The Great Buddha City:
A Day in A Preeminent Buddhist Monastery in Modern China

by Dr. Mahinda Deegalle, Bath Spa University, UK

Today is Saturday 3rd July 2010. It is an exciting and amazing day. We all, members of the Woodenfish Project Team, are in China for three weeks, in exploring Huayan Buddhism and its links with Mount Wutai. We are ready today to explore facets of emerging modern Chinese Buddhism. Our destination today is to Wuxi’s Great Buddha City. In our trip, we witnessed the grand temple construction in a mountain site. The Great Buddha City is a testimony to a variety of temple constructions emerging in various parts of modern China. There are many signs of rejuvenated modern forms of Chinese Buddhism.

(a) Early in the morning, all of us in the Woodenfish Project had breakfast together at Jiaying Huiguan in Suzhou.

(b) After a brief meeting with resident nuns there, we left by bus to Wuxi (simplified Chinese: 无锡; traditional Chinese: 無錫; pinyin: Wúxī; lit. “Without Tin”).

Wuxi is an old city in Jiangsu province. The Lake Tai (hu) split the city into two halves. Wuxi’s borders lie in Changzhou to the west and Suzhou to the east. Wuxi’s nickname is “Pearl of Lake Tai.” It is because Wuxi is built on the shore of Lake Tai with beautiful scenery.

(c) In the morning, we went on our planned to visit Wuxi’s the Great Buddha City. It is located in Lingyan Shan. The Wuxi Fangong Palace of Mt. Lingshan is one of the eight major cultural projects in Wuxi. It is located on the east side of Mt. Lingshan. It faces to Lake Taihu to the south. It has an area of 70,000 square miles. It is one of the most modern and active Buddhist temples in mainland China. It integrates Dongyang woodcarvings, Dunhuang mural paintings, and Yangzhou lacquer and cloisonné enamelware for the first time in China. It was open for public visits on 1st January 2009.

Lingyan Shan is located 11 km southwest of Suzhou. Lingyan Shan literally means “Cliff of the Spirits.” Once it was the site of a palace where Emperor Qianlong stayed during his inspection tours of the Yangzi River valley. During the Taiping Rebellion, the palace was destroyed. The mountain now has become home to an active Buddhist monastery today.¹

When we arrived there, we were welcome and escorted to the temple by a small motor carriage. Our group used three carriages.

Our first surprise was a religious ritual. We witnessed a well-attended morning ceremony of bathing the baby Buddha Sakyamuni at 10 a.m. It was a fantastic occasion. The show, which lasted about 15 minutes highlighted miraculous aspects of Sakyamuni’s birth. Automatic water sprinkles were used alongside music to create the dramatic effect of a miraculous birth.

On another corner of the large compound, there were Tibetan prayer wheels. People gathered there to pray by using them. This monastic compound is large and several religious monuments are scattered in the area.

(d) After we witnessed the dramatic water-ritual service, we were taken to a nearby site where we had the opportunity in climbing a hill in order to reach the gigantic Buddha statue that was recently built in the site.

We were at the foot of the great Buddha statue at 10.20 a.m. and we were given time until 11.15 to wander around and see the site. Though weather was not friendly due mild rain, we were determined not to give up.

There is a display of a lot of religiosity at the bottom of the temple where the image of Futai is located. At the foot of the Buddha statue, I took liberty of filming rituals performed by ordinary Chinese Buddhists for Futai who is identified with the future Buddha Maitreya. Futai was in fact a monk in the tenth century and after his death he became a popular cult object in Chinese Buddhism. In modern Chinese Buddhism, Futai has become the most efficacious and prominent cult object of praying for ‘practical benefits’ (J. genze riyaku). I witnessed large crowds of Chinese devotees very fondly touch various body parts of Futai while circumambulating the statue. The large statue of Futai functions as a popular devotional object. A large number of pious Chinese devotees gather there throughout the day for prayers. In front of the statue, we could see a lot of people make offerings of incense. Some were writing prayer plates; others were hanging them; some others were burning flags and incense. We witnessed a rich ritualistic scene. On the left hand side of Futai statue was the palm of the Buddha’s right palm, exact replica of the original statue found in the site. It gave an impression of actual size of the gigantic Buddha statue. Devotees were constantly circumambulating around it with immense piety and joy.

