Sunday, June 1, 2008

Jiuhuan Shan, Monk Wuxia





By now we had been in at least 30 different temples and though similar in layout they will have unique features. One of the temples on Jiuhuan Shan has imprints of the feet of a monk in the stone. The temple is built around the stone. It is said that a monk meditated there for quite some time and his footprints were left in the stone. Believers will take off their shoes and place there feet in the footprints. My shoe size is 12 and I stood in the stone footprints and they were much bigger than my feet!

We also saw the gilded body of Monk Wuxia. My understanding was that when a monk died they were put in a large jar and after three years the jar was opened. If the body was intact they were considered a saint. This was the case with Monk Wuxia. When they opened the jar his body was intact. It was later gilded and placed in the temple. We were able to see the gilded body.


Top Right: View of the other mountain we were on the day before.
Top Left: Inscriptions in stone.
Bottom Right: Locks.
Bottom Left: Mark Van Loan on the backbone of Jiuhua Shan.

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