Fanyin Temple, Lions Head Mountain in Miaoli County
There are many beautiful mountains across Taiwan. With 70% of the island covered in mountains there by far just too many to visit. Most of them pass you by as you whizz by them either in a car or train.
One of the more accessible Taiwanese mountains to those travelling through central Taiwan is Lion’s Head Mountain. Situated in Miaoli Country, Central Taiwan I had the pleasure of cycling through this tranquil tourist spot a few months ago.
One of the highlights of the bicycle ride was a visit to Fanyin Temple.
Fanyin temple is literally set inside the massive opening of Shuilian Cave near the top of Lions Head Mountain. A Buddhist from Sinpu, named Wei Kai (also known as Master Rujing) found the cave in 1946 and established Fanyin temple inside the cave’s mouth a year later.
The entrance of the temple is ‘shielded’ by a natural curtain of water that drips down from the cave mouth. It was quite sunny on the day I was cycling through Lions Head Mountain so presumably there is a water body above the cave mouth.
Looking up from the entrance it’s quite pretty. The droplets of water look like little pearls falling. Not as fine as mist but not as large as raindrops either.
The main area of the temple is called Dasyiong Hall and features a large statue of ‘Sakyamuni’ (sage of the Shakyas), also known as Siddhartha Guatama. In a nutshell he’s the guy who founded Buddhism as we know it today.
On the left of Sakyamuni is his attendant Ananda. Ananda’s claim to fame is that he had the best memory of the first lot of Buddha’s disciples. Most of the written works today on Buddha’s teaching are attributed to Ananda, as such he is known as the ‘guardian of the Dharma’.
On the right of Sakyamuni we have Mahakasyapa. I’m not going to be able to describe Mahakasyapa’s significance in Buddhism any better then Wikipedia so I’ll just quote them.
Zen purports to lead its adherents to insights akin to that mentioned by Śākyamuni Buddha in his Flower Sermon in which he held up a white flower and just admired it in his hand.
Mahākāśyapa smiled faintly, and Śākyamuni Buddha picked that disciple as one who truly understood him and who was worthy to be his successor.
The next time you see someone holding a flower play it safe and pull a faint smile… you never know, you might just wind up being the next Buddha.
To the right of Dasiyong Hall is a shrine for Ksitigarbha, guardian of the Earth. Ksitigarbha is known for ‘his vow to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds, in the era between the death of Gautama (Shakyamuni) Buddha and the rise of Maitreya Buddha‘.
He also made a vow not to achieve Buddhahood until all hells are emptied… he might want to have rethought that one if given a second chance. In this particular statue I love the look of the goat thing he is sitting on. I can’t decide whether it looks surprised, angry or if it’s just trying to take a dump sitting down.
Ksitigarbha carries with him a staff to force open the gates of hell and a jewel that grants wishes and doubles as a torch.
The right end of Dasiyong Hall features Maudgalyayana (try saying that quickly ten times). Maudgalyayana was one of Buddha’s closest disciples and is known for his supernatural powers.
Maudgalyayana is widely believed to have been able to mind read, tell lies from the truth, walk through walls, walk on water, fly through the air, and move near the speed of light. Sounds like a pretty awesome mate to have around.
Unfortunately in a previous life he killed his parents and thus had some major issues with Karma. Apparently killing your parents ranks pretty up there on the list of Buddhism don’ts. Subsequently Maudgalyayana decided he couldn’t outrun his karma and died a brutal bloody death at the hands of religious cultists or robbers.
I guess the moral of the story here is uh… don’t kill your parents.
Some of the minor statues were a bit weird. Take monkey boy here on the right.
I’m not exactly sure who he is (Monkey Magic?) but his hairstyle definitely raised some eyebrows. It kinda looks like the curator gave the statue to his granddaughter for a few days or something and didn’t realise she’d made some ‘changes’ when she gave him back.
I don’t know if curator is the right word but to the left of the Dasiyong Hall area are living quarters and a guy who supposedly watches over the temple. The building had a post box so I assume it was his house.
I kind of envy him in a way, living up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. No noisy neighbours and nothing but the trickle of Shihzih Stream to keep you company.
I wonder if they can get the internet up there?
A visit to Fanyin Temple was the highlight of a trip through Lions Head Mountain for me. The scenery is just beautiful and the temple itself is quite picturesque.
Definitely make some time for this stop if you’re passing through the Miaoli County area.
March 12th, 2010 at 5:36 am ssf-in-SSF(Quote)
That monkey boy is “Monkey King”, or Sun Wukong to Taiwan and Chinese people. He was the body guard who accompanied monk Tan Xuanzang on the famous “Journey to the West” and brought Buddhism back to China from India, following the route which eventually became the Silk Road. Great bicycle riding in Miaoli. Here’s the link of the monkey in Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Wukong
March 12th, 2010 at 11:25 am ozsoapbox(Quote)
Ah so it was Monkey Magic, Great Sage, Equal of Heaven!
Cool thanks for clearing that up.
March 19th, 2010 at 11:46 am yi(Quote)
monkey magic is the crappy japanese version (no offense). sun wukong is the original chinese version. i think most ppl have seen the old monkey magic series. but i personally like the old chinese ‘Journey to the west’ series. i still remembering watching it when i was little.
March 19th, 2010 at 4:14 pm ozsoapbox(Quote)
Was it ever dubbed into English or distributed in the west?
The Japanese one might be culturally stupid and a bit boring to watch in Japanese but the english dub translations make it hilarious.
‘eyyy Poofta!’ It’s like they just didn’t care what they were translating or went for maximum exaggeration.
April 3rd, 2010 at
[...] before the visitor centre is a carpark and the trail that leads to Fanyin Temple. In the carpark are some food and drink vendors. The orange juice looked refreshing but I wound up [...]