(This account from my journal for August 20, 2009, is adapted from an article in the Shenzhen Daily over two years later; a much longer account of this day, with lots more pictures and LOTS more words, was offered in Episode 056.)
The day after my return from Hangzhou, I went to Putuoshan, one of the "Four Buddhist Mountains" of China. (The others are Wutaishan in Shanxi, Jiuhuashan in Anhui, and--theonly one I haven't been to--Emeishan in Sichuan.
Travelers' Note:
The best way to get to Putuo Shan is by direct bus from central Ningbo, by bridge to Zhoushan Island and then to the short ferry to Putuo Shan's island. As I was staying in Beilun, far from the center of Ningbo, I took a taxi to Beilun port, then a l-o-o-ng local bus ride along Zhoushan before reaching the final ferry.
Landing on the island, I caught a shuttle bus to the Purple Bamboo Hotel, where I checked in before taking an evening walk up to the area around Puji Temple. Outside the gates of the temple I saw the beautiful Duobao ("Plentiful Treasure") Pagoda, the oldest building on the island, dating back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). However, I wouldn't enter the temple grounds until two days later perhaps Episode 118?).
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The next morning I headed for the 33-meter-tall Nanhai Guanyin, built in 1998. Each of the Buddhist mountains belongs to a Bodhisattva (a kind of Buddhist "saint"), and Putuoshan is Guanyin's. As the bodhisattva of compassion, he (sometimes she) is one of the most popular in China.
Near the huge modern statue are some older locations.
The Xifang Jingyuan is a small temple which guards access to "Guanyin's Leap," a "footprint" in a stone (on top, where we can't see it). This is where Guanyin is said to have landed after leaping from Luojia Shan, a small island about three miles away, where she had been undergoing Buddhist practices.
Also nearby, Bukenqu Guanyin Temple was first built when a Japanese monk tried to take a statue of Guanyin from Mt. Wutai to Japan back in 916. As storms kept driving him back to Putuo, he realized that the statue "refused to leave" (the meaning of Bukenqu), and so he built a temple and stayed. Numerous temples (and statues) have replaced the originals throughout history; what we see today was built in 1998. The temple has a fine set of modern Japanese statues of the thirty-three appearances of Guanyin
Just below the temple is the Chaoyin Dong, or "Cave of Tidal Sounds," which makes quite a roar when waves crash into it.
A stele near the cave announces that we are prohibited from burning our fingers at the cave. What?!
You see, in 847 an Indian monk came here and--to prove his sincerity--lit his fingers on fire as he invoked Guanyin, and she appeared. This seems to have started some kind of fad, with people burning fingers and other parts (limbs and whatnot) until finally in 1595 a local Ming governor had to put up the sign, which remains (with repairs after the Cultural Revolution) to this day.
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And that's that. Until next time, may you and your loved ones and all sentient beings be well and happy.
Adios, Amigos!
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