The Bell

It was dusk.

(The view out of the front of the monastery, notice the moon.)

I sat on a wood bench part of a circle of forty people in the court yard of a monastery with Woodenfish students and monks. The temple was located on the top of mountain above the noise and chaos of the Chinese cities which we could see below. We sat in a circle drinking green and black tea picked from the very hills around us. A sort of talent show was going on, first the monks would show off a skill, then a Woodenfish member would take a turn and try to match it. If there was any sort of competition, the monks won.

The first presentation by the monks was classical Chinese music on a historic instruments that I cannot identify. As the monk plucked the stringed instrument the notes seemed to wave over us and fit to the natural contours of the bamboo forest around us. Another monk presented a ti chi demonstration, which convinced me a human body can definitely learn to flow enormousness amounts of energy. When he struck the stone ground with his feet we could all feel it, even at a distance.

Our group did a song or two, and some dancing presentations. After there was a short Q&A with the abbot. I winced a little bit at some of the questions, luckily none of them were too bad. Not everyone on this trip has a Buddhist background -academic or practicing. Halfway through the session the monks began to ring the massive temple bell. One girl asked why the bell is rung, the abbot gave an answer related to making the sound of the dharma echoing throughout the universe.

Unsatisfied with the answer, the girl just asked the question again. The abbot sat for a moment puzzled by the question. He told the group to listen to the bell in silence for three minutes. It was probably my most favorite three minutes of the trip. We sat listening to the bell being struck, then hearing the ring slowly be absorbed into the valley bellow, then hearing the bell be struck again as soon as the noise faded beyond our ability to hear. This moment has added to my craving for a Buddhist monastic life, or something along the lines of life centered around practice. It was really great for the group, the rest of the evening flowed quite smoothly and it was entirely due to these three minutes of sitting.

When the Q&A ended it was dark, the bats fluttered overhead and the mosquitoes bit our legs. Rather than going to bed I wandered around the temple into the various shrines to observe the candle lit Buddhas. This was perhaps one of the most enjoyable evenings of my entire trip to China. Since everyone had gone to bed I was alone in all of these shrines, halls, and rooms. I think normally I would have been a little scared, it's kind of like wandering around a church at night. There was something about this experience though that was so warming. Gazing into these Buddhas among the incense and candles I could feel the pulse of samsara, a squeeze of birth and a release of death again, again, and again.

I could hear the bell even though it stopped being rung hours ago. I lied down in front of the main shrine on the cool stone and gazed at the candle lit Buddha. I tried to imagine what he saw, which is life as the way it ultimately is, and probably on a geological time scale. As Buddha stares out those temple doors out into the valley he must see cities go up and down, forest be cut and regrow, people come and go, die and be reborn.

And I, this silly "I," am obviously here for sometime more than any "I" can accomplish. 

Impression Putuo

You may remember the opening of the Beijing Olympics four years ago. Much of the opening was designed by Zhang Yimou, who is probably known better for directing Hero, but he also designed about a dozen other live shows around China that focuses on the local landscape and history. Below is one of my most favorite depictions of Guanyin from during Olympic opening. All the performers are deaf.

Next, I must introduce you to the specific show: "Impression Putuo" that I saw on a neighboring Zujiajianzhen island, but first please watch this video before reading the rest of this post, too much of this experience is ineffable -so please watch! Also, enjoy the site -it's awesome.

It's not easy to say a stage with 2,000 seats moves, but it does! Below is the entrance to the entrance to this show. Guanyin which gave us a slight hint of what we were in for. The significance of Mt. Putuo or in Chinese Putuoshan is that it is one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains in China. The mountain itself is a good size island covered in temples and shrines devoted to Guanyin.

One character in our group was interesting in acquiring a responsible amount of alcohol before the show, which proved to be difficult. A five minute walk down the road to a shack with one lightbulb selling unlabeled jars of what we would basically moonshine in the US turned out to be a successful excursion. The smallest bottle was a liter of baijiu, for some reason the did not sell pijiu (beer.) This stuff smells like gasoline mixed with sharpies and runs somewhere in the 45-55% range and costed around $2 US. We made it through less than a quater of the bottle before we were both buzzed, then poured the rest out.

After the show the bus driver held up a few jars as examples of plum wine that he offered to get us at the special price of 15RMB each ($2.50 US - a deal for plum wine.) We mentioned we were interested but the jars never came through. Ultimately, we hoped he had not been drinking those when he was waited for us. We made it back safely.

