China Wuhan 3 Guiyuan Buddhist temple

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CHINA
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Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province in the
People's Republic of China. It is the largest
city in Hubei and the most populous city in
Central China, with a population of over 11
million. The name "Wuhan" came from the city's
historical origin from the conglomeration of
Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang, which are
collectively known as the "Three Towns of Wuhan".
It lies in the eastern Jianghan Plain, at the
confluence of the Yangtze river and its largest
tributary, the Han River and is known as "Nine
Provinces' Thoroughfare"
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Wuhan City of Four Buddhist Temples Guiyuan
Buddhist Temple is located in Hanyang District of
Wuhan. This temple was built in 15th year of
Shunzhi in 1658 under Qing dynasty
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Both Buddhism and Taoism have been officially
recognised in Communist China with thousands of
temples, even though they were subjected to heavy
crackdown during the Cultural Revolution
(1966-76) headed by Communist Party of China
(CPC) founder Mao Zedong to cleanse China of its
spiritual past
Guiyuan Buddhist Temple
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Guiyuan Temple s a Buddhist temple located on
Wuhan City
Guiyuan Buddhist Temple
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple is also called Guiyuan
Zen Temple. It stands first among the Four
Buddhist Monasteries of Wuhan
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple (Goddess Of Mercy
Temple) It's a Chinese belief that throwing
coins into incense burners or fountains at holy
sites during prayers brings about good fortune
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple has survived more than
300 years of repeated cycles of prosperity and
decline, above all else, it is always leading the
other temple in Wuhan with prosperous public
worship, flourishing Buddhist ceremony and many
pilgrims
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Double-faced Guanyin (or
Avalokitesvara) Built with brass and surrounded
by white marble handrails, the statue with a
total height of 21.8 meters (include the 3-meter
high sacred lotus seat) and a weight of 20 tons
is considered extraordinary nationwide
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Double-faced Guanyin
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Guiyuan Temple - The huge Double-faced Guanyin
Avalokitesvara
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First built in the early Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
by two monks on the base of Sunflower Garden
owned by a poet, Guiyuan Buddhist Temple got its
name from Buddhist Chants With purity kept in
mind, one has the thoroughfare everywhere.
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Covering an area of 46,900 sq m with a floor
space of 20,000 sq m, the temple mainly consists
of Daxiongbaodian Hall, Arhat Hall and Sutra
Collection Pavilion
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Entrance Pavilion roof detail
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Entrance Pavilion roof detail
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple The New Pavilion
built in 1922 is the treasury of the temple
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It is a daily custom of many Wuhan citizens to
come to Guiyuan temple to pray for blessings. On
the fifth day of the lunar new year, hundreds of
thousands of pilgrims come here to "rob the head
of incense" and worship the God of wealth
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Temple Guardian
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Temple Guardian -
Detail
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple
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Scripture Pavilion The Depository of Buddhist
Texts is the main building in the north
courtyard. It is a two-storied pavilion building
with five rooms on each story. It has a height of
25 meters and big ridges with beast head carvings
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Scripture Pavilion The Depository of Buddhist
Texts After entering the temple, you can see
the northern courtyard to your right, in which
the Amitabha, Kwan-yin Bodhisattva, and Dashizhi
Bodhisattva are worshipped. Collectively they are
called the three western saints. The Sutra
Collection Pavilion in the courtyard has a rich
collection of cultural relics of Buddhism,
figures of Buddha, religious paraphernalia, stone
carvings, paintings, calligraphies, and books
from abroad
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Guanyin's statue in
the northern courtyard
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Scripture Pavilion-The
Depository of Buddhist Texts Guanyin's statue
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Zahg Jing Ge (Sutra
collection Pavilion) -The Depository of Buddhist
Texts
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Scripture
Pavilion The whole building, the doors and the
windows were painted and carved with exquisite,
spectacular, splendid and magnificent patterns
and sculptures. It is the only ancient building
made from wood and bricks in Wuhan
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Zahg Jing Ge (Sutra collection Pavilion)
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple The Arhats Hall The
Arhats are arranged according to the layout of
? (Chinese character which means field in
English). Although there are more than 500
statues in the hall, it does not look crowded.
