The Sacred Buddhist Temples Of Anhui Jiu Hua Mountains 安徽九華山
Posted On Thursday, November 5, 2015 at at 10:30 PM by Alvin
Welcome to Jiu hua Mountains (九華山), one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China - a site which had been the practice and prayer grounds for the Buddhist disciple Dizang (地藏). Jiu Hua Mountains had been the destination for worshippers since the Tang Dynasty (circa 600 A.D.) and still today attracted dedicated followers in the thousands; while we were stationed here, we came across hordes of Buddhist practitioners donned in their grey gowns and practised chanting Buddhist mantra as others listened and debated Buddhist scriptures and learnings with the leading monks. One word of warning to any would-be visitors, you would be pleasantly stunned with the enormous size of the tens of temples here as well as the giant statues housed inside these shady dwellings; to name just a few of the famous ones, we visited 東崖禪寺、回香閣、地藏禪寺、肉身殿、天台寺、上禪堂、百歲宮、甘露寺、化城寺、祇園寺、旃檀林、慧居寺. One of the statues of Dizang stood at a whopping height of 99 metres, that's about the height of your average suburban high-rise buildings of 30 storeys ! All these temples were dotted all around the picturesque mountains and we walked amongst the red, golden and verdant Autumn leaves to visit these temples in turn, it was tiring but well-worth the effort as we were rewarded with the delightful vista of the design and construction of these gigantic temples. We attained a sense of peacefulness and felt energised and refreshed after visiting these holy mountains for the past four days.
Anhui Jiu Hua Mountains - Hiking In The Autumn Colors Of 安徽九華山
Posted On Sunday, November 1, 2015 at at 7:39 PM by Alvin
In the areas of south-eastern China, a combination of earth movements, climate changes and natural erosions had produced numerous spectacular mountains and Jiu Hua Mountains (九華山) National Park stood out as a prime example of weather-beaten clusters of granite towers which we called "home" for four days. We would pay visit to the sacred temples nestled amongst fragrant pine forests, as we hiked through this stunning mountain range in the fiery Autumn colors; more in a later blog entry for the temple visits. But first, we based ourselves in the mountain village of Jiu Hua Village (九華街) which was located 18KM up the mountains. All around us stood well-maintained and inviting trails that would take us up and down the various scenic areas and we took the opportunity to exercise our lungs and limbs (to the fullest) as we stair-mastered our way around these mountains. Along the way, we were met by beautiful rock formation, maple leaves showing off their best Autumn clothes, verdant pine trees remaining green as a major supporting cast to this Fall picture and there was hardly anyone along the trails, as the Buddhist worshippers were too busy attending to their duties in the tens of temples which made this mountain so famous !
