EXTRA: Nan Shaolin Temple, Putian, Fujian

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on November 25, 2013.)

This Laughing Buddha (弥勒佛) sits in the Heavenly Kings' Hall (天王殿)
at Nan Shaolin Temple (南少林寺), Putian, Fujian (福建, 莆田市).

October 29, 2011 - After visiting three temples in a day, I was planning to sleep late, write up my notes, and slowly make my way back to Fuzhou and my flight home. Alternatively, if I had the energy, I might have visited the Tian Hou/Mazu temple on a nearby island, the site of that Daoist sea-goddess's birth.

But as happened before, my friend Venerable Deru had other plans for me. He had arranged for a friend to come pick me up and take me to Nan Shaolin Temple. After he had nagged me about this for days, saying, "It's very historic," I told him that if I tried to go to every "historic" temple in China, I'd be dead before I finished!

No. 33: Tianning Temple, Changzhou, Jiangsu

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on August 27, 2012.)

Statue of Maitreya (弥勒) in front of the huge pagoda (塔) at
Tianning Temple (天宁寺) in Changzhou, Jiangsu (江苏, 常州市)

July 26, 2010 - Traveling down the Yangtze from Yangzhou and Zhenjiang by bus, I reached Changzhou, home to Tianning Temple.

No. 16: Daxingshan Temple,Xi'an, Shaanxi

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on April 16, 2012.)

An unusual reclining Maitreya (弥勒) in the Heavenly Kings' (天王) Hall (殿) at Daxingshan
Temple (大兴善寺) in Xi'an, Shaanxi (陕西, 西安市). He is usually seen sitting.

September 1, 2009 - The next morning, our first goal was Daxingshan Si (Great Propagation of Goodness Temple), not far outside Xi'an's south gate.