Why Is My Rabbit Losing Fur On Legs

Heavenly Terraces 天台山 - Part 2 - High Temple of Light and rocky valley

First Part of the relationship can be found here:

Heavenly Terraces 天台山 - Part 1 - the town and the master Zhiyi

DAY 3 Morning

very not want to wake up - I wrote a long blog yesterday. The girls came out the same for breakfast, I finally forced myself to go out in bed, I brought something to the order, I came to them. It was almost 9:00 - End of breakfast - and cooks already gathered heated trays of food. Loud voice announced that time has come, and I will ask the food. Crowd waitresses and cooks quickly had brought a flock of hot coffee (disgusting), toasted bread, butter, jam (western food, the total rare to get a small miescinach in China, here to my surprise it was available). To the local specialties - dumplings with a recess in which to put shredded and heated pickled vegetables, hot steamed buns with sweet red bean paste 豆沙馅 包子, rice porridge with salted vegetables 稀饭 咸菜, nuts and salty (respectively lezakowanym) duck egg咸鸭蛋.

Photo: Late Morning greeted us, blue skies and warm sun:

Today we decided to eat more, as the expedition planned to the highest peak in the Tiantai Gor. At the top are two routes - one next to the hotel, less traveled, the other more popular, from the city. I wanted to go way outside the hotel and catch some sort of occasions such as yesterday. In the end, however, we found it better to buy tickets Input to the temple at the summit of the tourist office, and for it to have a free ride. So we went to the office handling tourist traffic, the weather was beautiful, sunny and spring. Clean your temple When we met several monks 国清寺, with whom he stopped short chat. I asked about whether they know the masters advanced practice of meditation. One of them replied that there are many masters, but it all depends on the asker - because it really since everyone can learn something. So I asked if they know monks who meditate in the hermitages. They said that there are some, but unfortunately, many do it more for show than from real need. There were none is a novelty, but it's always good to seek medical language. We parted at the bus loop No. 7 and went to the office. Ms Tam strongly advised against travel to the summit we 华 顶, saying that no one is there, peonies do not bloom now too (the peak protected as forest reserve and the famous lakes of peony, which bloom in late April and May), while recommending hot waterfall, Stone Bridge and Valley 石梁 Immortals 琼 台 仙 谷. Everything became clear after a while - she had us drive "for free" to those places, provided that we buy the tickets in her input. Of course she had the money from these tickets (good seats were the most expensive), so we wanted to hit as many attractions of the entrances, the summit not to pay, because they are too far away and also cheap guest pass. In the end suggested that doplacimy it to pass, but gave up and decided to go the road near the hotel.

Photo: The street vendors of toys and religious articles - the siesta after dinner you can play cards with friends and a monk:

Along the way, perhaps even napatoczyl prywaciarz, offered in August, with us for quite a ride slona sum. Also reported a high amount of money in the store saleswoman devotional local Buddhist association. We had had enough of these outrageous sums, white skin, unfortunately, immediately raises the prices here a few times in comparison with what the Chinese people actually pay. Besides, the latter also cut in August, as my teacher says Taijiquan "At the foot of famous mountains there are no good people" 名山 脚下 无 良民 ...

We went so expensive, but to our disappointment, since past us just a few trucks loaded with gravel and a few motorcycles. We climbed to the top so serpentine path crosses the road, just as previous day.

Photo: Typical rural house in the mountains - built of stone, enclosed by a high wall, situated on the banks of the brook, by the way:

weather was beautiful, the approach is quite tiring, but the beautiful views, also saw several species of birds, which you can not recognize (the birds frankly I do not know at all). Birds we totally were not afraid, apparently these trails are rarely visited by humans.

Photos: Birds in general we were not afraid, some zerowaly among the leaves on the stone stairs, whom the trail is paved, the other on the trees, pecking at the red berries:

slow climbing made us realize that the top hits we have no chance, so we decided to visit the Temple, High light which 高明 寺, located close to the place in which we were the day before. Leads to the temple side road and away from main tunnel. At the entrance to the tunnel has passed us polciezarowy car, which stopped after a while. The driver went slowly, then offered me a cigarette, started to chat. As it turned out the driver Yang Guoxin (because that was his name) was the younger first cousin shop owner, who yesterday visited (this local GeeSu), was from the same village of Si Qing Ao 青 思 岙 empty pitchers, and drove the yellow rice wine.

Photo: Yang Guoxin the car with empty pitchers of wine rice:

local population rushes to the rice wine 糯米, but your own wine is not enough, so the buyer additionally wine from a local distillery. 25 liters of the distillery costs Y70 (USD10), however, is lower quality than driven home. Wine is drunk here mainly in winter, is about 15%, are given up to them heated with red sugar and raw ginger, has warming and strengthening. NB's most famous rice wine in China comes from the village of Shaoxing 绍兴. In Shanghai, apart from the ginger and sugar added to wine yet dried berries and plums 枸杞 子 话梅, it is very aromatic and allowed us to survive many cold winter evenings in Shanghai. Yang said further that if we drove to the temple, then we would not have to buy tickets, because the old man guarding the door knows it. But we could not ride, so we went alone.

temple lies in a deep valley, which stretched before our eyes as we stood on the edge of the mountains.

