26/10/2009

Day 21 - Beijing: Lama & Confucius Temples and Bell & Drum Towers

Today we visited the Lama Temple, which is a temple dedicated to Buddha. It houses a treasury of Buddhist art, including sculptured images of gods, demons and Buddhas, as well as Tibetan-style murals. There were many locals with lots and lots of incense sticks paying their respects to Buddha. The further into the grounds we got the bigger the statues became. The most impressive was an 18m (60ft) high sandalwood statue of the Maitreya (future) Buddha, carved from a single tree.

Across the road from the Lama Temple was the Confucius Temple, dedicated to the great Chinese thinker. The Confucius Temple was educational , he believed that everyone had the right to learn and be educated not just those from wealthy families as was tradition in China.
After lunch we visited the Drum Tower, this tower was used as a "clock" tower. Inside was 1 large drum and 24 smaller drums. Every hour the drums would be drummed to tell the locals the time. We were lucky enough to be their when the drummed. It was awesome. Opposite the Drum Tower was the Bell Tower, the Bell Tower used to be rung every 2hrs, the 1st was at dusk signaling time for everyone to be indoors for the evening, the 2nd was to signal that it was time for sleep, 3rd was midnight, 4th was early morning and the 5th and final time was dawn to signal the start of a new day.