A Most Fortunate Day in Chengdu

Today was another brush with Buddhism as we headed north to the Baoguang Buddhist Monastery. It has been a place of worship since the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220 in case you don’t know your dynasties) and continues to be an active monastery. The sight of monks roaming the grounds interested the kids, as did the many folks burning incense, bowing, and kneeling in prayer. The biggest attraction for our group was the Luohan Hall. Inside there are 518 life-size Buddhist saints, Buddhas, and Bohidarma, the Indian founder of Zen Buddhism. As you enter the hall, boys go left and girls go right. You walk among the statues until one strikes your fancy and then you count statues from there until you reach the number of your age. Each statue is numbered, and the number associated with your final statue corresponds to a fortune card that you can obtain, for a nominal fee of 5 Yuan, about 75 cents. In a freaky Zen kind of way Martha and I each headed our separate directions at the entry, counted statues and out of 518 possibilities, ended up with statues right next to each other. There may be something to this Buddhist fortune thing, as one of the boys, who shall remain nameless to protect him from his English teacher, was writing feverishly in his journal in the adjacent garden. When I asked him how the journal writing was going he responded that he was trying to catch up because his fortune said he needed to work harder. I thought about just gathering 240 fortune cards from that same statue but decided that wasn’t a very Zen thing to do. Other fortunes included promises of large families and happy jobs. Before lunch we gave the kids some time to wander. Most roamed the gardens for awhile, and then settled into a garden pavilion to write in their journals. I can’t think of a better place in all of Chengdu to quietly reflect on all that we have seen and done. We had a vegetarian lunch in the monastery, and then it was back to the big city for the afternoon. But before boarding the bus we all tried our luck at the blind walk of faith. There is a large Chinese symbol carved in the wall of the monastery’s entry courtyard. You start 50 yards from the wall, close your eyes, extend your hand, and start walking. If you end up hitting the wall with your hand on the symbol then you will have good fortune. With our group it was more miss than hit, but all had a good laugh trying and watching others try.

Our afternoon in downtown was a contrast of shopping experiences. First, we went to the Wide Alley and the Narrow Alley. These are two old streets that have been restored into upscale restaurants and shops. There were lots of smiles when we agreed to meet at Starbucks as our rallying point. After an hour of wandering the two alleys it was off to the Tibetan market street. This was a very different sort of area, with shops filled with incense burners, prayer flags, all things Lama Buddhist, and lots of Tibetan textiles. There were also scores of folks in traditional Tibetan attire on the street and in the shops. Another hour of wandering brought more purchases, stories of bartering, and a renewed sense of just how different
the culture is in China.

Finally, it was a quick trip back to school where all said their goodbyes and headed off for a weekend with the their host families. We can’t wait to hear the stories Monday morning when we once again gather as a group.

Tom Whittington