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also in this hall that one is most likely to see the resident monks performing ceremonies which include chanting and the use of musical instruments such as cymbals and drums.
A second long barracks-like hall hidden behind the first one is known as the Jade Buddha Hall (Yu Fo Dian), and contains other side chapels which are usually kept closed and only opened on special occasions. One of these is a chapel which contains an unusual Reclining Jade Buddha (Yu Wo Fo) like the one at the Jade Buddha Temple (Yu Fo Si). Above this chapel is a second floor with another image inside a glass case, and windows looking down on the gardens of Longhua Park next door.
The monks' residence is in a separate set of buildings in a back corner of the complex and is off limits to visitors. Through the windows of the second floor can be seen their private library stacked with books.
Approximately 90 resident monks live here now, with another 30 student monks in apprenticeship. The temple's current abbot is Master Ming Yang. The monks of Longhua supposedly belong to the Chan Zong sect (Zen) of Chinese Buddhism. However, the vast array of gilded effigies here, representing the whole Buddhist pantheon of deities, makes one wonder about the accuracy of this claim or the status of Chan Buddhism in China today. Chan was originally an iconoclastic sect which prohibited use of images of any kind. At least one resident foreign monk was noticed living here in January 2004, made obvious by his large crooked nose, white skin, and wide girth, as well as his lateness for morning prayers.
Color photos of Longhua Temple can be seen in the author's Vol. I of his New Yangzi River series, entitled Shanghai and the Yangzi Delta, published by Times Publishing Ltd. of Singapore in 2004.
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also in this hall that one is most likely to see the resident monks performing ceremonies which include chanting and the use of musical instruments such as cymbals and drums.
A second long barracks-like hall hidden behind the first one is known as the Jade Buddha Hall (Yu Fo Dian), and contains other side chapels which are usually kept closed and only opened on special occasions. One of these is a chapel which contains an unusual Reclining Jade Buddha (Yu Wo Fo) like the one at the Jade Buddha Temple (Yu Fo Si). Above this chapel is a second floor with another image inside a glass case, and windows looking down on the gardens of Longhua Park next door.
The monks' residence is in a separate set of buildings in a back corner of the complex and is off limits to visitors. Through the windows of the second floor can be seen their private library stacked with books.
Approximately 90 resident monks live here now, with another 30 student monks in apprenticeship. The temple's current abbot is Master Ming Yang. The monks of Longhua supposedly belong to the Chan Zong sect (Zen) of Chinese Buddhism. However, the vast array of gilded effigies here, representing the whole Buddhist pantheon of deities, makes one wonder about the accuracy of this claim or the status of Chan Buddhism in China today. Chan was originally an iconoclastic sect which prohibited use of images of any kind. At least one resident foreign monk was noticed living here in January 2004, made obvious by his large crooked nose, white skin, and wide girth, as well as his lateness for morning prayers.
Color photos of Longhua Temple can be seen in the author's Vol. I of his New Yangzi River series, entitled Shanghai and the Yangzi Delta, published by Times Publishing Ltd. of Singapore in 2004.
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