Wild Goose Pagoda # 2

In the previous post we saw a few places in the Wild goose Pagoda. Here are the rest of the places.....

We were told that the entrance to this hall leads to the Monastery where students are taken in to learn Buddhism.This Buddha looks a lot different from the other Buddha statue- looks like he is in penance..We were not allowed to enter into this hall. Hence clicked from outside.

The Avalokiteshvara Hall

Avalokiteshvara or Guan Yin, one of the four Chinese Bodhi SattVas, is well known for her mercy and Kindness, who is the embodiment of truth, good and beauty. She has received the worship of all teh people and has become a ever lasting culture of believing in Avalokiteshvara.

Guan Shi Yin  is the full name of Guan Yin, also called Guan Zi Zai, Guan Shi Zi Zhai and Avalokiteshvara is her name in Sanskrit which means carrying the sufferings of all flesh in earth.

Guan Shi Yin is are the words chanted by the great wise Anasrava Bodhisatva when he saw the sufferings of all flesh on the Earth.

The Lotus Sutra- The universal door of Avalokitesvara Boshisatva tells teh reason why Guan Shi Yin got the name. It says the Buddha told infinite resolve Bodhisatva if people who suffered a lot called the name of Guan Shi Yin , she would come to help them relieve. It can be seen that Guan Shi Yin is the embodiment of great mercy of Bodhisatva to the people on Earth.

That's MIL, P and one of hubby's colleague in the Avalokiteshvara Hall

Way to another part of the monastery.

The next stop was the Xuanzang Tripataka Temple...

Xuanzang Tripataka Temple was built to commemorate Xuanzang's great achievement , which consists of which consists of three parts: Bright Hall, Perfect enlightenment Hall, BoRe hall, which are the display of Xuanzang's great achievement in life.

The hall name Bright hall shows Xuanzangs birth, pravrajana, determination to the west for Buddhist Sutra, his sufferings during the travel and finally becoming a well known dignitary.

Rabbi Xuanzang [960 - 664] , was born in Weishi, Henan Louzhou. His family name was Chen and his given name was Wei.When he was 13 years old, he became a monk and when he was 29 years old, he went to the west for buddhist Sutra and finally he came back at the age of 46.

Here are some clicks taken in this temple...

A portion of the roof - exquisite isn't it!!!!

A part of the sculpture on the wall....

A section of the paining that shows Zuanxangs's journey...

The Wild Goose Pagoda...

The Wild Goose Pagoda taken clicked from the courtyard

Taken from another angle...

We did not climb the pagoda. Instead we went to the souvenir shop and walked around the courtyard and the gardens....

One of the paintings that was on sale....

 Inside the shop. You can shop for artifacts. There are statues, paintings, jade jewellery and books on sale here.

This one is situated within the courtyard and not the one found at the entrance....

The staffs here give you a card stamped with the Zodiac symbol corresponding to your year of birth. All of us got one..

We came outside to wander in the garden.. Look how serene the place looks....

The statue of a Golden Buddha

A Bodhisattva in the Temple Gardens

Some of the Stupas...

The huge bell at the entrance to the Pagoda...

Even the table and chairs near a refreshment bar is artistically sculpted!!!

We spent nearly 2 hours at this place and I felt we could have spent a lot more time here visiting the other places that we had missed. But our guide assured us that we had seen all the important halls here..

As we left the Wild Goose pagoda, I clicked this snap of Hubby standing near the statue of Xuanzang and the Pagoda visible in the background...

The time was around 4pm and Kelly, our guide,wanted to take us to another historical site that was just a  a few minutes travel the Wild Goose Pagoda...

So see you all in the next post where we shall be visiting  the Emperors tomb...

 Take care until then...

Wild Goose Pagoda #1

An Impromptu trip took us to the ancient city of Xian a couple of years ago.After a scrumptious lunch at the Indian restaurant, we visited the first location for the day - The Wild Goose Pagoda......

It was raining all throughout journey and even till we were having lunch. Luckily once we stepped out of the restaurant, the sky kind of cleared a bit and the rain stopped so that we could enjoy the noon sight seeing....

So lets starts with the Wild Goose Pagoda.A little history before we proceed....

 This Pagoda is situated in Southern Xi'an,China. It was built in the year 652 AD during the Tang Dynasty. It was built to collect and store the Buddhist relics and other materials brought from India by the Monk Xuanzang. It is interesting to note that the Sanskrit Sutras were translated into Chinese in those days itself!!!

The pagoda's original height was 54 meters but due to several natural calamities the size reduced and was and was extensively repaired by the Ming Dynasty.The Pagoda now stands to a  height of 64 meters. The whole city of Xi'an can be viewed from the top of the Pagoda..

There is a legend behind the name of this Pagoda.It goes like this...

There are 2 sects of Buddhist monks. One is vegetarian and the other is a meat eating group. One day the meat eating monks could not find meat and they prayed to Buddha to provide them with some food. Immediately, the head bird of the wild goose flock that was flying above broke its wing and fell down. The monks were so startled and believed that Buddha was trying to tell them to be more pious. So they vowed to stop eating meat and built this Pagoda where the goose had fallen!!!

