Jai Gurudev !!
We had the eagerness to visit the Lama Temple in Beijing and found out the way to reach there by the Subway train . Our Chinese friends helped us by providing the route map of subway train and guided us to go on our own .
On one lovely weekend , the Lama of Beijing gave us the wonderful opportunity of having a glimpse of Him. Budhdha is referred to as the Lama .The Lama temple station is the place , where we need to reach and it's just about 5 minutes walk to the temple. I was slightly surprised at the ladies selling the Incence stick bundles on the way and picked one , as we have the habit of carrying some offerings to God always.
The entrance was quite attractive and inviting. It's a Big temple , covering a vast area.
After which we moved to the inside of the temple. One more surprise awaited rather invited. Guess who ? None other than our famous " Laughing Buddha " in gigantic size . A God in Lama temple has find His way as an Art piece or show piece in the Drawing room of our Indian homes , one can really wonder about !! Then on either side of that hall , we can see two huge statues , resembling the Dwara Balakas of our temples.
A drawing , similar to the Sri Chakra of our place was also seen on the floor , though the spiritual significance of it is unknown.
We feel as though , Hinduism is modified and carried forward in Budhdhism .
Now comes the ultimate attraction of the temple. As you can guess , nothing other than the Great Lama Himself taking His Avatar in the form of the Huge - 18 Feet Tall Idol . It looked a real Vishwaroopam of Lord Vishnu to me , indeed !! The Shanku , Chakra and a couple of other divine instruments were also seen in front of him. A Budhdhist monk was standing beside and was doing the continous chanting , which again resembled our "OM " sound. I stood astonished gazing at the Big Lama for some time and moved into a state of prostration automatically , as we can do nothing but only surrender to the Greatness !!
For a moment ,it comes in our mind, is it Lord Vishnu in Vishwaroopam posture ?
My friend exclaimed , " Budhdha is one of the avatar in Dasavataarm " !!
Is it so ?
We had the eagerness to visit the Lama Temple in Beijing and found out the way to reach there by the Subway train . Our Chinese friends helped us by providing the route map of subway train and guided us to go on our own .
On one lovely weekend , the Lama of Beijing gave us the wonderful opportunity of having a glimpse of Him. Budhdha is referred to as the Lama .The Lama temple station is the place , where we need to reach and it's just about 5 minutes walk to the temple. I was slightly surprised at the ladies selling the Incence stick bundles on the way and picked one , as we have the habit of carrying some offerings to God always.
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| The place where Incense sticks are burnt and offered , soon after the entrance of the temple. |
Once we entered , another pleasant surprise was waiting for us. People burn the incense sticks in an exclusive place allocated for that in front of the main building and they do the offering there , standing in queue , something similar to our local temples.
This place looks exactly like our Indian temples, where the Ellu Deepam is lit . We also burnt the incense sticks - 3 numbers each and offered to the Lama God. 3 numbers is mentioned specifically there on boards.
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| Laughing Budhdha sitting gigantically and giving a welcome smile to one & all |
The building structure inside is a typical Chinese structure and looked like a palace.The people who had come there were all looking very devoted .
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| Looking similar to the Dwara Balakas of our temple. A Security Guard for Lama ? |
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| Budhdha & His disciples |
Moving further inside, it's opening out into a courtyard kind of construction , an open space in the middle and buildings all around it . The Lama in different forms or get ups was there and people offer incense sticks in front of the Gods .
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| Lama in yet another pose |
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| Lama as Nataraj ?! |
This particular standing posture of Lama just resembled our Nataraj statue of our temples.
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| Rotating Cylinder - A spiritual practise similar to ringing bell |
One more interesting thing , we noticed was a cylinder sort of structure on either side of the main Lama statue , on which some scriptures are engraved . And the monks stand near that and keep rotating for some time, though the significance of that act is unknown. This , we can relate to our Bell structure and our act of ringing the bells as a practise.
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| An artwork like Sri Chakra at Lama Temple |
A drawing , similar to the Sri Chakra of our place was also seen on the floor , though the spiritual significance of it is unknown.
We feel as though , Hinduism is modified and carried forward in Budhdhism .
 |
| Scary Gigantic Lion Idol |
A Scary Giant Lion stone idol caught our attention and we kept our eyes unblinked for few moments before we moved on . We see Lion & Elephant Idols in our South Indian temples .
Now comes the ultimate attraction of the temple. As you can guess , nothing other than the Great Lama Himself taking His Avatar in the form of the Huge - 18 Feet Tall Idol . It looked a real Vishwaroopam of Lord Vishnu to me , indeed !! The Shanku , Chakra and a couple of other divine instruments were also seen in front of him. A Budhdhist monk was standing beside and was doing the continous chanting , which again resembled our "OM " sound. I stood astonished gazing at the Big Lama for some time and moved into a state of prostration automatically , as we can do nothing but only surrender to the Greatness !!
For a moment ,it comes in our mind, is it Lord Vishnu in Vishwaroopam posture ?
My friend exclaimed , " Budhdha is one of the avatar in Dasavataarm " !!
Is it so ?
The wordings on the board placed at the exit way caught our eyes instantly - One more reason to astonish about this attractive and gigantic Lama statue . The 18 Feet tall idol or statue was carved out of a single Big Sandalwood tree and has found a place in the Guinness Book of world records !!
No doubt the Big Lama would not fail to leave a deep impression in one's heart !!
After that we sat in the benches placed at the entrance of the temple for some time , which once again reminded us of our temple practise.
Overall , the Lama Temple visit is something to be cherished forever in our hearts !!
Budhdham Saranam Gachchami !!
Dharmam Saranam Gachchami !!
Sangham Saranam Gachchami !!
Sangham Saranam Gachchami !!
Excellent photos !
ReplyDeleteThe artwork seems to be that of the Buddha Mandala, which is a Tibetan tantric representation. These have to be made using precise geometry.
BTW did you perform Archana ? :P
The photos were taken by my colleague
ReplyDeleteand hence goes the credit to him.
Thanks for the info. on the Buddha Mandala .
The Archana rituals and Arati rituals were not being conducted there
else we would not have left that aspect of Puja , u see...
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