Lantau Island’s Bigger Buddha

At the end of that cool floating cable car ride was the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha Statue. We had a vegetarian lunch in the monastery consisting of: today’s soup, deep fried spring rolls, fried mix vegetable with bean curd sheet, black mushroom with vegetables, steam bean curd with light chili sauce, steam rice. It was ok. The best part is it was only about $5/person and we were no longer hungry, if not totally satiated. Not on the menu: tea that tasted like mildew. On purpose? “In 1973, the Caodong Sect of Japan invited the Ven. Chi Wai, Ven. Yuen Wai and other monks of Po Lin Monastery for a visit there. They were greatly impressed by the solemn and stately Buddha statue in Kamakura….The monks vowed to build a big Buddha statue in Hong Kong, hoping that the spirit of tranquillity and stability as expressed by the statue could be a source of spiritual comfort for the people. Thus their minds could be purified, their worries allayed and they could reach a state of peace and quiet.”In 1979, following the opening of China, the monks were invited to pay a visit. They then saw the statues of the Longmen and Dunhuang for the first time. Filled with admiration and awe, they were more determined to build a big Buddha statue in Hong Kong. Then they visited the Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven) in Beijing. As the Buddha was often referred to as a deva of devas and a sage among sages, they thought of building a “tian tan” as the base for a big Buddha statue. This is how the statue came to be called the Tian Tan Buddha Statues. This is my favorite picture of Chris of the whole trip! I love the sun with the gate and the Buddha background. Chris had commented on this statue’s similarity to the Daibutsu in Kamakura; I had remarked on the similarity of the temple gate and round platform thing to the Temple of Heaven. We were very impressed with each other when we got up to the museum/gift shop/temple inside the bigger bronze Buddha (bigger than Kamakura’s) and found confirmation for each supposition. The Po Lin Monastery looked and smelled beautiful at sunset as people burned enormous amounts of incense in prayer. Tables and tables of monks were chanting too, so loudly that one little girl was walking around frowning with her hands over her ears. I thought that was funnier than her parents did. Chris wanted to walk the Wisdom Path but it led right next to the Sprite/Coca-Cola tea house, which was boarded up and had scarecrows in the window and a stray dog sniffing around it. We turned back. A wise move. Then a bull walked by. huh!? Everyone else seemed as surprised as we were. “These fire beaters are solely for putting out fire. Please put them back in the rack after using them. Thank you for your cooperation.” This was next door to the Sprite Tea House. Right.The cable car ride back was misty and beautiful but WINDY! That made it a little more thrilling! Yikes! Oh…no worries, this kid is merely taking advantage of the glass-bottomed floor in the Crystal Cabin to freak out his parents. What with the cable car ride, the created tourist village leading up to the monastery and statue, and the interactive monkey cartoons, the area felt a little theme park-y especially since the cable car and Hong Kong Disney are only one train station apart. Chris said, “That monastery really knew what it was doing when it built the Buddha here. It almost feels like Disney could buy it out at any moment and incorporate it as another park.” “Called what?” I asked. Chris laughed: “Disney’s Nirvana!”