Nanjing in spirit. On our last day in Nanjing, I had a chance to do some good temple-hopping. I started off at the Confucius Temple 夫子廟 (first photo). This was my first visit to a Confucius temple, which have only started reviving in the last 10-15 years, mainly in the east and southeast of China. This temple is quite attractive and has a feeling of devotion about it. They even have guides helping the uninitiated learn how to properly offer incense (the pink incense in the foreground of the second photo is mine). The Lonely Planet guidebook complains about the pedestrian shopping district surrounding the temple, but thats probably historically accurate. Urban temples were often centers of commerce as well as spirituality in premodern China. After lunch, I headed to Jiming Temple 雞鳴寺 a Buddhist temple. It climbs up a small mountain in northeast Nanjing and has lovely views of the city. Much to my surprise, I learned that the large pagoda at the center of the temple houses an image of the Medicine Buddha 藥師佛, perfect for my aspirations! This statue originally hails from the Tibetan Buddhist temple, Yonghe Gong 雍和宮 in Beijing, but was moved here in 1972 (I dont know why). This statue is treated with especial reverence. Youre required to circumambulate the pagoda three times before entering. Like the Confucius Temple, Jiming Temple has a definite feeling of active worship. Numerous signs guide visitors on proper behavior and worship in the temple. The day as a whole left me with an impression that Chinese temples are feeling more confident in their efforts to insist that visitors conform to their standards of behavior. Ive always loved Chinese temples (well, all temples really), and these two really reminded me of the beauty and feeling of spirituality you can find in them.
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 22:15:41 +0000