Photo: Buddyska Temple High brightness is picturesquely located in a deep valley:

Monastery could be seen as the palm and suggested the girls go down on the shortcut and look for some paths, and in any case it would be to hard to get lost, though Certainly walking distance from many unforeseen obfitowaloby attractions, and you would have way through thickets and ravines, to look to move between the rice terraces and large boulders. I love this passage and thanks to last year while in Wuyishan Mountains 武夷山 we found many interesting places to which we probably walking down the beaten track we would never have reached. Unfortunately, unless M Large doubted, perhaps (for sure) had a bad day, no way, however, and we went. There was a good choice - the road was partially restored, drove a truck of gravel present, beside the road we came from a quarry excavator working full time, you could feel the smell of exhaust and noise engines. There has introduced me in a good mood. In the end we came in around the temple - first we saw the vast construction site with huge logs of wood and a group of carpenters working on the construction - as it turned out - Drum and Bell Tower to the Temple (each temple has buildings from the drum and bell, which brings to the sound of prayers and religious ceremonies are accompanied). From time to time, noise could be heard drills and saws, but we passed on, so far, the noise was not already heard.

picture: While carpenters hard at work, a smile never leaves their face. The Chinese are a total of smiling people:

After some time we saw this majestic vertical cliffs, partly overgrown with pine trees.

Photo: next to the majestic landscape of Tiantai Temple:

admit, I did not expect such a view - Tiantai we associate more with a fairly gentle and forested mountains, and here it turned out that she has to offer a very picturesque and quite harsh landscapes. We walked towards the temple path, but then pulled the girl in the side lane.

Photo: Artist decorating renovated bridge:

instantly repaired the bridge over a stream flowing in a deep valley, the bridge (covered in the traditional Chinese style) was already decorated with paintings, we passed under the bent bamboo scaffolding and turned right - in the opposite direction than the temple. The path ran a deep edge, forested canyon in the gore, at one point turning to the right, where there was a roof terrace with the huge boulders with carved and colored red on the happy texts of Buddhist sutras, and carved in the rock next to the images of three sitting figures.

Photo: Zhizhe, founder of the Tiantai varieties, sits in the middle, and Chuandeng, which led to its rebirth, to his left:

Skid Plate boulder was put forward as a balcony over the valley, were led to him carved in small stone steps. Another steep stairs were led down.

Photo: Stone steep stairs in the valley:

hiked sciezka nieco w dol, gdzie nagle ukazal nam sie kamienny "domek" zrobiony z olbrzymich glazow, prawdopodobnie niewielka kapliczka, choc nie bylo obok zadnych inskrypcji. Malej M miejsce bardzo przypadlo do gustu, szczegolnie ten domek.

Zdjecie: Skaliste zbocza doliny pokryte olbrzymimi glazami:

Poszlismy dalej, znow pod gore, przez przypadek spojrzelismy na skale ponad nami - i zobaczylismy wyrzezbiona w kamieniu olbrzymia figure siedzacego Radosnego Buddy Maitreyi 弥勒佛. Radosny Budda to wcielenie Buddy Przyszlosci. Jego pierwowzorem byl Mnich ze Szmacianym Workiem 布袋和尚. Qici 契此 (takie bylo jego name) lived in 1910 AD, I always wore a bag rag on a stick, to whom I donated to him to put on a good, although it always remained an empty bag. Asked about Buddhism, threw the bag in response to the land, if someone did not understand, raise it and go away without turning up. Before his death sentence is repetitive, "real Maitreya Maitreya, with billions of incarnations, all the time admonishing people about what they can not make ropoznac" herds it was considered the incarnation of Buddha Maitreya. Stout, with a big belly, bald head and smiling always, in every Chinese temple greets pilgrims. It is said that his stomach can accommodate all our needs, and the smile mocks unimportant matters absorbing us. Happy Buddha sitting with one leg curled, and the other bent at the knee. This means that he is partly in the realm of the Buddhas (horizontal leg), but often falls between people (leg bent - Vertical - symbolizes the world of human connection with the supernatural world), helping them to deal with the concerns and problems.

Photo: A stone sculpture of Buddha Radosnego was situated high above our heads:

little further over our heads carved on the rock we saw a huge sign of Fo 佛 - Buddha.

