Wuyie and Jinghai temples were two very similar cites, notable for very different reasons, but their appeal was not in their appearance, which was rather standard for Wutai temples and visible in the first image which is of the entrance to Jinghai, but in their history and what they represent.
Jinghai temple was fascinating for its use of Tibetan Buddhist imagery. First, the outside of the many of the temples were decorated with painted Mandalas, representations of the cosmos from a Buddhist perspective. One of these is pictured in the second image. Inside one of the temples, an even more interesting Tibetan image was visible, but not able to be photographed. To the left side of the statue in the Sakayamuni hall was painted a Yabyum Tantric Sex image, left uncensored and mostly undamaged. This was an astonishing find, as all Yabyum images in China are supposed to be censored, and most were destroyed or damaged during the Cultural Revolution. Yet here we found one overlooked by the Chinese government. These images are very important to Tibetan Buddhism, and it is seen as unfortunate by Tibetan Buddhists that they are not allowed to openly display them in China, so it was very special to find one left alone.
Wuyie Temple is important for its role in the Boxer Uprising of 1900, in which the Chinese government took action against Westerners living and working in China, most notably Christian missionaries, particularly Catholics. Wuyie Temple was one of the staging areas for this uprising, where Boxers would gather and watch Chinese Operas, writing the names of powerful spirit-characters in the operas on paper which was then burned and mixed with water, then consumed in an attempt to imbue oneself with the powers of those spirits. After doing this, the Boxers would go out and attack Christians in nearby Taiyuan city, which was the location of the bloodiest of the Boxer massacres, an event I will talk more about when I blog about our stay in Taiyuan.
That's all for now, next up will be Twin Pagoda Temple.
Jinghai temple was fascinating for its use of Tibetan Buddhist imagery. First, the outside of the many of the temples were decorated with painted Mandalas, representations of the cosmos from a Buddhist perspective. One of these is pictured in the second image. Inside one of the temples, an even more interesting Tibetan image was visible, but not able to be photographed. To the left side of the statue in the Sakayamuni hall was painted a Yabyum Tantric Sex image, left uncensored and mostly undamaged. This was an astonishing find, as all Yabyum images in China are supposed to be censored, and most were destroyed or damaged during the Cultural Revolution. Yet here we found one overlooked by the Chinese government. These images are very important to Tibetan Buddhism, and it is seen as unfortunate by Tibetan Buddhists that they are not allowed to openly display them in China, so it was very special to find one left alone.
Wuyie Temple is important for its role in the Boxer Uprising of 1900, in which the Chinese government took action against Westerners living and working in China, most notably Christian missionaries, particularly Catholics. Wuyie Temple was one of the staging areas for this uprising, where Boxers would gather and watch Chinese Operas, writing the names of powerful spirit-characters in the operas on paper which was then burned and mixed with water, then consumed in an attempt to imbue oneself with the powers of those spirits. After doing this, the Boxers would go out and attack Christians in nearby Taiyuan city, which was the location of the bloodiest of the Boxer massacres, an event I will talk more about when I blog about our stay in Taiyuan.
That's all for now, next up will be Twin Pagoda Temple.
We love your pictures and the descriptions of the temples (Courtney's here). We want a close-up of you and Hannah : ) Love, Grandma S.
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