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Fukien
Southern Shaolin (īSil Lumī in Cantonese) Temple (01) :
Source
01 :
In
1990 archeologists found the ruins of a temple complex. It took them 2
years to decide that this was indeed the location of the famous and
long lost Southern Shaolin Temple...
It was quite a spectacular finding, and reports of the excavation
activities could be seen on TV all over China. Soon after this
is was decided that a brand new temple was to be build, bearing the
name 'Southern Shaolin Temple'.
Different from what you may expect,
the new building wasn't planned in the direct vicinity, but actually
on the exact same spot of the old temple. Anyone who wants to visit
this location and wants to see some ruins or leftovers from the
original building, is better of staying home because there is
practically nothing left to be seen. Apart from some stone artifacts
and bricks, all the old things are gone...
At
this moment the Southern Shaolin Temple consists of two main buildings
and some smaller side buildings. There are plans to add more buildings
in the future, but since all money was spend on building these 2
buildings, further construction is postponed. The plan of the temple
is said to be based on the layout of the original temple. In one of the buildings one can see a moquette of the temple as
it is supposed to look like in the future. Interesting is that areas
of the temple that are already completed, sometimes differ quite a bit
from the moquette...
.
The
pictures above gives a nice overview of the new temple. First the
gateway, than an entrance building. After that the first big building.
On each side a modest tower: one drum and one bell tower. Then
the second and last building. Behind this is the temple wall. Attached
to the tower buildings there are some smaller buildings, leading up
the back part of the temple complex...
Nearest
big city is Fuzhou. From there a coach bus to Putian Village. From the
main bus station a minibus to the outskirts of town. There awaits a
special minibus which will take you directly to the temple. Only one
problem; it will only leave if filled with passengers. And that is a
bit of problem, since this little village isn't exactly crowded with
tourists...
There
is a brand new road leading up to the temple, appropriately named 'Nan
Shaolin Lu' (South Shaolin Road), and this picture shows the archway
at the beginning of the road . The Famous Southern Shaolin Temple' is
located 11 kilometers outside the city...
The
first big building, directly opposite of the entrance gate. This
building is called Tian Wang Dian, or Hall of the Heavenly Kings. A
Buddhist temple in China isn't a Buddhist temple without this hall,
which can be found in countless other temples in China..
Inside
the Hall of the Heavenly Kings. Facing the entrance gate sits a statue
of Meile Dafo, or Maitreya. Maitreya is a personage from Indian
Buddhism, ready to absorb all the bad things in the world. The statue
obviously looks Chinese. It is actually an image of a Chinese monk
called Xi Ci. He was known all over China and everywhere he traveled
he helped the poor and the needed. He could face the evil things in
the world with a smile and nothing could make him loose his temper.
Just before he died he spoke some Buddhist phrases, connected with
Maitreya. After his death his image was used to display the image of
Maitreya. He his always smiling; teaching us that we should confront
all evil with a smile. He isn't fat because he ate to much, but
because he consumes all evil the world. On the background two of the
four statues of the Heavenly Kings.
The second picture shows Wei
Tuo, or Skanda. He is the defender of the Buddhist faith. He always
faces the Bao Dian. On the background the two remaining statues of the
Heavenly Kings. Each direction of the wind has a Heavenly King; one
holds a pipa, one a sword, one a umbrella and one holds a small ball
and a dragon. Interesting detail is that the left thumb of Maitreya
was broken of and hastily repaired; all this before the official
opening of the temple...
Standing
with your back to the Tian Wang Dian, facing the entrance gate, this
is what you see. In a temple it is usually possible to walk
strait through the middle, but in the Southern Shaolin Temple there is
a small pool, forcing visitors to walk around. Besides the pool on
either side is a courtyard reserved for putting up stelea. To the left
side (from this picture's point of view) is the entrance gate to the
temple's martial art school and abbot's residence. The martial art
school is only open for visitors on Sunday.
The
main building of the temple is the Bao Dian. Inside Buddha Shijiamuni,
or Sakyamuni. Flanked by other statues. Unfortunately no picture of
this, but of you look carefully you see a glimpse of it on the first
of the three pictures above.
On
either side in total 18 Lohan or Arhats...
These
two buildings together is what makes this a temple; these buildings
with the same setup can be found all over China; there is nothing
special 'Shaolin' about it, in case you expected something like that.
The impression it gave me was one of hastily build, low budget
buildings. Not build to last centuries...
Looking
left and right with your back toward the Bao Dian, this is what you
see. The picture on the right shows the Drum Tower.
The
building with the displays is by far the most interesting building
inside the temple complex which displays photographs of the excavation
work, martial art displays form visitors from all over the world and
calligraphy by Party leaders visiting the temple. Also on display
countless roof tiles and bricks from the original structure.
These
stone items were said to be used by the monks for their martial arts
training. How exactly nobody knows. Maybe weight training or slapping
their hands onto it for conditioning and strengthening. They are heavy
though...
These
rusty weapons were also found on the excavation site...
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