(e) After photographing the palm of the Buddha and the rituals around Futai, I climbed up the steps to enter the gigantic Buddha statue. When one climbs up, the site becomes more like a museum. On the way, up in the stairs, there are many carvings done there. They are professionally done and narrate various Buddhist stories. After I went at the foot of the statue, half way the journey, I met Ms. Xin. She told me that I have to take the elevator to climb up to the top of the Buddha statue. I rushed in since I was perhaps the last to climb the hill from our group. I had a rich view from the top of the statue and came down to the bottom of the statue on the specified time at 11.15 a.m.

(f) Since it was near noon, we were taken to Brahma Palace. The temple called ‘Brahma Palace’ was exquisite. It was breathtaking. It was a gigantic building in the site. It was dazzling. It is an impressive temple construction. It was built at the cost of RMB 8 billion Yuan, over a two-year period. The monastery was constructed in grand scale as the venue for the Second World Buddhist Forum held at Mt. Lingshan, Wuxi, in March 2009.

We were welcome there and the vice abbot joined us in lunch. It was an exquisite meal and we were treated like VIPs. The vice-abbot himself did not consume much the extravagant vegetarian meal. At the lunch, the vice abbot commented that “temple is home;” I was explained that it was a traditional Chinese expression, perhaps, denoting warm hospitality.

After lunch, we were taken to see the rest of the Brahma Palace (Lingshan Fangong 灵山梵宫).² We saw the main shrine room with its beautiful carvings and paintings. The atrium (main gallery) is the main attraction. It contains 12 oil paintings, which narrates the life of the Buddha. Each painting measures 3 by 6 meters. Mr. Shi Benming (former faculty member of the Central Academy of Fine Arts) and his students created the paintings and took 3 years to complete.

The highest point of the central dome at the Brahma Palace is 61 meters, about 20 stories/ floors high. The columns in the atrium/ main gallery used red travertine from Iran, which is collected only when there is a volcanic eruption. The stones on the floor are imported from France. Directly under the dome of the atrium/ main gallery, the floor is decorated with agate and chequ (hippopotamus) shells.

At the end of the atrium/ main gallery, opposite the main entrance, is a plaque of jinsi nanmu wood, inscribed miaoying wuqiong, by Zhao Puchu, the eminent contemporary calligrapher. This work is by far the most valuable of the Palace, and has entered the National Treasure Registry since its creation. Below this plaque is a large sculpture of crystal.

The ceiling of the oval gallery/ hallway leading to the sacred altar (performance hall), which was the main site of the Second World Buddhist Forum, features fresco paintings by Hou Liming, Director of the Dunhuang Research Institute, with approximately 30 of his disciples. They hand-painted the fresco on a one to one scale, and finished it in four months.

(g) In the Brahma Palace, we also had the opportunity to watch a film plus performance on the Buddha’s enlightenment in a large theatre. The cinema hall was impressive. The technological advance and creative inventions to present Buddhism in an attractive way was visible throughout the film show.

(h) We had a rare meeting with the abbot of the temple before coming to the hotel that we planned to stay. In the conversations, we learnt that the temple, where the abbot lives, provides accommodation for 30 residential monks. The temple belongs to Linchi lineage of Chinese Buddhism. In future, it aims to develop the site for establishing a Buddhist college. To qualify as a Buddhist College, the temple has to meet the Chinese government regulation, which requires having 50,000 volumes in the library and accommodation for students.

Venerable Professor Yifa, our host and organizer of the Woodenfish Project, who accompanied us and helped us in various ways throughout our three-week study tour of China entitled “Huayan Buddhism and Mount Wutai,” tells us that the Chinese government had given 1.7 billion for building the statue and 1.4 billion for building the Lingshan Fangong (Brahma Palace). This financial support seems to have been well used in this Great Buddha city.

We were privileged to have tea with the abbot for an hour and he stated that 3.2 million people visited the temple last year alone. According to him, it took three years to complete the Great Buddha statue and it was declared open in 1997.

(i) We came to our hotel Xi Jiao Hotel in Wuxi for the night around 4.20 p.m. We had dinner at the restaurant of the hotel at 5.45 p.m. After that we went for a River Cruise in the Lake Tai (T`ai Hu’)³ around 7.15 p.m. Lake Tai (Tai Hu) is a freshwater lake. It contains some 90 islands. We returned to the hotel after the River Cruise at 9.45 p.m. Today is a day well spent witnessing the immense religiosity and growing dynamism of modern Chinese Buddhism.

Sources

1. China (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition, May 2009), p. 300.
2. http://www.lingshan.org/fangong/
3. China (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition, May 2009), p. 300.

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