Cynthia’s take on a day of travel We thought we had it all figured out. The lovely receptionist at our hotel in Xian checked on the bus station we needed and wrote it down in Chinese characters and also wrote down Louyang, our final destination as well as Sanmenxia, our midway destination for the day. […]
David
Pilgrim of the 7th Century
Before this trip I had never heard of the monk Xuanzang. But when we were visiting Big Goose Pagoda, I decided to look him up in Wikipedia. He’s a rather interesting fellow. Seems our paths have crossed several times, separated only by fourteen centuries. I ended up reading the entire article to Cynthia. The article […]
Xian slideshows
Ban Po neolithic village Archeological excavation of a village occupied from 4500 BCE to 3750 BCE. Evidence of a matriarchal culture http://www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157621961370356/show/ Terracotta Warriors Constructed by emperor Qin Shi Huang around 240 BCE as part of his tomb, the army consists of 8,000 terracotta soldiers, horses and chariots http://www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157621836851639/show/ Xian street scenes http://www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157621984236858/show/ Big Goose […]
Impressions of China after three weeks
The China we see today, 25 years after our previous visit, is a completely different country. Twenty-five years ago, we could sense the potential of an economic powerhouse, from the intense energy of the people, their huge numbers and the vast size of their country. Now it has become a reality. The capitalist engine is […]
Slideshows of Temples near Huangmei
Fourth Ancestor’s Temple http://www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157621961414886/show/ Lu Hua Nunnery http://www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157621836923887/show/ Fifth Ancestor’s Temple http://www.flickr.com/photos/11790404@N02/sets/72157621961419232/show/ Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Cynthia’s memories of 25 years ago
As I was waking on the morning we were to fly from Nanchang to Xian, the memory of our only internal flight 25 years ago came back to me. We arrived at the airport about an hour before the flight from Beijing to Nanjing. The airport terminal, a dirty, squat building was completely locked up. […]
The Fifth Patriarch, Hongren
The Fifth Patriarch, Daman Hongren (Hung-jen in Chinese Wade-Giles and Daiman Konin in Japanese Romanji) was born near Huangmei in 601. He became a monk at a young age and was one of the first residents of the temple built by Daoxin. In 651, when Daoxin, the Fourth Patriarch died there were over 500 monks […]
Lu Hua Temple
Cynthia’s impressions of Lu Hua (“reed flower”) temple: In the mountains above the 4th Patriarch’s Temple, about 2 miles up a steep, still-being-built road, a newly built nunnery nestles gently in a setting that seems to have been waiting for its appearance. Unlike other temples we have visited, this modest temple seems perfectly integrated into […]
Feeling unblogable
With 4:00 am wake-ups for the past couple of days, neither Cynthia nor I think we will be able to stay up much past 8:00 pm tonight at our hotel back in Nanchang. But I did want to share this little quote from Hakuin in today’s newsletter from the Upaya Zen Center: ___________ Hakuin’s Four […]
The Fourth Patriarch, Dayi Daoxin
Dayi Daoxin (Tao-hsin in Chinese Wade-Giles, and Daii Doshin in Japanese Romanji) lived from 580 to 651. Some background from the book, Zen’s Chinese Heritage, by Andrew Ferguson (pp 24-25): _____ When he was fourteen years old he went to pay respects to Sengcan Jianzhi, the Third Patriarch. Daoxin said, “I ask for the Master’s […]