The Ciyuin Buddhist Temple

 

The Ciyuin

Ciyuin Buddhist Temple (Cloud-Resting Buddhist Temple) 

 

The path through the trees takes us to the Ciyuin Temple. This Buddhist temple feels "out in the wilds" but we're only a ten minute walk from Hangzhou. A very long, yellow wall borders the grounds around the temple. Once you go in, the temple area itself is considerably smaller. The censor, which is large and impressive, is in the center. There are benches about, placed on the four sides of the rectangular courtyard.

And it was here I heard a story about a Buddhist monk. It was told to me by one of the Chinese women on the tour I took here in 2002, one of three I took with Cal Poly Pomona.

 

The monk worked at the seminary for some years, right at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution. When it happened, the monks at the Ciyuin temple became restive, and gradually this monk was “tipped over” into joining the cause of the Cultural Revolutionaries! 

And there he existed, for a while.  But he was regretful, and this, over time, caused him to go back to the Ciyuin. He was interviewed by the Abbot of the Ciyuin. He made such a case, wanting to return to temple life, that all there welcomed him back! The Cultural Revolution was 1966-1976. He stayed well into the Ciyuin’s future after the Cultural Revolution.

 

I photographed the Ciyuin long after. One image, “End of the Road,” is a pillar at the end of a long wall, showing a left turn into “nowhere.”

 

The Ciyuin's endurance, through the Cultural Revolution especially, makes it seem to me a precious and unlikely treasure. I was moved to donate 50 yuan to the monastery, and I interviewed the Abbot in 2004.

 

Toward the Moonrock

 

Departing the Ciyuin, we make our way "left" on the path, leading to more new territory. Everyone is so free to wander the whole area. I wonder at first if anyone would object to my presence, given my GPS unit. But the area is without heightened precautions.

 

About a mile upward in the forest is the “Moonrock.” This is the occasion for the Great Moon-viewing, on the eighth month, fifteenth day. This tradition  began as a moon-viewing event for the primary court: the King and Queen of the Sung, (long before Marco Polo in 1296) and the maidens – 1,000 of them, dedicated to servicing the King.

 

The House Where Two Women Live

 

If we continue up and then down the path, it will gradually become more formal, with steps and a concrete path. It's then that we'll see "the house where the two women live." It's different from the dwellings where we began our hike - recently built, with "above average" construction. We descend a long line of steps, then proceed past the house (the path passes very close to it!). The path takes us along “contour” lines which are parallel and uphill. Off on the right is a bluff, but pass it by.

Here a video of of the Ciyuin Buddhist Temple made in 2004.