Continued from here

So while he continued to click I walked behind it to check – and there it was – the most awe-inspiring sight I’ve ever witnessed that simply took my breath away. I gasped and shouted for him to join me. Because behind the statue was, unexpectedly, an endless passage with alluring carvings on either side. It was one of those moments in life that make you wonder how much humans are capable of- what beauty grandeur, skill and scale that moves you with its sheer perfection.

We walked in silent awe admiring each of the carvings- reading up about the monks from Zen history and different stages of Buddha’s enlightenment process.

My favourite here was the one right at the start – Sadgatih– the wheel of reincarnation that takes people through life and death.

And just at the end of the passage we happened on the Sitting Buddha– he had flowing robes and the lights installed created shapely shadows on the wall behind. At this point, we were just entranced by the sights around us and tried to take it all in to savour at a later time.

Another passage later was the most majestic idol of Bodhisattva Skanda – who is considered the guardian of Buddha’s possessions when he entered Nirvana.

Further on are the Four Heavenly Kings– the King of Rain, of The Wind, of Buddhist conversion and the ruler of music.

After this, we happened on more exquisite carvings of heavenly beings and numerous statues of Buddha in varying shapes and sizes.

When finally out into the light, we saw the Sleeping Buddha, surrounded by people.

Just as we got exhausted from the walking, we happened on a shrine with seemingly endless steps at a space called the “Big Buddha Bay“. A lotus-shaped centre piece is the first thing that is seen, and if you look up one will notice a painful looking set of stairs reminiscent of the stairs Po had to face (in Kung Fu Panda), that lead up to another statue of a seated Buddha. Considering how much our feet were aching by now, we almost gave it up- but the previous jaw-dropping scenes egged us on to give it a go. On the railings of the stairs were numerous rusted locks worn out in the rains.

Just as we willed ourselves to reach there- true to our past experience there was actually a passage just to the side of the Buddha.And finally, we got to see the one image that was the only picture other than the Grand Buddha that we had stumbled upon online and that I was determined to see on my visit to Leshan. The Thousand-Hand Kwan-Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, and it was everything I needed it to be. Raw and seemingly made of mud but perfect in its detail- hands in an assortment of postures surrounding a benevolent looking deity. The hands are supposed to represent her many abilities to render assistance.And I was finally satisfied with the trip to Leshan.

We moved on to the Golden Buddha Hall to a few more soothing sights and finally walked back to the entrance.

We entered the shrine there and stopped for a bit at the LingBao Pagoda (It was closed, but we’re not sure if it was the timing or if it’s always kept closed). We then headed out to the railway station a bit early for our train.

Instead of sitting at the station, I suggested we go to the park on the other side of the road to spend the couple of hours we had.  We noticed 5-6 people playing something that looked like badminton but was vaguely dance-like. Intrigued we asked Summer and she translated from them that it was called “Tai-Chi-Bo” (my spelling may be incorrect). It was quite a treat to watch their controlled and fluid movements with the racquet and a special ball. As we watched on intrigued, they were kind enough to offer to let us try too. Needless to say, we did try and had a lot of fun but were hilariously awkward at it in comparison to them. A Swedish family also joined in to watch and our group had some interesting conversation with them wrt tourism in Sichuan and the places we loved. And just like that it was time for our train and getting back home after a magical day of discovery- of the Leshan food, of the spell-binding carvings in underground caves and the elegant Tai-chi bo.

The world is a large space filled with wonder and mystery. There’s so much to explore and a lifetime is just not enough to even get started. However once in a while, we decide to revisit a place. To introduce it to a loved one, to make new memories there, to revel in its familiar nooks and once again relish its decadent food. And so the Sichuan province in China it was.

Day 1 :

With a midnight flight and being groggy the whole layover at Bangkok, the only highlight was the delicious shrimp pad-thai and the omo fried rice that the waiter served with a ketchup smiley.

Since we only reached ChengDu at 3:30 PM we decided to take the day easy. After meeting Summer’s lovely dog Wunzai we headed off for a walk in the area. The footpaths are just hubs of social life in the early evenings- kids learning games, older people dancing to stay active, folks training their tiny dogs and cheering them on and small carts with produce and snacks providing more colour to the space. The many apps that allow for picking up cycles at will to be used have made cycling a ubiquitous mode of transport there too.

We picked up a bunch of cycles and then headed right to dive into the food with the Sichuan barbeque – the ultimate winter food – hot, spicy. It works in a simple format- you select the vegetables/meat of your preference and you pay by the stick (more for meat). They barbeque it and get it to your table. It goes marvellously well with the locally available peanut soy milk, the herbal tea served in cans or beer that they prefer.

A hearty meal later, we walked back home followed by yoghurt ice cream and a walk with Wunzai.

Day 2 :

The next morning we took the super fast train from the ChengDu South station and had a packed breakfast of boiled corn and eggs in the train. The route is quite scenic with greenery and mountains. We need to take a bus just after the train station. We stopped in the city for lunch. Just as we got off the bus, we noticed an elderly gentleman and a young boy both playing with a long whip that was used to spin a very heavy metal top. Apparently it’s good exercise and looked like a lot of fun and skill was involved.

LeShan is also popular for its food and Summer had visited it just for the food previously, so we decided to make the best of our trip and packed a ton of food for our trek and our meal there.

Almost every search for  LeShan will show up the image of the giant seated Buddha. The statue carved off a cliff faces the point of confluence of 3 rivers, hence it was a place for ships to get sucked into a whirlpool. This statue was carved out by a monk to look over the safety of the passing ships and was the work of 90 years! What also makes it very cool is that inside the statue is a drainage system that has helped drain out rainwater thereby reducing weathering of the statue over the years. It is easy to believe that it is the largest and tallest stone Buddha statue in the world with perfect fingernails and the sky looming above him.

It is imposing and is in a beautiful setting facing the rivers and the Emei mountain. Even on the stairway to the bottom of the statue, one would find carvings in the rock of Buddhist monks and shrines.

Tip: There are 2 ways to see the statue – one on foot while walking down and up the side of the Buddha. The other is to take a boat. The cost is minimally different between the two. We’d recommend taking the boat if you have trouble walking since there is so much more to see on foot even within the area. While there is a long queue to see this, the rest of the area is not crowded since it’s a vast space and most people return after seeing this.

There are numerous caves and shrines even around the statue within a vast green space. There are small ponds with golden-orange koi fish and the ubiquitous turtles too.

Since we still had time for the return train we decided to wander around a bit. At one point we noticed another entry with some images of carvings. The price was more expensive than our entry to Leshan Grand Buddha but we still decided to give it a go while our companions stayed back. While definitely verdant and scenic, it’s quite a walk to the first statue and we had to ask several staff members with sheer sign language on directions to it.

After a winding path through the hills, we finally landed at the statue that’s called the Pharmacist Buddha. While smaller than the Grand Buddha it is still a calm, striking imposing statue of the Buddha standing. It easily dwarfs the 2 massive statues of protectors(?) beside it. There were no other tourists there.

Just as Anand was clicking his pictures and I was wandering in front of it, he asked me to check on some voices from behind the statue- there was no direction board or any indication that there was something behind the statue.

Wait for the next post : The Jaw dropping beauty of Leshan