On our last day in Kaohsiung we visited the Fo Guang Shuan museum/temple, which was located around half an hour outside of the city. The place was grand and we probably could have spent days exploring everything there. There was a long, slightly elevated pathway, leading up to a giant, golden statue of Buddha, with a temple underneath it. The pathway was also lined with pagodas, which held different purposes and offered varying activities. One of our tour guides, who was a monastic nun, led us through a meditation ritual in a prayer room. The room’s center piece was a statue of Buddha, which was laying down on its side. There was also really stunning artwork throughout the room – some painted and some carved into wood. I noticed the pieces were very symmetrical and almost reminded me of “The Garden of Earthly Delights”, as nearly every part of the canvas displayed some figure or object. I found the meditation ritual itself to be really calming – we sat with our legs crossed, made a mudra gesture with our hands and closed our eyes, sitting in silence for 5 minutes. It was an interesting introduction to the practices of Buddhist monks, and I’m really excited to delve into their practices more when we visit other Buddhist monasteries later. After meditation we explored more of the area, which had some really beautiful architecture and great views of the Buddha, as well as the hills surrounding the museum. We also got to practice writing in Chinese calligraphy, which is definitely something I want to explore doing more later. At the end of our time there we also had a Q&A session with the nun that gave us the tour, as well as a nun who held a prominent role in the temple. They gave really insightful answers to our questions and allowed us to get a peek into Buddhism. The experience overall was really interesting and I’m excited to see the other monasteries planned for our trip!
