No. 102: Yunmen Temple, Shaoguan, Guangdong

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on July 21, 2014.)

This statue commemorates Master Xuyun (虚云大师) at Yunmen Temple
(云门寺) in Shaoguan, Guangdong (广东, 韶关市).
It is one of the many temples he rebuilt in the 20th century.

July 23, 2012 - The morning after my arrival in Shaoguan and my short walk to Dajian Temple, I woke up early and caught a highway bus from Shaoguan's West Bus Station out to Ruyuan, an "Autonomous County" occupied by the Yao minority. From there it was a fairly short local bus ride to Yunmen ("Cloud Gate") Temple, formerly one of the most important seats of Chan (Zen) in China.

No. 111: Zhenru Temple, Jiujiang, Jiangxi

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on November 3, 2014.)

This memorial to Master Xuyun (虚云大师) is located next to Zhenru Temple
(真如寺), Yongxiu (Jiujiang), Jiangxi (江西, 九江市永修县), where he passed away.

August 10, 2012 - Using my new "base" in Nanchang, where I stopped in at Youmin Temple, I visited two more remote temples over the next two days. First, I took a train to rural Yongxiu, and a long bus from there to the base of Yunju (Cloud Residence) Mountain. A local driver took me another 10 or 15 kilometers up a windy mountain road to Zhenru ("True Suchness") Temple.