We ventured out towards 170 Anyuan Lu, where the Jade Buddha Temple quietly resides, in between large high rise apartment buildings. (This place I knew would be there, so no need to worry about wrong directions from the guide book!) We took the metro then a taxi to get there. Upon entering the temple courtyard (which cost ¥20 each) we were inundated with the smell of burning incense. There were many local folks and tourists waving around buring incense and praying in the courtyard. The ash of the incense was flying around everywhere and it was hard to avoid getting some caught in your hair and on your clothes. We were greeted imediatly by a 'tour guide,' or more like a staff member of the temple that catered to tourists. She was very helpful in showing us around the area and explaining what the different buildings and Buddha's were. The first building we went into, The Chamber of Four Heavenly Kings, are known for bringing favorable circumstance to you. Also in this area we saw a very large laughing Buddha, who is known for bringing good luck, wealth and prosperiety.
The next building we were ushered into by this guide, was the gift shop. We walked through this to get to see a small wooden statue of the laughing Buddha. Here you were encouraged to rub his tummy, as seen in the photo above, for good luck. I thought was quite odd that this would be set in the middle of the gift shop, after all, we just got here, we hadn't seen that much yet and here we were in the gift shop already with vendors trying to peddle us their goods. I ushered the students out and we found the area for viewing the Jade Buddha. Here you had to pay another ¥10 each! We climbed up the stairs and walked into the room and.... well it was hard to see. We were roped off very far away and it was not very well lit in the room. I must say that I was unimpressed. I equate this to seeing the Mona Lisa in person for the first time. It is actually a small painting, behind a glassed in area, with tons of tourists viewing it, thus you are not able to get close to it and really enjoy the painting.
*Note: I do want to note here that my knowledge of Buddhism and Buddhist Temples is very limited so I am not sure what I am looking at or looking for or what things mean in these areas. As an artist the craftsmanship of all of the large sculptures is very good, and their composition is also very good, however other than this I am at a loss. I have no emotional feeling viewing this as I do when viewing the Sistine Chapel ceiling or Botticelli's Primavera or Bernini's Apollo & Daphne, as this is what I've studied in art school for many years and I can connect to these works. To see these works in person is breath taking, and my heart skips a beat as my mind is blown that it is really looking at one of these works up close and in person. That being said, I must do more reading and research on Buddhism.
After seeing the Jade Buddha we went back downstairs and walked into the are where the reclining Buddha was. This statue was in the middle of another gift shop. There were many gift shops in this part of the temple and between all the kitschy things they were peddling, there would be a large Buddha statue. It was frustrating that this place of worship was turned into a tourist trap and the people that worked there were more interested in getting your yuan than showing you around the temple or telling you more about the temple. It really takes away from the beauty of the temple.
After being inundated with gift store stuff we wandered into the Grand Hall where they had loads of statues of Bodhisattvas, disciples and guards. When you first walked into the Grand Hall you saw the Three Golden Buddhas, which are all quite large, as you can see from the photo above. The central sculpture is of Gautama Buddha, the left Amitabha and the right Bhaisajyaguru. Lining the eastern and western walls of the Grand Hall were the Gods of the Twenty Heavens. There are also 18 unique golden Arhats which stand in two groups of nine and a large golden statue of Guanyin stands on at northern entrance to the Great Hall, with Shen Cai at her side and sculptures representing the 53 teachers of his life above. (Hopefully this links will help you understand more about what I saw!)
After seeing all the different Buddhas and Chambers I was intrigued about this relegion and wanted to learn more. The whole way home, the students educated me on what they knew about Buddhism, and boy did they know a lot!
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