
Metro Line 11 (Maroon)
Long Hua 龍華 station