Sacred Places
This afternoon we went to a Buddist Temple and Monastary in Chengdu. It has been there since around 600 or so AD. The temple is like a little city inside the city -- there is a wall around it and you pay to enter. Inside there is the temple part but there is also a tea house, place to eat, place to learn more about Buddhism, a chinese herbist/medicinal shop, and a place to buy books, CDs, beads and such. The Temple is in a little alley street that still looks like "old China" not a China that is attempting to look western with its McDonalds and Starbucks. Outside there were men laying new concrete blocks for a redone entrance. I will post a few pics. For my brother's employees who complain -- they should try this. They are working with wooden wheel barrows in blistering heat. It was humbling.
We went first to the tea house -- this is like the local coffee shop, pub, hang out. If you can imagine the Cheers bar, Friends Cafe, Mel's diner, or McMenamins nearby -- this is where people go to hang out. There are people sitting, drinking tea, playing cards, reading the paper, chatting. There is not a hurried "can I take your order double tall grande triple shot skinny whatever I want RIGHT NOW" sense of life there. Amazingly -- it seems that most of the times that I have passed through the tea houses -- it is the same. People here know how to sit down and drink a cup of tea. While I would not trade my life in America for all the tea in china -- I do appreciate that they know as a culture how to sit down and not hurry. You could so easily rewind and see the same scenario 10, 100 or 1000 years ago.... it is timeless.
We had our tea and then the kids and I went to walk into the temple area across a couple of courtyards. Inside the temple -- you could hear monks chanting in some of the rooms -- it was all open air type with courtyard connecting rooms connecting courtyards. There are rooms with shrines to various buddas and pillows for worshipers to come and bow and pray and move one.
In my life I have had the amazing experience of being in many places of worship. I have stood a the top of a Mayan Temple in the jungle of Central America and imagined the boom of a priest's voice to the crowd in the natural amphitheare below. I have walked the 1000 year old stone floor in the Charte Cathedral in France where peasants knees have carved grooves in the floor as they crawled in pennance forward to approach the alter. I have walked to the top of Mt St Michael in France and stood in a courtyard for priests in that sacred place. I have been to a small stucco building in Mexico and slept on the concrete floor of a church where people come to worship with enthusiasm each Sunday. I have sat on the beach in my favorite place and listened to the power of the waves and the whisper of divine that permeates when one sits still long enough to listen. Today as I walked through the temple in Chengdu China where people have come seeking that divine connection.... I found myself again in that sacred place that words do not correctly describe. Just as I was moved to tears in France 10 years ago when I thought of peasant coming to the cathedral and crawling on their knees in a labrarynth maze pattern to do their pennance to be worth to approach the alter... today I thought of the people of China. For all but a small handful, their lives are simple. For some their lives are pitiful. Yet for any of these, there is a moment in that place that is sacred for them that provides sanctuary for their souls. In that temple, they can remember those before them and wish for good things for those who come after. They can find a wee bit of hope and peace when much of what is around them does not offer that.
I will not pretend to analyze any theology or philosophy around what kind of temple, whether it is the "right" temple or the "wrong" temple... that is not my purpose here. I just was so struck and humbled again today. There is something amazing about creating a space in which the purpose is to quiet oneself, reflect, give thanks, pray for those you love, and find the sanctuary that a sacred place offers. To sit still and BE is not an easy thing for me -- or many of us who rush and rush through life. I so enjoyed the afternoon and the chance to sit, sip tea, listen to the buggies that chirp so loud in the trees, walk through quiet sacred courtyards, listen to chants, and say my thanksgivings for the incredible blessings I have.
As we walked out of the temple courtyard and woman came up to me and started talking to me in Chinese. I did not understand her words -- but I figured it out. She asked me if all three of these children were mine -- I said yes. She asked again -- placing her hand on each boy's head and then Julia. I said yes, and gestured that these were all mine. She pointed to Julia and repeated a phrase that I figured out meant "You have a good heart" She told me time and again -- Thank you, thank you -- you have a good heart. I walked away --- yes, I have a good heart. I is made full by the richness of the blessings in my life -- including these FOUR children that are mine. And for me -- my journey today to that sacred place allowed me to be reminded of that. Sacred places ... and sitting still. Funny that it sometimes takes me thousands of miles to remind myself of the value of both.
