Precious
Light Temple (Baoguang Temple) north of Chengdu is
said to have been built in the Eastern Han Dynasty
(25-220). Its major structures are built with some
400 stone pillars and decorated with figurines of
birds and animals on their eaves and carvings of
flowers and plumes on their doors and windows. Kept
in the temple are such treasures as Sarira (monks’
ashes) and Buddhist scriptures written on Pattra
Leaves.
The Arhat Hall, built in the 19th
century, contains 500 2m-high clay figurines
representing Buddhist saints and disciples.Well, not
all of them: among this spaced-out lot are two
earthlings- emperors Kangxi and Qianlong. They’re
distinguishable by their royal costumes, beards,
boots and capes. One of the impostors, Kangxi, is
shown with a pockmarked face. |