This kind of layout is ingenious and rational
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple - The Arhats Hall was
built in the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty,
destroyed by war in the 2nd year of the Xianfeng
period (1852 AD), and rebuilt in 1895 AD)
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The Arhat Hall is mainly for enshrining Arhat in
Chinese Buddhist temples. Arhat is short for
Arahant, meaning self-enlightened. In the
Mahayana tradition of Buddhism, Arhats rank the
third position in Buddhism, only below the Buddha
and Bodhisattva. In the Theravada tradition of
Buddhism, Arhats rank the highest the Karma
position. Buddhists believe that Arhats position
means to free oneself from being troubled and
from the circle of rebirth
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The legend says that if you count from a random
Arhat in a given direction to the one that
matches the number of your age, the identity,
expression and action of this last Arhat can show
your fate. This activity adds a lot of fun for
people who visit the Hall of Arhats.
Undoubtedly, counting the Arhats is nothing more
than a way of praying for good fortune. People
count from a random Arhat in a given direction
according to their ages, and then ponder over the
title, action, and expression of the last Arhat
to see whether they can understand some of the
philosophy of life
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple - In medium-sized
Buddhist temples, there are nine statues of
Arhats on each side of the Mahavira Hall, which
are known as the "Eighteen Arhats"
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Guiyuan Temple is famous as the first Chan (Zen)
temple to be built in Hubei Province. It was
constructed in 1658, the fifth year of reign of
Shunzhi Emperor in Qing Dynasty. It is a large
building complex, featuring many a variety of
structures with the most famous being the Hall of
Arhats, which was built in 1850
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Here are a number of
monks in Guiyuan Temple at present even if in
China spotting a monk is on par with a unicorn
sighting
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Decorative apartments
of the monks who call Guiyuan Temple home
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple The Great Buddhas Hall
(Daxiong Hall) is the main hall of whole temple.
It is where the monks have their classes in the
mornings and evenings. On the high platform in
the middle of the hall consecrates Sakyamuni, the
founder of Buddhism.
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple The main hall
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Maitreya Buddha
Colored clay statues of "Island Goddess of
Mercy". It is a large group statues, 6 meters
high and 4 meters wide, with an angle of
inclination of 30 degree. The statures were made
of silk, linen and other brown virgin materials,
no use of reinforced cement. Although the status
characters are quite a lot, they were made with
molded with distinct gradation and bright color.
And they were well protected from wars
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple The main hall
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple An incense urn in front
of the main hall
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple The bell
tower Beating the bell 108 times symbolizes
the relief of the 108 kinds of trouble in the
human world
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple The central yard
possesses a free-life pond with a bell tower and
drum tower on both sides. The Weituo Hall is
located in the center with the Great Buddha's
Hall several steps ahead
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Hall of Bodhisattva Weituo
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Hall of Bodhisattva Weituo
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The four Chinese characters of GuiYuan Gucha
was written by Li Yuanhong (1864-1928), twice
president of the Republic of China, in 1912
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People also come here to free turtles in the pond
out of the Hall. All the tortoises were released
by visitors in recent years
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple Hall of Bodhisattva
Weituo
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Guiyuan Buddhist Temple is famous not only for
spreading Buddhism throughout the whole country,
but also for perfect architecture, excellent
sculpture and rich collections of Buddhist
doctrine
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Symbolic gifts or messages or suvenirs a Chinese
knot is tied and woven from a single length of
cord or rope to be a variety of shapes and of
varying complexity. Each and suvenirsshape has
its own symbolic meaning, and you can find them
as gifts
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Presentation Sanda Foisoreanu
2020
Sound The Great Compassion Mantra (Da
Bei Zhou)