Journal of a Sabbatical

China Trip 2000

500 arhats

Quote of the Day:

And so firm is the deep root, so established underground,

That its lone lofty boughs can dare the weight of winds -- Du Fu - Song of an Old Cypress

Today's Reading: The Story of the Stone (a.k.a. Dream of the Red Chamber) by Cao Xuequin

I read in one of the Beijing guidebooks that there are 500 arhats in Xiangshan Park. When I realized that I was living within walking distance of the temple that has all 500 arhats represented, I knew I had to visit it. With the 9 day trip to Tibet and only two days here when I get back, I realized this had to be the day. We are leaving for Tibet in the afternoon but the morning is free, so I planned with Carol to visit the Temple of the Azure Clouds.

We got up early and walked up the hill right after breakfast. It's China’s National Day so the park was pretty crowded. All along the road to the park hawkers of all ages were selling Chinese flags, crowns of red and yellow flowers, and anything else red and yellow that you can imagine in addition to all the souvenir shops, religious supply shops, rock shops... you name it... which are always there. It was an achievement just to get to the temple without buying a flag.

First we had to pay admission to Xiangshan Park, then walk further up the hill to the Temple of the Azure Clouds and pay admission to the temple itself. Besides the usual pots of red and yellow flowers, the path was decorated with red and yellow umbrellas strung between the trees. I thought that was creative and original and even whimsical. As we're walking along the path we hear somebody yelling hello from above our heads. People are always saying hello to us but I couldn't figure out where this person was until I looked up. The guy is helloing us from the basket of a tethered hot air balloon hovering over the park!

The temple layout is sort of like the Forbidden City layout in that you have to pass through gate after gate and hall after hall in succession. One of the halls contains a statue of a bodhisattva who was apparently short and stocky like me. I get many admiring glances and comments from people who think I'm the reincarnation of this guy (forgot to write down his name). Well, we're probably all reincarnations of this guy anyway. The men here are just looking for an excuse to tell me how attractive I am. I got a lot of that last night at the street food festival too. Men here think I am good looking and constantly give me the two thumbs up sign.

Climbing, climbing, climbing. Passing through gates with fierce guardians of the dharma, and halls with beautiful statues. Climbing some more. The ticket at left shows the basic layout of the temple. The Hall of the Arhats is the low building halfway up the hill. It's got a central room and then two wings.

The arhats are arranged in rows in a very dark room. It took my eyes forever to adjust and of course I couldn’t take any pictures. These particular arhat statues are carved out of wood and covered with gold foil so they are not quite as lifelike as some painted ones that Carol saw in southeast Asia, but every one of them is unique. They’re close to life size - at least if you consider my height to be life size. Despite the gold coloring, their faces look almost alive.

Every one of them is doing something different: poking his ear, gazing into the distance, laughing, scratching, growing an extra head, tearing his chest open... I particularly liked the one who had the Buddha head bursting out of his chest like that scene in Alien. There really are 500 of them.

The aisles between and around them are so confusing I got all turned around but eventually saw every last one of them.

I bought a set of glass prayer beads with the arhats painted on the inside of the glass at the temple gift shop. It’s funny that I hadn’t really bought any souvenirs of the trip for myself so far. The prayer beads are really beautiful and will make a good reminder of the arhats.