We had a tour of the Six Banyan Temple. It was built between the years of 420 – 479 and to enshrine the sacred Buddhist remains of Sakyamuni. The temple was renamed several times. Original name was Changshou Temple (Longevity Temple). Then it was renamed to Jinghui Temple (Pure Wisdom Temple). A great poet named Su Dongpo visited the temple and found six banyan trees. The trees made him cheerful and put him in a good mood. Because the trees made the soul happy, the temple was then renamed to the Six Banyan Temple.
At the entrance to the temple, visitors are greeted by the laughing Buddha.
The main highlight of the temple is the Lotus Pagoda built in year 537. Our guide told us that years ago, it was open to the public but not anymore because, like the Tower of Pisa in Italy, the Six Banyan Temple is leaning a little on its side.
The Hall of Mahavira contains three bronze statues weighing 10 tons each and at about 19 feet high. The left statue is named Amitabha, middle statue is Sakyamuni and right statue is Apothecary. The statues stand for present, past and future.
Another bronze statue of Sakyamuni standing a little over 5 feet.
Lots of well-maintained plants
Locals come to the temple to worship. First, they burn joss sticks.
Then the people engage in worship with the joss sticks in their hands
Afterwards, joss sticks are placed inside this fancy tray stand.
Some people go inside the Hall of Mahavira to pray
People offer food at the temple as well after worship
The engraved wall displays names of people who donated money to help keep the temple maintained.
There are a few buildings in the temple that displays pictures of deceased family members. If locals would like to continue to keep their loved ones pictures inside this building, they pay a yearly fee of 8000 Yuan or $1200 US. Some of the locals place fruits on the table near the picture of their deceased family member as an offering.
After we toured temple, our guide took us to an expensive souvenir shop. This shop is different from ordinary souvenir shops. Most items in this shop are hand-made or hand-painted.
These artisans are painting Chinese vases. It can take about 2 full days to finish.
This guy uses his hands to paint sceneries
We bought one of his hand-paintings with Nathan’s name on it. According to Chinese definition, Nathan means sincere and special.
Then he placed the painting onto a thin, white cardboard
Nathan’s curious expression
Families in our group says that Nathan is a deep thinker. This is his thinking expression
“Haven’t you taken enough pictures of me yet, mom?”
“Ok, I will smile a bit for you.”
Nathan prefers the Gerber pureed bananas or apples mixed with Gerber rice cereal. He would spit out the pureed peas with rice cereal from time to time. I just don’t want him to eat only bananas or apples though. In order for him to eat his peas, I feed him real banana fruit and sandwich the peas between small cuts of bananas. But he really loves bananas the most. He can eat 2 whole bananas. After our complimentary breakfast, I make sure I grab a bunch of bananas.