Temple Gate

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The front hall of Lungshan Temple measures 11  bays across (with the five interstices in the middle serving as the main entrance to the temple). The main hall is five bays wide, and the rear hall is 11 wide. A bays in this context is the space between two pillars. The more bays there are, the higher the temple’s patron deity ranks in the pantheon, but the maximum in any case is 11 interstices, so clearly the boddhisatva Guanyin enjoys very high rank. I’ll bet you didn’t know that even a god is status-conscious!

(Temple Gate)

Above the temple gates are painted the images of four great vajra warriors, one holding a sword, one a pipa (a stringed instrument), one an umbrella, and one a snake. Vajra warriors are supernatural beings who protect the buddhadharma.

The temple gate also has a lot of other religious decorations, include several I-ching trigrams carved into the wood. Let’s check ’em out!

Link:

• Trigram