Photo: Mark Fo 佛 Buddha - in Chinese pronunciation is very similar to Fu 福 success, which undoubtedly contributed to the popularization of the religion in China:

walked a bit on the side, admiring the statues of three saints of Buddhism and a bit further - the Goddess of Mercy Guanyin 观音, carved into the rock. The latter figure was the more interesting, and presented Guanyin as a thousand-hand deity 千手 观音. About Guanyin (which I mentioned a lot when describing our stay at Putuoshanie) said to be have a thousand hands - which symbolizes the infinite mercy - and a thousand eyes - which in turn symbolize unlimited wisdom. The sculpture was rather new, there were the next to it will not be finished yet calligraphy, but the whole thing did the impressive because of the enormity of the sculptures and picturesque location on the slope of a rocky cliff.

picture: A thousand-hand Guanyin goddess, the incarnation Avalokitesvary, the Goddess of Mercy:

After a while we have come to some kind of observation deck with a huge boulder, on which was carved over two meters high marks Looking into the clouds 看 云. It was a place where famous monk Chuandeng (more about him later) sat down to watch the clouds and hear the noise of a waterfall. He also wrote on the rock of these two characters.

Photo: "Looking into the clouds" by 16-century monk renowned Chuandenga:

going down we have come to the transition to the other side of the valley - at the bottom of the rapid stream flowed, forming the spectacular waterfalls and flowing between the huge boulders. At one of the waterfalls was located a pond, whose name was engraved with red marks on the mighty rock - the Supreme Wisdom Pond 般若 谭. In Buddhism, the highest wisdom is one that leads to the extinction of all attachment and leads to enlightenment, and not intelligence or discernment. Chinese people have their word for "wisdom", but translating from the language of classical Buddhist Pali chose to use the characters capture the original Nina phonetics of speech, but not the ideas - just to underscore the special nature of the highest wisdom.

Photo: Waterfall and Pond Supreme Wisdom:

Day slowly was coming to an end when the path brought us out of the temple of light which is High 高明 寺. With the newly built pavilions in capital was rather insignificant tucked the old temple complex.

Photo: Old gate of the Temple High Light:

Place, on which the temple stands out High 高明 寺 light which has been selected by Zhizhe. Apparently one day when he preached the sermon on the stone cliff (who visited the previous day), Wind cards kidnapped its holy book, and carried to the east, where he fell to the bottom of the valley. Zhizhe decided, the place is ideal for spiritual exercises, and there built the shelter. After the death of Zhizhe there also kept his robes, a bowl, and The Beggar's holy book written on palm leaves 贝叶 经 (Borassus flabelliformis palm tree grows in India, on its leaves was written many sacred Buddhist texts.) There also was erected in 910 AD, the temples and had been given the name of High's light - as the valley is similar to that made of bronze mirror that in this very high in situ of the sun and moon light illuminating them. By the temple for hundreds of years of its existence, passed the turmoil of history, big blow for the Variety Tiantai was to address the most representative for the Temple by the monks of the Pure Land school Chan (Zen 禅) in the 11/12 age. The famous 16th century monk Chuandeng 传灯 ("Transferor Lampe "), comes to Temple Gaoming and to the rebirth of the Tiantai School rebuild me - a magnificent altar Shurangama 楞严 坛 was one of only three ever built in China. Altar was built according to the descriptions contained in the Buddhist classics, with a mixture of yellow sand with 10 aromatic substances in the middle of a giant lotus was located, and in the center of the lotus - bowl filled with autumn dew, around the altar was placed 8 large mirrors, censers, and Buddhist statues. Apart from that, there were the three over eight-ton cast iron statues of Buddhist and 3.5-ton brass bell .

Photo: These bells will soon hang in the newly built Tower Bell:

Unfortunately, none of the "three treasures" temple not survived until today - gave up altar nieszczacemu the action of time, and statues and bells were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. From the times Chuandenga temple became the center of meditation, lectures on Buddhism, but "10-year-old Zawierucha" 十年浩劫 (as it is called the Cultural Revolution 1966-1976) was the biggest blow to the temple and religion in China in general. Temples High light which started being restored in 1981 with the support of the faithful from the U.S. and France, now in its walls there is a Buddhist academy Secret Stream 幽 溪 - from the name what this place is still Zhizhe - its founder.

Near the temple, after passage through the rock Valley, we stayed next to pawiloniku, which protected the rock located on the words "Mystery Stream." As it turned out, these two characters came out from under the hand Zhizhe.

Photo: "The Secret Stream" - as the original, and very aptly named this place - numbering nearly 1,500 years the words by Zhizhe:

Behind the gate, over which hung a plaque with the name of the temple, the building was located Four statues of Heaven's rulers. From behind one of them suddenly jumped sprightly old man, and live on us, gesticulating zarzadal Y20. First, I pretended it did not understand, then I said that I am a buddy Yang Guoxin. Nothing helped, the old man was showing that we must continue to buy tickets. In Finally I give him probably Y8 in the paw and stopped harass us.