This is also called the 'Big Wild Goose pagoda' or the Da Yan Ta and is not to be mistaken with another pagoda called ' Small wild goose Pagoda'.

You have to pay a fee to enter the premises and a separate fee to climb up the Pagoda. It is open from 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening. We were told that there is a light and sound show in the courtyard at night but not sure about the timings....

Now for the tour...


A small tower in the Da Ci'en Temple courtyard before entering into the Pagoda area. There are two of these facing each other. One is the drum tower and the other is the bell tower....

The Pagoda as seen from the courtyard...

Exquisite carving on the steps leading to the entrance of the Pagoda 

At the entrance is a board that  tells us"What can be seen in the Pagoda"

A souvenir shop right at the entrance. We told ourselves this had to wait till we finished seeing all the places inside.....

We visited the various halls in the monastery which are present around the pagoda.At the entrance to each hall in the monastery,there are boards describing the nature of the exhibits and their detailed history. This one is from the board at the entrance of the Hall of Sakyamuni.......


The Hall of Akyamuni is the main hall in the monastery. "Daxiong" is one of the honorific titles to the ethical power of Buddha.It indicates that Buddha is endowed with an invincible power and is capable of subduing all the worries and evils.Enshrines in the middle of the hall are the Statue of Buddha and those of His disciples Jiaye [on teh east side] and A'non[on the west side] and on the both sides of which are Statues of Bodhisattvas Wenshu[on the east side] and Puxian[on the west side].The statues of the eighteen arhat are enshrined on the east and west walls.


The 18 disciples of Buddha, originally 16,refer to the 18 arhat who live eternally on the earth guarding Buddhism. The earliest painting of the 18 arhat date the 10th century AD.The painters are Zhang Xuan and Guan Xiu. Their works are highly praised by Sramana[Buddhist monk] Jue Fan and the great ancient Chinese writer Su Dongpo . In fact Su Dongpo composed 18 essays in praise of the arhat. The Reverend Qingyou in named as the 17th arhat and Reverend Bingtoulu teh 18th. Qingyou is Nantimaiduoluo, writer of Fa Zhu Ji;Bingtoulu is Bingdulupoluoduo, ranking the first of teh original 16 arhat. The differences result from the unfamiliarity with the scriptures and teh misinterpretation os Sanskrit. Hence, the original 16 arhat are replaced by the later 18.Since the Yuan dynasty , the 18 arhat are enshrined in the most of the main halls in the monasteries.The 18 arhats are widely recognized in China. The additional 2 arhats are various. They may be Reverend Jiaye and the Reverend Jun tubotan. In Tibetan area, they may be Damoduoluo and Monk Budai, or the Reverend Fuhu or Moyefuren and Mile.

The Disciples of Buddha....

1. Pindolabharadvaja 2.Kanakavatsa 3.Kanakabharadvaja 4.Suvinda 5.Nakula 6. Bhadra 7. Karika 8. Vajraputra 9. Svaka 10. Panthaka 11. Rahula 12. Nagasena 13. Lugata 14. Vanavasin 15. Ajita 16. Cudapanthaka

The disciples of Buddha

A close up shot......

 The hall was too crowded and that's all I could click....


The next stop was the The Foresight Palace....


Foresight Palace , also called the Zushi hall, makes offerings to the seat of spirit tablet of the abbots in Dacien Temple. On the first and fifth day of every lunar month , the common people can offer some sacrifices to recall and revere the memory of the abbots' great virtues.

Display Temple is the most attractive part of this place.. Read the inscriptions on the board [below] and see the picture and I am sure you will agree with me...


Enshrines in this temple are 8 inlaid jade sculptures of Buddha Sakyamuni displaying the course of his enlightenment "Dreaming of the elephant and getting impregnated", 7- step lotus, " a nightly experience of mortal life", "ascetic  practices", Subduing the devil", " attaining the supreme enlightenment and  becoming Buddha", Da Zhuan Fa Lun", and "Qi Bu Lian Hua"


The Sculptures are of natural jade without coloring treatment. The exquisite inlaying craftsmanship ensures their reputation of masterpiece.

 Dreaming of the elephant and getting impregnated

7- step lotus

ascetic  practices

 Attaining the supreme enlightenment and  becoming Buddha

 Some of the other portions of the sculpture...

This post is getting very lengthy yet there are still a lot more to be seen at the Wild Goose Pagoda... So all that will be in my next post...

Take care until then....

 

An Impromptu Trip...

I had been begging hubby to take us to Terracotta Warriors in Xian,China.This nagging started when I saw a documentary on the terracotta warriors on TV and I was fascinated by the place. Then one day a couple of years ago,2009 to be precise, a few of hubby's colleagues had planned to see this place during a Chinese holiday which fell after a weekend. With 3 days in hand, there were many places that could be visited. But hubby was not among that group to visit Xian.I was so disappointed. Then  P [ remember her from the Qingdao trip?]also told me her desire to visit Xian,and she too wanted to go there with the rest of the group. Our earlier trip to Qingdao the previous week had been very pleasurable.So we sat and 'dreamt' about going there and seeing one of the wonders of ancient China but our 'dreams' fell on deaf ears.

