We went on a little adventure today with 3 other families to a Buddhist Temple in Guangzhou. It was a beautiful temple with 3-4 buildings that housed the Buddha's and a 8+ story Pagoda in the center of the grounds. We could photograph anything in the temple except some of the Buddha's. We were told by our guide Michelle... "Don't shoot the Buddha". I immediately thought that would be a great band name... I'll add it our list.
Our journey had one main purpose... get the baby blessed by a Buddhist monk. This is the main religion of Chloe's culture and in all probability the religion of her biological family, so it felt like a great thing to do for her. It is quite possibly something that was done by her birth mother before she was abandonded, although we'll never know.
After walking around the temple a bit, we were led into one of the buildings with 3 large Buddha statues inside... they had to be 30 feet high each. 
We were asked to take our shoes off and sit on a rug in front of the Buddha. A monk came in and started praying/chanting, then he started to sprinkle water on us. Jake's comment to me was "Hey... he's getting me wet", I was proud of him though, because he didn't yell it out. We got another doozy of a photo after getting blessed. I am having fun on this trip... really!
I told Beth, it would be nice to have a picture of me on the blog where I look happy to be here! I guess it's just my M.O. on this trip.
As you can see, we were allowed to take photos inside this building with the 3 Buddha's. It was very interesting, they had bowls of food everywhere in front of the statues and they also had cans of some soda drink stacked like cans at a carnival game. I was praying that Ryan and Jake didn't see these and try to knock them down. They also had offering boxes where our guide suggested we give a 5-10 rmb ($1.40 USD) for the blessing... I threw in more for my family. I figure that they deserved it, since the boys hadn't left the building yet :-)
We were asked to take our shoes off and sit on a rug in front of the Buddha. A monk came in and started praying/chanting, then he started to sprinkle water on us. Jake's comment to me was "Hey... he's getting me wet", I was proud of him though, because he didn't yell it out. We got another doozy of a photo after getting blessed. I am having fun on this trip... really!
I told Beth, it would be nice to have a picture of me on the blog where I look happy to be here! I guess it's just my M.O. on this trip.As you can see, we were allowed to take photos inside this building with the 3 Buddha's. It was very interesting, they had bowls of food everywhere in front of the statues and they also had cans of some soda drink stacked like cans at a carnival game. I was praying that Ryan and Jake didn't see these and try to knock them down. They also had offering boxes where our guide suggested we give a 5-10 rmb ($1.40 USD) for the blessing... I threw in more for my family. I figure that they deserved it, since the boys hadn't left the building yet :-)
Doug (a dad from Ohio) pointed out this sign in the courtyard that I had to end this post with. I figure it points out the common link between all religious beliefs around the world. I also added a picture of a cat I saw in the temple. There are literally stray cats everywhere! Jake even found a white one in the dairy section of a supermarket in Nanjing... and it wasn't for sale :-)
Matt
1 comments:
Love "Don't Shoot the Buddha" for a band name. :) Looks like you guys went to the Six Banyan Pagoda. We also went there and had the babies blessed. It was so beautiful! I am so gald that you guys are having a great time and the pictures are always so much fun to look at. Take care and I can't wait until you guys get home! :)
Hugs,
Jonni
Post a Comment