Now, let’s step into the Buddhist s criptures Pavilion where the s criptures of Buddhism are kept. But I ‘m afraid what attracts our attention at the first sight must be this snow-white statue. It is a statue of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. This statue was carved out of a big piece of jade which is 2-meter-tall and weighs 3 tons. It was carved by Myanmar handicraftsmen and donated to the temple by the Rangoon Buddhists in 1935.
If we watch the statue, we may sense that the peaceful expression on the Buddha’s face has brought us to a quiet and harmonious state.
The last building we will visit is the Avalokitesvara Pavilion in the north yard. When we entered the yard just now we saw a statue of her. Now I’d like to introduce her carefully.
As a goddess, she swore that she would not become a Buddha until all the living creatures suffering from pains were saved. So she became a bodhisattva who is most popular among the people and attracts the most believers of all the gods and goddesses in Buddhism. It was said that one would be saved from trouble and disaster as long as he (she) chanted her name and if it was heard by her. Thus she is called Guanshiyin, which means ‘hearing or looking on the voices of the suffering’. Because of her kind heart and benevolence she got another title ‘the Goddess of Mercy’.
According to Buddhism, bodhisattvases have no distinction of sex, that is, they are neither male nor female, because they are immortals. But it’s very strange and interesting that most of bodhisattvases were engraved or carved in the images of various kinds of men in human society. Changes didn’t take place until an emperor’s mother thought it was inconvenient to worship a male bodhisattva in her bedroom. From then on, Guanshiyin, the bodhisattvas began to appear before her believers in the image of a beautiful and elegant lady.
We’ll pay a visit to a very serious, sacred place. Generally, the place is regarded as the most holy by Buddhists. It is the Grand Hall, where the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni is worshiped. It is always the center of a Buddhist temple in construction and in Buddhists’ mind.
The statue in the middle is Sakyamuni. According to Buddhism his mother gave birth to him in a garden. He belonged to Kshatreya Caste. He married his cousin when he was 16 or 17 years old. At the age of 29, he was confronted with the sights of an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic. With eyes opened to aspects of life newly revealed to him, he broke from the material world and became an ascetic. Six years later, he gave up mystic concentration that at last brought him enlightenment under a bo tree. He then founded an order of mendicants and spent his next 45 years preaching his ideas until his death.
These two statue beside the Buddha are his two disciples. The one on the right was said to be Sakyamuni’s cousin and he had good memory so that he could remember all the Buddha told his disciples. The one on the left was said to be the lord of Brahmnism and he once was Sakyamuni’s tutor. But afterwards he was convinced by Buddhism after long-term debate between Buddhism and other religions and he accepted Sakyamuni as his tutor. Thus he became the eldest one of all Sakyamuni’s disciples.
Next, we’ll pay a visit to the Ahrat Hall in the south court.
The Ahrat Hall is an important structure in a Buddhist temple. But not all temples have an Ahrat Hall, especially, well-kept Ahrat Halls are very rare in China. This one is among them, and what’s more, it has its own unique characteristics.
Generally, an Ahrat Hall is a square building. The building is subdivided into four small square courts so that the hall can get enough sunlight. This kind of structure show some lucky implies in Chinese Buddhist culture.
Another characteristic about the hall lies in these sculptures themselves. They were neither made up of wood, nor stone, nor clay. A special way was taken in making them, which could prevents them from being burned, being soaked or being eaten by insects. All the sculptures were floating in water while Wuhan was flooded in 1954, but, surprisingly, they were sound and safe after the flood had receded. It was really a wonder.