During the Dragon Boat Festival, I visited the Jing'an Temple with Alice, she is one of the two interviewers for my interview. The temple located in the bustling business district of Shanghai, this temple with its long history looks even more ancient and sacred in contrast to the high-rise buildings all around. It has a history of over 780 years. It was first built in the Three Kingdoms period (220-280). A fire almost destroyed the entire building in 1972, and the temple was finally reopened to the public in 1990 after restoration and reconstruction.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
The first thing that comes to view is Shanmen which is the gate of the temple. The gate of Jing'an Temple is integral to the Hall of the Heavenly King, with a two-storey structure above and below. The granite veneer, teak woodwork, and yellow glazed tile roof are all on the roof ridge, and the words 'Righteousness abides' on the roof ridge are a reflection of the Buddha's heart. The three teak doors in the centre of the lower floor are decorated with copper nails. The doorway is surrounded by stone carvings of Buddha's hands and lotus flowers. To the left and right of the main door, each side is decorated with a carved wheel of the Dharma in ten thousand years of lapis lazuli. The second-storey verandah is enclosed by a Chinese white jade fence and is lined with teak wood.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
In the north of the temple, there is the Dharma Hall. immediately adjacent to the main hall. It is a teak structure with a copper tiled roof, with seven storeys and a height of 32.22 metres. The temple is decorated with distinctly Buddhist motifs such as lions, elephants, the Dharma wheel and lotus flowers in conjunction with Buddhist features. Teak wood imported from Burma was chosen as the main structural material for the temple, with yellow and dark grey glazed tiles and copper tiles covering the roof. The layout follows the traditional Chinese architectural style, combining doors, halls and corridors.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
The bell is 3.3 metres high, with a diameter of 2.1 metres and a weight of 7.3 tonnes, cast in bronze. On the lower level there is a well named Yongquan, which dissolves with the underground spring water of the newly drilled 156-metre deep well. The well is 6 metres deep and has a hexagonal mouth, made from a single block of jinshan stone. The Yongquan well is built with 666 pieces of granite, and a single stone at the bottom of the well weighs 3,000 kilogram. The door of the bell tower is now locked because there have been incidents of large bells falling and injuring visitors. It's a pity that people cannot go inside to see the formation.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
As I reach the second floor cloister. Here I ran into my second interviewer. Her name is Xue Zhang and she is a solo traveler to Shanghai. She says she is 30 years old and has no boyfriend, so she comes to the temple during the vacation to ask the Buddha for a marriage. She feels that the presence of such a quiet temple in the midst of all the chaos to be a great novelty. Surrounded by bustling modern buildings, it contrasted with such a temple without being out of place.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
After that, we sees the Jing'an Pagoda. The pagoda covers an area of 85 square metres and has a floor area of 952 square metres. The pagoda is built in the style of a vajra throne pagoda, cast in bronze with a gold surface. Alice says this is the first time she has seen the Jing'an Pagoda up close. Previously she had always watched from a distance outside the temple. She feels that it is more imposing up close. It shows the generosity of Buddhism without losing its majesty.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
I also worship the Buddha. The Sakyamuni Hall is located in the middle of the west wing and is 20.6 metres high, housing a white jade Sakyamuni Buddha measuring 3.87 metres in height and weighing 11 tonnes. This seated statue of Sakyamuni Buddha is carved from a single block of Burmese white jade. The roof is of yellow glazed tiles, in contrast to the dark grey glazed tiles of the west wing, highlighting the solemnity of the hall.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
The I go to the Guanyin Hall, it locates in the middle of the east wing, the Hall of Guanyin at Jing'an Temple is 20.6 metres high. It houses the Bodhisattva Guanyin, carved from a single piece of balsam wood. In people's minds, Guanyin has always been a person of great wisdom and wisdom, able to save people from fire and water, and to give unlimited hope to all beings. This is why Guanyin has always been admired by the people.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
Inside the Mahamuni Buddha Hall is a 15-tonne statue of Mahamuni Buddha, cast in pure silver. Mahamuni Buddha blesses people with peace.The ground floor of the hall is a sermon hall for 1,000 people, and the underground is a 1,000 square metre scripture vault, which will house 130,000 pieces of stone carved scriptures to be passed on to future generations. On either side of the main hall are the east and west chambers, with a two-storey carved-beam corridor connecting the whole temple, with Chinese white jade lotus columns and fences around the edge of the corridor.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
After visiting the whole temple, Alice and I walked out. In front of us are modern skyscrapers that are thriving. Behind us is an ancient civilisation with a long history. As a local Shanghai resident, Alice says she always see the Jing'an Temple as a very grand building as well as an iconic Shanghai presence. The golden temple is so impressive that you can be struck by it from a great distance. She lives here in a flat not far from the Jing'an Temple and every day when she passes by she can see a steady stream of visitors with devout hearts coming to worship and pray to Buddha.
June 12, 2021, Shanghai