Inside the temple complex looked very interesting, had a peculiar atmosphere of old, forgotten temples, on whom lived dachamki many enlightened masters. Large M called me - I went, I thought about two old bells hills in the hallway, but suddenly I understood - from the side of the pavilion was heard singing monotonous. After a while they started to go out from there most of the monks, dressed in black clothes with red elements.

Photo: Monks taking part in the celebration for the intention of the deceased family member:

moment they went on to the main pavilion, prostrated themselves, and began to go out. They were accompanied by group of "civilians" - a whole was a kind of Mass in the intention of the deceased family member. After a while several times struck a wooden rattle (fish), and the present metal gong (in the shape of a gourd, called. Gong in the shape of the cloud 云 板) - proclaiming dinner. The monks went to one of the rooms with a small altar in the center and benches set in rows opposite each other on both sides. Ceased conversation could be heard only siorbanie and munching. An older man in civilian clothes, probably a cook, came up to me and suggested dinner, but thanked him. For us, it was already time for visiting the temple slowly ended.

Photo: Inside the main building at the temple - a new figure to replace destroyed during the revolution, iron statues of Buddhas:

In the meantime the monks ended up dinner - I asked one of them, or is there a shorter way back, not to go highway. This said that it is, and another monk next offered to lead us to it. We left the temple, together with us, monks entire group. The road to shortcut turned out to be a comfortable wide stone path - a girl went to the front of the present, while I did a recent photograph, and I explained monks from where I am, how many years I live in China, etc..

Photo: Slow night falls, a last glance at the temple gate:

cell phone rang - Large M phoned me as soon as possible by ordering the adjoining to them, because I already late in general. Something to her, and standing next to a monk nodded with understanding and compassion: "Sure you told my wife that you will soon." I guess he could read minds ...:) I ran the girls, even the way we found an old cemetery, the graves were eminent monks from the temple, including Prior Juehui 觉慧. This is what Juehui, after years spent in meditation in a shelter at the top of Tiantai, in 1960, came to Temple High light and began its reconstruction. Abandoned by the Red Guardian in 1966, was forced to put down your hair and physical work in the countryside, going back to the temple in 1978, is the abbot and under his leadership, the Temple of the newly recovered its splendor. Juehui died in 1996 at the age of 78.

Photo: Tomb of the Master Juehui (Awakened Wisdom) is situated in a forest near the temple:

When it comes to Chuandenga - "transferring Lampe" - a name that is associated with the glorious story, so.公案 koan, in which the hidden teachings of the Buddha passed way. Monk Deshan 德 山 came from far and wide to master the science Chongxin 崇信. He took with him a whole stack of books, including also their own explanations of Buddhist classics. One day he was leaving evening Deshan master targets, because it was already dark, the master gave him an olive lampe saying: "Take lamp, already dark outside, oswietlisz the present way. "When Deshan stretched out his hand to take the lamp, the flame blew out suddenly Chongxin, and gave him a lamp off, asking:" And now, still you see? ". Deshan stood as struck by lightning, after returning to his cell burned all their books are , and became an avid student of Zen Buddhism. Deshan realized that the light flash, like everything that gives us the senses, it is only their product, and if only the light of our true nature will be lit up, man will never again stayed in the dark. Until today "transfer tubes" is a common symbol of the transfer of real science in Chinese Buddhism.

Path we have come quickly to the road. At the entrance to the tunnel we encountered the native (Lesser M driving down something, Large M said that it smell koz), who says, "is the possibility to move this way, what I was suggesting, but the rice terraces are overgrown, because no one has long since been cultivated, and it would be hard to break through the thicket to the temple. After leaving the tunnel, I made a picture in the evening light, even over the mountains, when the battery in the camera proclaimed the end of the day.

Photo: Dinner on the celestial aurora's Terrace:

got dark, as you have maybe in the mountains, only the stars shone bright above our heads. We went back in the dark going down the road and partially shortcuts. Well, we passed this route twice before - in the past in the same direction, and today - yet uphill. We admired the night sky, and quite soon we reached the vicinity of the hotel. Originally we thought about end of the day and dinner in the hotel but we decided to check timetables and even coaches at the northern station - from where buses Apparently normal workout on top of mountains. We went on to loop sevens, and then, hoping for a taxi. Threats from that - nothing came, just after descending from the mountains we took unnecessary extra few kilometers ... In the hotel we ate vegetarian dinner - broccoli, soy cheese, a local specialty - Chicken cutlet 饺 饼 筒, and some wild vegetables with plenty of garlic. Large M complained of soreness, so she went to bed early, I'm from Little M we did have some Chinese and math, now both pretty restless sleep, and I, when they describe day.

Another, the third part of the relationship can be found here:

Part 3 - The Palace Taoistyczy Tongbai and immortality seekers