Jackie
We went first to the tea house -- this is like the local coffee shop, pub, hang out. If you can imagine the Cheers bar, Friends Cafe, Mel's diner, or McMenamins nearby -- this is where people go to hang out. There are people sitting, drinking tea, playing cards, reading the paper, chatting. There is not a hurried "can I take your order double tall grande triple shot skinny whatever I want RIGHT NOW" sense of life there. Amazingly -- it seems that most of the times that I have passed through the tea houses -- it is the same. People here know how to sit down and drink a cup of tea. While I would not trade my life in America for all the tea in china -- I do appreciate that they know as a culture how to sit down and not hurry. You could so easily rewind and see the same scenario 10, 100 or 1000 years ago.... it is timeless.
We had our tea and then the kids and I went to walk into the temple area across a couple of courtyards. Inside the temple -- you could hear monks chanting in some of the rooms -- it was all open air type with courtyard connecting rooms connecting courtyards. There are rooms with shrines to various buddas and pillows for worshipers to come and bow and pray and move one.
In my life I have had the amazing experience of being in many places of worship. I have stood a the top of a Mayan Temple in the jungle of Central America and imagined the boom of a priest's voice to the crowd in the natural amphitheare below. I have walked the 1000 year old stone floor in the Charte Cathedral in France where peasants knees have carved grooves in the floor as they crawled in pennance forward to approach the alter. I have walked to the top of Mt St Michael in France and stood in a courtyard for priests in that sacred place. I have been to a small stucco building in Mexico and slept on the concrete floor of a church where people come to worship with enthusiasm each Sunday. I have sat on the beach in my favorite place and listened to the power of the waves and the whisper of divine that permeates when one sits still long enough to listen. Today as I walked through the temple in Chengdu China where people have come seeking that divine connection.... I found myself again in that sacred place that words do not correctly describe. Just as I was moved to tears in France 10 years ago when I thought of peasant coming to the cathedral and crawling on their knees in a labrarynth maze pattern to do their pennance to be worth to approach the alter... today I thought of the people of China. For all but a small handful, their lives are simple. For some their lives are pitiful. Yet for any of these, there is a moment in that place that is sacred for them that provides sanctuary for their souls. In that temple, they can remember those before them and wish for good things for those who come after. They can find a wee bit of hope and peace when much of what is around them does not offer that.
I will not pretend to analyze any theology or philosophy around what kind of temple, whether it is the "right" temple or the "wrong" temple... that is not my purpose here. I just was so struck and humbled again today. There is something amazing about creating a space in which the purpose is to quiet oneself, reflect, give thanks, pray for those you love, and find the sanctuary that a sacred place offers. To sit still and BE is not an easy thing for me -- or many of us who rush and rush through life. I so enjoyed the afternoon and the chance to sit, sip tea, listen to the buggies that chirp so loud in the trees, walk through quiet sacred courtyards, listen to chants, and say my thanksgivings for the incredible blessings I have.
As we walked out of the temple courtyard and woman came up to me and started talking to me in Chinese. I did not understand her words -- but I figured it out. She asked me if all three of these children were mine -- I said yes. She asked again -- placing her hand on each boy's head and then Julia. I said yes, and gestured that these were all mine. She pointed to Julia and repeated a phrase that I figured out meant "You have a good heart" She told me time and again -- Thank you, thank you -- you have a good heart. I walked away --- yes, I have a good heart. I is made full by the richness of the blessings in my life -- including these FOUR children that are mine. And for me -- my journey today to that sacred place allowed me to be reminded of that. Sacred places ... and sitting still. Funny that it sometimes takes me thousands of miles to remind myself of the value of both.
Jackie
posted by Jack's Journey at
12:59 AM
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