Field Trip!!

Today my Hong Kong's Heritage professor took us on a field trip. We took a short bus ride up the mountain to Tsing Shan Monastery, a site in Hong Kong that was established in 300 AD. The buildings have undergone restoration since then, but the monastery has been on that site for over 1700 years. I will try to summerize a brief story about the monastery (using the handout my professor gave us) and then I'll post my pictures.

In the Lau Sung peiod, a monk, Pui To, came from South East Asia by boat to preach the Way of the Buddha in China. Like all visitors arriving by sea during this time, he landed at Tuen Mun. Tuen Mun, at the time, consisted only of a garrison and their reserves. It was a gateway into China. People had to pass through there in order to go on to places in China, such as Canton. Because China wasn't welcoming to foriengers at the time and they had no way to predict the coming of boats, the garrison was there to check the papers of everyone coming in and to protect entry into Southern China.

Anyway, seeing that there was a large garrison there with no people preaching, Pui To petitioned to be allowed stay there and to preach to the soldiers and sailors of garrison. At first, he stayed in a cave about half way up the mountain, and then when he got approval to stay, he moved a little north to where he founded Ling To Monastery, which still exists today. The cave where he first stayed remained as a place of prayer, was used as a Buddhist hermitage, a nunnery, and today is the center of the Tsing Shan Monastery. He eventually returned home to South East Asia.

After he left, he was worshiped by sailors and people traveling by sea because when he was on his way to China, his boat was caught in a typhoon. It survived without any loss, so people considered it a miracle and accredited Pui To with that miracle. Up until the arrival of the worship of Tin Hau in the Hong Kong region in the late 20th century, Pui To was the main deity for seafarers in this area.

In 969 BCE, the Nanhan Emperor declared Castle Peak (Tsing Shan) the Holy Mountain of his Kingdom. The reason he chose Castle Peak was due to the high esteem of Pui To at that time.
A few years earlier, in 954 BCE, the Commandment of Tuen Mun fort had had a stone statue of Pui To made and placed in the cave. It is believed that the statue currently in the cave is the same statue.

A very famous Chinese poet, Han Yue, visited Tuen Mun in 819 BCE. He had been exiled to Chiu Chow because he offended the emperor. He had to pass through Tuen Mun in order to go on to Chiu Chow by sea. He wrote several poems about his narrow escape from drowning during a typhoon on the way to Tuen Mun. He is believed to have climbed Castle Peak and written a four character inscription into the rock at the top. This inscription was moved to Tsing Shan Monastery for safe keeping later.

Gray bricks are the Taoist side and the Yellow part (being restored now) is the Buddhist side.

Elaborate steps

Tuen Mun

My professor

Incense

Restoration underway

Gate to the overgrown garden

Cave where Pui To worshipped

Statue of Pui To

Han Yue's inscription

Path to the peak of the mountain

Entrance to monastery

Graves of abbots?

A "puilao" (not sure I really understand what it's for but its an empty gate built to celebrate a big event)

That was the highlight of my day. The rest of the day was busy. I did have burritos for dinner so that was exciting!
The weather was cool last week, but now it is getting hotter again. I hope it cools off again next week.
My mom and grandmother will be leaving in a week to come here and I will get to see them in a week and a day! So excited!!