This Sunday had another cultural program in store for me. I happened to visit the Jade Buddha Monastery, getting a glimpse on this particular religion and also the rites and celebrations which are entailing the praying/wishing to Buddha.

The Jade Buddha Monastery is famous for the Jade Buddhas in it. In the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing dynasty, the old Master Hui Gen from Putuo Mountain of Zhejiang Province traveled through China and paid visits to famous mountains and monasteries, as well as well-known people. He started from the Putuo Mountain, traveled through the Wutai Mountain, and the Emei Mountain, from Sichuan he entered into Tibet, then into India and some other countries for sightseeing of the Buddhist sites and relics. Finally he reached Burma. When he found Burma was rich in jade and Buddhas were carved in superb craft, a keen desire to carve jade Buddhas came over him. Then he begged for money everywhere and obtained donation from Mr. Chen Junpu, a Chinese settled in Burma of over 20,000 taels of silver. He also got the special permission from the Burmese king to dig and select jade in the mountains and hired excellent jade carvers to carve five jade Buddhas in big and small sizes, all decorated with treasured stones and big pearls. All the faces of the jade Buddhas were bright like the full moon, and everything was in perfection and solemnity. As soon as the Buddhas were carved, Master Hui Gen started his journey back. When he passed through Shanghai, he left two Buddhas for disciples to worship[...] (History)

After that Aurora and me went to the Jing’an District where we had a stroll to Jing’an Temple which currently is under construction, unfortunately. The Temple, also known as “Temple of Peace and Tranquility” is a Buddhist Temple which was rebuilt in Qing Dynasty. During the Cultural Revolution it even was converted into a plastics factory and in the 80′ies converted back into an active temple following some renovating process in 2003 (Source: Wikipedia).

We of course also had a walk through the Jing’an Park, which is just across the street. Following that we enjoyed a typical Shanghainese dinner at a classy restaurant.

So, this was mainly my update for the eventful last week. I hope you’re all fine and everthings well in hometown and Austria in general.

All the best,

Mike