What a striking day! On Thursday we left early for the Hangzhou Buddhist College and Lingyin Temple, which are nestled in the hills behind West Lake. It was nice to finally be out in nature after being in the bustling city the last two weeks. The absence of honking cars and mopeds was pleasantly noticeable. After taking a brief tour of the college, we talked with Buddhist monk, Huejun Ha, about the history of Buddhism in ancient and how it is evolving to address modern China and globalization.
Lunch with the monks was truly an experience. There were three basic rules:No cell phones, no talking, and no wasting food. NCTA teachers were seated facing several rows of monks dressed in gray and gold robes. The lunch "ritual" began with a repeating bell and chant. A procession of monks then filed in with buckets of food that they quickly ladled into each person's bowl. In the absence of our usual lunch chatter the vegetarian meal was over quickly, but it felt an overwhelming sense of privilege to have been allowed to peek into their daily lives like this. Each monk cleared their own place and washed their own dishes and then returned them to their seat for the next meal.
After lunch we met Mark Lu, a Chinese American from San Francisco who has been teaching English at the college here in Hangzhou for the last seven months. According to Mr Lu, the Lingyin Temple is one the most significant temples in the all of China. This was clear when we arrived. There were throngs of tourists and pilgrims climbing the cliffs to pray and see the grottos that contained religious rock carvings like the famous laughing Buddha. We climbed many stone steps to the top of one of these paths. I was thrilled to see a water vendor at the top.
I'm not sure I have words for the temple itself. I was enthralled by the pilgrims who appeared to be cleansing themselves with incense before praying at the foot of the statues. The architecture, carvings, statues and people at each level fused ancient and modern China together.
Thursday evening a small group of us went to the night market for dinner. It's filled with stands of fresh meat and vegetables on skewers that you place in a basket and hand to vendors who grill and season it all. Served with crisp refreshing beer to counter the heat, this was one of the best meals of the trip.
Well deserved foot massages finished our day off.
The following morning I planned my first and only bike ride this trip...much more intimidating than I thought it would be- though they're are tons of people on bikes,mopeds and tuk tuks, the cars, tour busses, and trucks seriously outnumber them. There are bike lanes which are fenced off, but the intersections are insane. And everyone here goes about it all very nonchalantly. One of my Chinese hosts taught me how to be a pedestrian. He said, "Walk steadily and don't make any sudden movements, then everyone will go around you." When I asked him if he had ever been hit by a bicycle or moped he responded, "Oh yes, but it was my fault. I was rushing."
Study Tour
