Travels in China 2006
Henan Province
Our five-day trip to Henan Province, initiated by an eventful nine-hour overnight train journey, was unquestionably an adventure within our larger Chinese adventure. Sitting on the edges of our tightly made bunk beds in our four-person sleeping compartment, Oran patiently teaches Yun, Katarina, and me the basics of Pinochle, which we play over the next five days for high stakes: peanuts and sunflower seeds. As we curl up to sleep on the high-speed train, we head south (the name Henan means south of the river) to one of the centers of ancient Chinese civilization.
Actually, Henan Province is precisely in the middle of China's nine original regions and is the birthplace of Buddhism in China. Exploring the Buddhist temples and learning about the history of Buddhism in China is the deeply rewarding focus of our explorations. With Yun and his family as our guides, we are treated to behind-the-scenes vistas and personal meetings that are normally off-limits to Chinese and Western visitors alike. These genuine connections with the monks of the temples and people of the region provide us a rare opportunity to understand on a deeper level the evolution of one of the most ancient religions on our planet.
The sprawling provincial capital (Henan, Zhengshou) becomes the base of our explorations. We soon get used to sweat pouring down our faces and the backs of our necks in the 98-degree (F.) temperatures as we drink liters of bottled water to prevent dehydration. But our discomfort disappears as we are treated to the most amazing opportunity to step inside the gates of temple after temple and begin to understand the history of Buddhism during the ever-changing dynasties that have ruled China over thousands of years. Each temple has its own unique history and architecture, yet there is an overarching structure that provides a window into the heart of Buddhist philosophy and teachings.
Traveling with Yun to White Horse Temple in Luoyang, where he knows some of the elder monks from his days traveling with his mentor, a revered Buddhist monk, is particularly meaningful. We are invited into the refectory to have lunch with the monks and are given a tour of the grounds and the various temples by monks who provide a fascinating history of this honored place. I feel so humbled by these signs of generous hospitality to us and grateful for this chance to step inside the first Buddhist temple built on Chinese soil.
The white horse of the first Buddhist monk to enter China from India is recognized outside the temple, its statue life-size and boldly sculpted in gleaming white stone. The temple gardens are lush and quiet, providing a cool respite from the steaming, crowded streets just outside the temple gates. Here the monks live and pray in seclusion from the busy throngs, preserving the ancient traditions and sacred texts.
We are granted another window into Buddhist culture and history through our visit to the Longmen Caves, four miles of over 100,000 images and statues of Buddha and his disciples carved into towering cliff walls along both banks of the Yi River. These images were carved into the walls over a period of over 200 years between approximately 500 and 700 AD and display an evolution in the visual representation of the Buddha reflective of the different dynasties in ascendancy during this period. We climb up and down steps hewn into the stone cliffs gazing into cave after cave of amazing and varied images of the Buddha and various configurations of his disciples.
Unfortunately, 19th and 20th century Western souvenir hunters and unthinking gangs during the Cultural Revolution defaced many of the images and we often peer into caves of beheaded Buddhas, their heads carelessly chipped away by looters completely oblivious to the historic and religious significance of these statues.
The culmination of our visit to these grottoes is our encounter with the second largest statue of the Buddha in existence. The largest statue of the Buddha was destroyed by the Taliban in Afghanistan during the Taliban purge of "profane" objects about five years ago. We begin our ascent of the 300 stairs not knowing what exactly to expect at the top. I am just barely able to make it to the top of the stairs when I see this vast dramatic panorama of characters almost jumping out of the rock face of the stone walls seeming to gyrate and grab our attention by the vividness of their expressions and postures. It is almost impossible to take in the numbers of characters and the whole configuration of figures surrounding the Buddha at one time. I've tried to capture it in my pictures, but this is where seeing is really believing because even the finest photograph does not give an accurate sense of the scope and monumental size of the towering statues. It is actually from the vantage point of the Emperor's Summer House on the opposite side of the Yi River that we can get a better sense of the immensity of the Buddha and his disciples in their full variety of startling postures.
Many of you might be most familiar with the meticulously renovated Shaolin Temple, which we visited the following day. This is the birthplace of China's most famous martial art, kung-fu.
Giant and fierce protector statues in various kung-fu poses greet us at the entrance of the temple, creating an energy distinctly different from all the other temples in its emphasis on the training of acolytes in the martial arts. I am familiar with the reputation of this temple from my son's long-standing involvement with martial arts and his fascination with martial arts films, some of which have been shot on location at this remarkable temple.
Before we even began our trip, Oran, who has been an avid potter since high school days, had a strong interest in seeing the unique pottery created in China. So Yun and his family kindly arranged for us to spend an afternoon visiting one of the renowned potteries in this region of the country. Driving over the rutted, bumpy roads, dodging mopeds, trucks, pedestrians, bicycles, and one nude woman, our mini-van made its way to the Yuc Family Pottery, which has been in their family for 35 generations. Yes, truly 35 generations at this same place. The Pottery is located at the base of a mountain whose clay is just the proper combination of minerals to provide the most remarkable clay body for the creation of masterpieces that have been the hallmark of this distinctive art form and has been supported by China's emperors in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.
Members of the Yuc family escort us into their beautiful showroom, which displays the finely wrought pieces that distinguish this particular type of junci pottery.
They even take us into one of the small rooms where one of their sons is working at his wheel. The son gets up from the wheel and invites Oran to sit at his place. He plops a huge piece of clay on the wheel and motions to Oran to show him his technique in throwing. We all stand around Oran as he slowly throws a vase with probably the largest lump of clay he has ever seen on a potter's wheel. Then the Yuc son sits at the wheel and in maybe two minutes' time, centers and produces the most amazingly graceful and well-proportioned vase we could imagine. Oran and his new found friend pose for pictures with their respective vases as mom and dad Yuc and all of our entourage give them both a standing ovation.
Later that night, we head for the train station to return to Beijing only to discover that other travelers have taken over all of the comfortable overnight births in the air-conditioned train we are scheduled to take back to Beijing. So we are shunted over to the 15-hour, non-air-conditioned, multi-berthed local train. Hmmmm, when I say hot, I mean really hot and steamy. It is an almost interminably long train ride with very little in the way of amenities, shall we say. But we make it back safe and almost sound, with various symptoms of heat prostration for the next day or two. But we rest up and are raring to go on to our next adventure.