But anyways, after going to all the Buddhist temples and seeing the Buddhas, it was nice to learn about another belief in China. Did you know that they used to think Earth was held on the back of a turtle?? Pretty interesting...
| The Temple of the Green Ram is a Daoism place, as opposed to Buddhism. My dad knows a lot of history and he explained much of the sites and statues. Daoism is named because of "dao," which supposedly creates everything. It's not really a God, but just a belief of...well, something. It's really hard to define, especially since I don't think I even know what it is. In most of the worship places, there is a saying along both sides of the door (see the picture at left). My sister and I learned one, and maybe this will help explain what "dao" is: "Dao begot one (being or creature), one begot two, two begot three, and three begot ten thousand creatures. People come after the earth, the earth comes after the sky, the sky comes after dao, and dao comes naturally." Did that make sense?? I thought not. But anyways, after going to all the Buddhist temples and seeing the Buddhas, it was nice to learn about another belief in China. Did you know that they used to think Earth was held on the back of a turtle?? Pretty interesting... |
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| Wu Hou Ci is a historical place dedicated to the Three Kingdoms. The Era of the Three Kingdoms (about 220 AD-265 AD) came after the Han dynasty (about 206 BC-220 AD), which was after the Qin dynasty (about 221 BC-206 BC) (where the Qin Emperor united all of China). They have statues of the most important people during that time. The Romance of Three Kingdoms is a novel about this time. It starts out "The united will separate, the separate will unite." This was a time when many people struggled for power. The twins came with us and they explained a lot of the history. Chinese history is really interesting, having about 5000 years. |
| The last place we got to see in Sichuan was Le Shan Da Fo. Here is a Big Buddha carved into the side of a mountain, kind of like an ancient Mount Rushmore. It's about 27 meters tall (or 90 feet). There's a saying that means to "hold Buddha's foot," or beg for mercy type thing. If you are on your hands and knees, begging someone, I guess it looks like you're holding their foot. So we climbed down treacherous stairs (and it was rainy) to "beg mercy." I also learning that Buddha's hair was carved so that the ringlets formed a good drainage system, so when it rains (as it did that day) water won't collect on his head and ruin the statue. The Chinese think of everything. "Hui Tou Shi An" (see below picture on the right) is a famous Buddhist proverb that means "if you turn around and go back, you will be saved." Your life could have more choices to be successful than always marching forward. This inscription in the rock is kinda funny because a few feet in front of us is the dock to board the tourist sightseeing boat. | 
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