Lingyin-Feilai Feng (Temple of Soul's Retreat)

Talk about a religious experience!  On Wednesday, my family and I planned to visit Lingyin Temple. According to our tour booklet, the origin of the temple itself dates back to the "Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 - 420AD) when, according to local legend, Huili an Indian monk came to the area where he was inspired by the spiritual nature of the scenery to be found here. To his mind this had to be a dwelling of the Immortals and so he gave the temple a name Temple of the Soul's Retreat" (Travel China Guide).  For a complete description of the temple and the history behind it, I suggest that you visit The Online China Travel Guide.   

The site itself is comprised of several halls, including The Hall of Heavenly Kings, Grand Hall of the Great Sage, Hall of the Medicine Buddha, Hall of the 500 Arhats, the Sutra Library, and the Huayan Hall.  Each is elaborately decorated and contains buddhist artwork that is centuries old. In the center courtyard, torches burn so that pilgrims may light their incense and pray to the Buddha and his bodhisattvas.  Thus, the air is pungent with the smell of incense and you can hear the whisper of prayers and chants mingling with the birds singing overhead.  

After wandering through each of the halls, I spotted a monk in his golden robes making his way toward the great hall, where a drum was silently calling people to prayer.  I followed and soon found myself in the hall, where an assemblage of buddhist monks and lay people were gathering for the afternoon chant.  The chanting began as a low murmur, but as the crowd began to fall into the rhythm of their practice, and the energy of prayer filled the space, their chanting rose to an intensified buzzing. I felt my body grow warm and my heart kept beat with the cadence of the chanting.  In fact, I was so overwhelmed by the experience that I had to leave before it was through in order to steady myself.  I have never witnessed anything more enrapturing or powerful than those few minutes.  As a practicing western buddhist, it filled me with great joy to be in a space of such devotion and zeal.

 I must also tell you, though, about the path we took en route to the temple itself, however, as this was an equally otherworldly experience.  The temple is situated in the Wulin Mountains, which are rugged, rocky mountains, that remind me a lot of the Berkshires.  As you make your way up the hill to the temple, the rock face is decorated with hundreds of statues and rock carvings, which were meticulously chiseled into the earth by monks from the 10th to the 14th centuries.  Below the stone buddhas and bodhisattvas runs a lazy brook, filled with equally lazy koi fish.  Shahriar, the girls and I spent hours weaving in and out of the caves, breathing in the beauty of each stone masterpiece we encountered. As we left that afternoon, Nora said to me, "That was one of the best things I've ever done in my life!" I couldn't agree more.