Inside the temple, it has quite a number of ancient sculptures, rare painting and Buddhist scriptuers. There are more than 7,000 Dazang sutras kept inside the Jade Buddha Tower. The temple consist of 3 main halls and two courtyards.

The first hall is the Devajara Hall where statues of the four celestial kings and Maitreya are enshrined. It was said that the Maitreya is the Budai Monk. In 916, before his death, he had told people that he was the reincarnation of the future Buddha Maitreya. Later, people called him Buddha Maitreya and began to worship him in temples.

The second hall is Mahavira Hall. Three large gilded Buddha statues: the Buddhas of the past (Bhaisajya-guru), present (Sakyamuni) and future (Maitreya) are kept in the hall. The one in the center is Sakyamuni, east of it is Bhaisajya-guru and west is Maitreya. Eighteen gilded Luohan statues stand around them.

After visiting the Devajara Hall, we reached the Jade Buddha Tower, which is 1.9m tall and 1.34m wide, stands on the second floor. Inlaid with diamonds and agates, the jade Buddha is sitting leisurely at the moment of his enlightenment.

The temple also has two valuable jade statues.The Sitting Buddha and the Recumbent Buddha. Both the Sitting Buddha and the Recumbent Buddha are carved with whole white jade. The sparkling and crystal-clear white jade gives the Buddhas the beauty of sanctity and make them more vivid.

The Sitting Buddha is 190 centimeters high, wearing a robe inlaid with precious the agate and the emerald and portraying the Buddha at the moment of his meditation and enlightenment.

The Recumbent Buddha is 96 centimeters long, lying on the right side with the right hand supporting the head and the left hand placing on the left leg, this shape is called the "lucky repose". The sedate face shows the peaceful mood of Sakyamuni when he left this world.

written by  PorkyPo on November 11, 2009 from Shanghai, China
from the travel blog: Visit to Shanghai
tagged Shanghai, Jade, Temple, Buddha and Yeschinatour
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Eiheiji gate

Eiheiji is quite easily accessible from Fukui station by bus (a special bus is available). As I mentioned in my Preview post, it's a main temple and therefore quite big. Visitors are welcome (quite a lot of money is made this way after all) but have to abide by the same rules as those staying there for spiritual guidance or the study of Zen (e.g. no shoes inside, no provocative clothing, no shouting).

Before entering the complex itself, I took a look at the garden surrounding the temple and found a graveyard and some beautiful scenery.

Graveyard

Pond decoration

The temple was pretty much what I expected, but the tour to see the seven main buildings and halls was pretty neat.

Eiheiji hall

The four guardians of Buddha where present as well.

The Guardians of Buddha

The Guardians of Buddha

Things to think about

On my way out I bought some special Eiheiji sweets and made my way back to Fukui. I was pretty surprised who was waiting there for me:

Raptor Jesus?

So long and stay tuned,
JuergenS

written by  JuergenS on July 8, 2010 from Fukui, Japan
from the travel blog: Two month of Japan
tagged Temple and Scenic
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