In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the Chan (Zen) sect developed a new ‘seven part structure’ for temples. The seven parts – the Buddha hall, dharma hall, monks’ quarters, depository, gate, pure land hall and toilet facilities – completely exclude pagodas, and can be seen to represent the final triumph of the traditional Chinese palace/courtyard system over the original central-pagoda tradition established 1000 years earlier by the White Horse Temple in 67.
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Buddhist monastery architecture in China (1). General View
Thanks to Umberto Eco’s the Name of the Rose, we all know the architecture of a Cistercian Monastery: the Church, and next to it the Cloister which is the Center of the public life of the Monastery. Monks sleep in the Dormitorium, which is open to the Cloister’s second floor, and pass their time on the ground level, either in the garden, in the Scriptorium or in the Refectorium. Next to it, logically, stands the kitchen. Usually there is a direct entrance to the Cloister, with storage for goods. The (usually spectacular) Capitular Hall opens, alone, towards the Cloister
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Buddhist Monastic Life and the Vinaya -1-
Buddhist Monks are called Bhikkus (“who lives from alms”). Originally, Bhikkhus were people who left everything beneath them and lived on alms, like Jesus’ disciples. Bhikkus wandered the countryside, they stopped somewhere, where they spoke the teachings of Buddha. Lay people feed them, and gave them cover. During the three months of the Monsoon, they gathered together in temporary shelters, which become monasteries later on.
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Three or Four brush strokes on Buddhism
I almost wrote this title “Buddhism for Dummies”, but I am sure that you are not Dummy, nor I can explain buddhism, even to Dummies. Initially this post was about the architecture of Buddhist Monasteries in China, but speaking about Monasteries without details about monastic life and Buddhism had no sense… so, let us start with some brushstrokes on Buddhism and its differences compared to Christianity.
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Monasteries in Amdo
There is a division in Tibetan Buddhism, which divides in sects that will be explained in the next post, but, at this point, we may divide them in “Red hats” (the Old Tradition) and “Yellow hats” (Gelug). The Dalai Lama belongs to the Gelug.
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Tuesday, May 23, 2017, Da Qaidam Zhen to Golmud
The original plan was to skip Golmud, to go directly from Da Qaidam to Delingha, and there to take a train or a bus to Ulan and Tsaka.
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Monday, May 22, 2017 Mangnai to Da Qaidam (260 Km) or to Golmud (352 Km)
There is not a lot to see in Mangnai except if you are interested in the mining business. And, more specifically, in the asbestos mining. An interesting page from 10 years ago -> -> Shimiankuang <-
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كتاب ألف ليلة وليلة . In search of a dream land and of Roland and Sabrina Michaud
Orient opened its doors for me in my grandmother bookshelf, with the “Alf-Laila Wa-Laila” the Book of One Night and One Thousand Nights, complete and uncensored (it was edited before the Spanish Civil War). It was a popular edition, translated by Vicente Blasco Ibañez, a well known Spanish writer. As he did not know the arabic, he translated it from French. Note on translation was misleading: “Translated direct and literally from the Arabic by J.C. Mardrus. Spanish version from V. Blasco Ibanez.” but of course, Blasco Ibañez was a best seller writer, and he did not knew arabic.
This gallery contains 16 photographs in all as photograph etc.
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Traveling abroad is always complicated. And specially, in China.
To understand the words is not enough. It may be useful to find the restrooms (男, male, nan, 女, female, nu), and know the differences in a menu between the Jellyfish salad (Liang Ban Hai Zhe 涼拌海蜇), the sea cucumber (Haishen, 海参), and the almost divine Phoenix Claws, aka. chicken feet (Fèng zhuǎ 鳯爪). But, who may know the taste of the Phoenix Claws before eating them? Even understanding the words, we may be as lost as Peter was. Moreover, a culture which calls a dish “Phoenix Claws” would not be easy to understand.
