Temple Truths

Yes, Chinese people still love to visit the temples, especially during the Chinese New Year's holiday. In a recent trip to a nearby temple, The Bamboo Temple, this was clear to me. In Chinese this temple is the Qiongzhu Gong, a temple of the Chan school of Mahayana Buddhism, and is located in the hills west of Kunming. Founded on a site where legend has it that a strange rhino was spotted by two ruling brothers. When they gave pursuit, the rhino disappeared and they found a group of strange monks, but as they approached the monks vanished and in their place was some Qiong Bamboo. Since it was special 'arhat bamboo,' the brothers deemed it a place of enlightenment and built a temple there. This temple was established during the Yuan Dynasty and ,despite the Red Guards destruction during the Cultural Revolution, it has been rebuilt and is an active temple to this day. The Chinese buy vast amounts of incense which is for sale in the temple. They burn the incense in large cauldrons in the temple as an act of devotion. I saw Chinese families relaxing and partaking of the many foods being sold by various vendors on the temple site. I also saw many Chinese people bowing to pray to the many statues in the temple. They often leave offerings of fruit or flowers at the feet of the statues. There are small, colorful 'bowing cushions' at the altar areas. I realized after 60 years of communism, religion is alive and well in the Chinese people. A young college age man felt the need to approach our party of westerners and tell us we were being disrespectful by taking photos in the temple central courtyard, even though many Chinese were also shooting photos there as well. For a young man raised only during communism, he seemed mighty ardent to 'protect' Buddhism from the foreigners. I explained to him we were not being disrespectful, as I myself taught world religions for many years and like to read about Buddhism. I find the temples endlessly fascinating to visit and read about. I believe the eternal God of the universe created all men with what Pascal referred to as ' a god-shaped vacuum' inside of each of us. I admire the quest to discover truth in all its forms and long for seekers to find out about the one true God. That is why I like to visit temples of different religions. It proves to me time and time again that all men are searchers for the truth and all men seek to find God. I only hope they find the creator God of the universe and his only son, Jesus Christ.