Our tickets costed around $26 which was rather on the high side for China, but considering there are about a hundred live actors it suddenly didn't seem so bad. The government also pumps a ton of money into this show to keep it running smoothly. We wandered in past the gates down a long path to the circular stadium. We walked in across the first set which was a small temple or shrine, the other sets were not in view. They told us nothing about what was going to happen, only that it was a show about Buddhism. In other words, I had no idea what was about to happen.

We waited about 15 minutes. The best way I can describe the seating arrangement is imagine sitting in a circular movie theater about 150 feet in diameter with walls 30 feet high enclosing about 3/4 of the way around. 

Soft music began to play which grew louder and louder. Suddenly massive panels 15 feet wide and also thirty feet tall rolled in from around from the perimeter of circular seating arrangement and completely enclosing the audience, which blocked any view of the set -much like curtains would. The lights turned on, a dozen actors emerged, and the show began.

Each of the actors who came out pretended to be everyday citizens of China explaining their woes in life. Suddenly they began to project images on the rolling walls that enclosed us, the music and the cries of the people grew louder. My friend translated bits and pieces of the different woes but it had become too late! The baijiu had kicked in and each translation made less sense than the previous. The pinnacle of the pain emerged at the top of the wall - a man ready to jump, to take his life, as he was so deeply in pain.

The other actors quickly talked the man down, perhaps with words of the Buddha. The images grew crazier and the overdramatic music grew even louder.

The panels opened up and the music stopped to exhibit the scene of a tranquil mountain side with a temple perched at the top. 

Hundreds of hot red tips of incense wandered in on stage carried by the many actors. The red hot offerings glowed as they wandered up to the temple. Lord Buddha appeared at the top of the steps in an illuminated figure next to the temple, the glowing incense striving toward him, longing to shed impurities.

The walls enclosed us again, the audience was slowly rotated to a new stage. As we moved I watched the constellations turn around us, it was the only time I saw stars during my cumulative 3 months in China.

The walls reopened to a scene of a small village on a lake. People flouted around in small boats and a short story unveiled itself within the mock village.

Below is a another story that was entirely projected. A Buddhist master and his apprentice (to the right,) wander in the woods find an attractive young woman trying to cross the river (the blue thing to the left.) The master breaks his vows by picking up the woman and carrying her across the stream. The young woman thanks the master and they part ways. Several hours later the young apprentice ask his master why he broke his vows by carrying the woman. The master is confused for a moment, then remembers and says: "I only carried that woman for a minute across the stream, while you have carried her for several hours." The moral being that monks further down the path can break vows and precepts as they gain the ability to control them.

Next, groups of people with high power flashlights danced. It was perhaps the simples part of the show but definitely one of the most visually entertaining.

Much of the show was simply playing with light, another interesting part was when the monks would leap from behind rocks to be met by a flash of light illuminating the saffron robes.

The large rocks they hid behind were moveable and at one point they all spun together. In combination with projecting on them there was the metaphor transfered of impermanence. The rocks shook and crumbled and mashed together with impressive power and formed new rocks, endlessly cycling.

A dramatic ending began to tie up the 70 minutes show. Emphasis on life and projections of animals and the hundred or so actors began to go everywhere. The strage rotated a full 360 degrees with the panels open to exhibit the various sets.

Prayer cards handed out before the show which we filled out, they were then collected in these glowing lotuses carried by the actors and were to be placed in the temple for three days. The format of the prayer card was to wish a particular person well.

"Impression Putuo" finally closed with spectacular light show.

Beginning of Fall, Sophomore Year

There is already talk of midterms. I feel I have yet to really enjoy living in a place with such natural beauty, cooped up inside doing work and throwing bowls, cups, and mugs. I took this photo in the rain while standing in front of the weather station at Pine Lake.

My first batch of bowls are on the second and top shelf, the pink bowls in the middle are hand built by another class. Ryan is in the red shirt spacing out. 

I'm running the sauna on Sundays now, it is lovely as always. Recently I met a local sadhu named Ken passing through on his way back from India. His family use to own Pine Lake before they sold it to Hartwick. Ken had a lot of interesting stories, he seems to be a practicing Buddhist of sorts. Religion seems to be a theme at the lake long before students ever dwelled here.

It has become cold and rainy already. The leaves have turned early. Time is passing too quickly. Clouds pull through the valley early in the morning. Ominous smoke rises from the charcoal pits of Brooks BBQ, I can see it from Davenport while I drive to school.