So on Friday afternoon, 4 days after our Qingdao trip,  P and myself went on a leisurely shopping spree to a wholesale market that sold anything and everything.Suddenly I got a call from hubby asking me if I really wanted to go to Xian. I was so shocked and thrilled to hear it from him and immediately said 'Yes'. After a short laugh he disclosed that the train to Xian leaves at 6.45 pm that evening and he had already booked the tickets for us!!We had to be at the station around 6 pm.I turned around to share this news with my friend but she had disappeared and in a few minutes arrived from a shop with the biggest grin on her face.Yes, we were going together with 2 of hubby's colleagues.

Our excitement was short lived as the time was 4pm already and we had less than 2 hours to pack and leave for a 3 day trip. We ran out of the wholesale market to get a taxi to take us home. I dumped our goodies on the couch and hurriedly asked MIL to pack her things and I ran to the mall to buy stuffs needed for our travel. I had to carry loads of food for us as I was sure I would not find vegetarian food while traveling.

One hour passed so quickly as I tried to think and rethink the items to be purchased, find them , bill them and get back home.Shopping bag was full of flavored milk, bread, buns, sweet bread for the lil one, chips , munchies etc.Hubby was home by then,busy helping his mom pack. With less than an hour to pack, I threw in all the cloths , things for the baby and other stuffs we would need for the trip into 2 suitcases.

Since Lil Angel was less than a year and a half old, there was so much to pack for her. Baby food, hot water for the trip,other food items for her. I was not sure what we would get there, so I was really worried.

Packed and set to go, we piled into a taxi and literally flew to the railway station.This is one of those trips that we went at the shortest notice.

Since this was our first trip on the train after we came to China , I was really looking forward to it. All our earlier trips had been on a car, so that we could travel at our convenience.I had no idea about the station , the facilities on the train or how long the journey would take.All I knew was that I was so happy and very excited that we were going to see a place that I really wanted to go.

I was so grateful that hubby had arranged this trip and luckily there were tickets for the trip, else in spite of the efforts the trip would not have materialized.

After this long story , I will let the photos do the talking.....

The train station

 Waiting on the platform for the train. 

Passengers are allowed on the platform just 5 minutes before the train is due. Until then we waited in the huge lobby.

 Inside the train. I loved it.Very comfortable and quite pricy [tickets]

 It was dark by the time we settled into our seats and got ready to have dinner . I was not excited to have bread so put off the dinner plans, when a trolley full of food stuffs came by. There were fruits, snacks and cup noodles. Luckily there were vegetarian noodles and we were over joyed. The lady informed us that hot water [ Boiling water actually] was available near the ticket checkers cabin and we could use that. Hot water on the train was a real blessing!

 The next morning newspapers were delivered to each cabin.Pity they were in Chinese. 
Some staffs came to the cabin to fold away the sheets and quilts the passengers had used! 

The thing I liked about the journey is that each coach had a display board where you can see the speed of the train, the temperature outside and the name of the next station. I like this system. If only the trains in India were like this.....

 .

It was raining right through the journey.....

 We passed some fields....

 A bridge...

  

 A field engulfed with water, taken when we were a bridge....

 The name of a place in Chinese,no idea what it said...

 At last we reached our destination....

The journey started at 6.45 in the evening and we reached Xian at around 11.30 the next morning. So that makes it around 17 hours of journey on a super fast [express] train.We had traveled almost half way across China from our place to visit Xian!

 It was drizzling in Xian as well.We [8 of us actually]were really worried as this would spoil our tour plans....

Our folks had made arrangements with a travel agency @ Xian and a mini bus came to pick us up at the station. Loading our bags and hungry for food and to visit the city we eagerly got into the bus..... 

 Most of the present day buildings are built in the ancient style...

Kelly asked us to hurry and freshen up .She had 2 places lined up for the rest of the day.

She had booked us at the Ibis hotel[Heping Road Bei Lin ] which is quite close to the Bell Tower.[5 minutes by Taxi or 15-20 minutes by walk from the Hotel to the Bell Tower]. The hotel is moderately priced , clean with hospitable staffs and has a breakfast buffet...

The picture you see above was the board near the reception desk which shows the important places to be visited in Xian.

Luckily our tour guide,Kelly, had booked tables for us at the 'Delhi darbar restaurant' situated near the Wild Goose Pagoda. [A really thoughtful lady indeed!]. So that was the place we were going to visit after lunch...

After the long journey we felt like we had landed right at home with Indian meals at sight!

The interior...

We had hearty Indian food.Naan,Roti, Paneer Butter Masala, Vegetable briyani, some beverages, fried snacks and stuffs....Sorry no food clicks here. I was too hungry to click and when I remembered to take pics all that was in front of me were empty plates and dishes....

All weariness forgotten, it was time to visit the place of my dreams....

In my next post I shall take you to the Wild Goose Pagoda which has an enticing history....

Take care until then.....