Chuang Monastery,Carmel--- February 14, 2010

For Chinese new year we went to the Chuang monastery. the largest Buddhist monastery in the United States. Its a beautiful place nestled up on the mountain with majestic grounds and imposing buildings. The monastery is rarely open to the public but does open a few times a year for special events. Sunday they had two Buddhist services, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Since it is so far away we figured it wouldn't be crowded. Were we wrong. We had to park all the way down the mountain and walk up. It kind of felt like a pilgrimage with off of the people old and young trekking up the mountain with the great hall at the top in our sight. The buildings were decorated colorfully for Chinese new year and the smell of lotus flowers and incense filled the air. From 12-1 they served a vegetarian lunch ( my mother was very excited. if you ask her what her favorite meal in the world is -- and she has been all over the world-- she will tell you at the monastery on Lan tau Island) The lunch was grown and cooked by the monks and although it didn't live up to the meal on lan tau Island it was quite good. Emilee was in awe of the giant Buddha and we made offerings to him, but she was most impressed to be allowed to light incense and pray for a good year.

The Kuan-Yin Hall was completed in 1985. Inside the Hall, enclosed in a wooden shrine, is a colored porcelain statue of Kuan-Yin Bodhisattva which dates from the Ming Dynasty (about 700 years old). The statue is believed to have originally been in a monastery on Pu-Tuo-Shan, a mountainous island in the East China Sea and one of the most important centers of Buddhism in China. It is the largest colored porcelain statue of Kuan-Yin in the world

The Dining Hall is also called the "Five Contemplation Hall". The five contemplations remind us to be mindful during eating to avoid liking or disliking of certain dishes, and also to be mindful in developing gratitude when eating.

Our Meal

The Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas Encircling Buddha Vairocana

The main building on the proberty is called The Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas Encircling Buddha Vairocana. The building is constructed in the style of architecture of the Tang Dynasty (618 AD - 907 AD) and is constructed without internal pillars supporting the ceiling. The building is 84 feet tall, contains 24,000 square feet of space and can accommodate 2,000 people in the main hall. Inside the Hall is a 37-foot statue of the Buddha Vairocana - the largest Buddha statue in the Western hemisphere. Encircling the large statue are 10,000 small statues of the Buddha on a lotus terrace. Surrounding the pedestal of of the Great Buddha Statue are 12 bas-reliefs of Bodhisattvas. A mural 8 feet high and 104 feet long covers the wall of the lotus terrace containing the 10,000 small Buddha statues. It depicts scenes from the "Pure Land" or "Western Paradise" of Amitabha Buddha. At the back of the terrace is another mural 8 feet high and 144 feet long which contains lively pictures of 500 Ara. They have different facial expressions. These paintings are the masterpieces of Professor C.G. Chen. All paintings will be finished by 1999. The construction of the Great Buddha and the building took 8 years. The Great Buddha has to be complete before the building. Otherwise, it would be very difficult to bring a huge Buddha into the building. Professor C.G. Chen spent 2 years just to complete the Great Buddha itself. The little Buddhas are also designed and fabricated by Professor C.G. Chen.