Pigeons 靈山之旅（III）

I love birds.  I had dreams of birds flying to me and landing on my palm or shoulders sometimes. The best part of visiting the Buddhist scenic partk is playing with the pigeons.  It is like my dreams come true. Birds are one kind of smartest animals.  On a busy street in Japan, crows place nuts on the middle of the road. They wait for cars to run the nuts over, then they take the nuts.  Parrots can copy human's words.  Pigeons recognize the long way home.  And I had seen a series of pictures of a male bird crying for a dead female bird. So birds have good brains and feelings, and human should not eat birds.

 

我爱鸟，有时候还会夢到鸟飛到我身边，站在我的手上。曾经养过鸟，因疏於照顾而嗚忽哀哉，自责不已，就决定不再养鸟了。到靈山最爱的就是喂食鸽子，那些鸽子会飛来我们的身边手上，人与鸟没有距離的感觉真棒，我还试着把二颗玉米放在Winston頭上，想讓鸽子飛上去站到Winston頭上，结果，有二隻鸽子飞来他的肩膀望着玉米，但一直不敢飛上他的頭，我想鸽子是聪明的动物，牠们一定曾经站在别人頭上，被拍打走，才会從此不敢冒犯人类的頭顶。鸟类是聪明的动物之一，日本的乌鸦知道要把核果放在路中间，讓车子碾过，再回来取食，鹦鹉会模仿人类说话，鸽子会認路回家也会传信，难以想像那麽小的脑袋瓜，也能哪麽聪明。和鸽子近距離接触後，我和Richy决定不食鸟类这种有靈性的动物了。

 

No money, no honey!

没有食物，鸟不理！

 

 

鸟食来啦！

 

Winston也要幫忙餵鳥

 

慢慢来，一次一颗哦！

 

拜託，忍一下，别大下去哦！

 

It is not easy to have more than one bird on one hand, especially when they flap.

雖然爱鸟，可是當鳥拍动翅膀时，好怕吃進病毒和细菌。

 

问Winston此行最好玩的是啥，答案：餵鳥

我也是！

 

The Chinese Style Buddha Statue and Temple

或许是宗教無形的约束，到了这里，幾次排隊被插隊都气得差点要骂人了，马上自律、收起脾气。

 

～阿彌陀佛～

 

Buddhist Palace 靈山梵宫-Visiting Buddhist Scenic Park 靈山之旅（II）

The outlook and the inside of Buddhist Palace were both very impressive. The outlook is like the Buddha Palace in Hindu and Thailand.  The inside of the palace is divided to art corridor, meeting area, and meal area.  The materials used in constructing and decorating the whole building are mostly precious marbles, stone and woods.

I hope they could have more description about the history and stories of Buddhism or each Statue, but there were only names, no description.  That is why I said the park is of more scenic and art value than its religious and historical value.

 

梵宫由裏到外的建材和装饰主要是珍贵大理石、花岗石、和木頭。屋顶为圆拱形，内部金璧辉煌，就像印度和泰国的佛寺，一点儿都没有中国传统佛寺的感觉。

感想:

我觉得指导机构应该要多点历史文物的介绍说明，交待清楚各建筑景点的来源动机，而不是只是展示财力、物力，以及强调各项艺术品是否为世界之最。此行看到很多有趣震撼的东西，可是想要进一步探索时，也只能看到名称和赞歎词，我認為一个好的景区或博物馆应该要多点典故说明，其他就留给游客去批评或赞歎才是，这是此行唯一美中不足之处。

门票：￥150/人，票价还算值得，可能是宗教的关系，里面的服务人员都还颇Nice。

 

Outside of the Palace 宫外

 

 

One of the Side Doors

侧门一隅
 

The Dome-shaped Ceiling

Statues on around the inner dome

塔厅的圆形屋顶内侧，精雕细琢

 

 

Artificial Stars in the center of the ceiling

The background light keeps changing slowly.

中心繁星点点

 

 

Art Corridor

 藝術走廊的上方

 

 

 Zooming in, you will see Statues on the Sides of Art Corridor

藝術走廊上方的雕刻

 

 

Statues on the aisle ceiling

 

 

Golden Buddha and Colored Glass background

纯金打造的佛像， 背景为琉璃

 

Wooden Art Piece

木雕

 

Art Piece

 木雕

White Marble Elephant with 6 teeth

大象六牙代表六度：布施、持戒、忍辱、精进、禅定、智慧

 

 

Holy Altar (Meeting Room)

聖殿(會議廳堂)

 

 

 

 

 Ceiling of the meeting room

聖殿上方拱形天花板造型

 

Art Corridor

 藝術回廊

 

Outside the Palace

梵宫门面

 

Tibetan Buddhist Temple ( only built for exhibition, no practical function, no entrance allowed)

很有西藏味的坛寺，是纯供欣赏，不能进入，看起来是个空城。

 

 

Another Hindu Style Palace with fake doors

（There is no doors for visiting. This palace is purely for sightseeing. It is of no practical use.)

後面的场景只是用来給游客拍照用的，连门都是假的。

 

The sculpture of the elephant and the costumes indicate

 that the idea of this Statue is from Hindu. 

大象和露胸的造型证明此图的靈感是来自印度。

 

Here we almost finished visiting all the scenic spots in this park.
 下午三点半，我们终于逛得差不多了。

 

Still got some more to be continued~

 

Visiting Buddhist Scenic Park 靈山遊记 (I)

I respect all religions.  I like to visit old churches in Europe and like to see old temples in Taiwan and China.  I believe all religions are good to the world, unless someone distorts its spirit and meanings.

 

We went to a Buddhist Scenic Park last Sunday.  More than 1,300 years ago, there was a popular Buddha temple in Lingshan Mountain.  However, after the rampage of wars and culture revolution, this cultural heritage was damaged.  The government rebuilt this place in 1994 and reopened it to the public.  They added some more statues and "Buddha Palace". After visiting the place, I feel that nowadays Lingshan Buddha Park is of more artistic value than its religious value.  The interesting thing is that in traditional Chinese Buddha center, there was no "palace", but we saw one of the major scenic spot called "Buddha Palace"(pictures will be shown in next post). And the instruction in our ticket and in their official website only emphasized the size of the place and statues but did not mention any origin of the idea of the "palace" and some of the "foreign-looked statues".  I don't feel comfortable about someone using other's idea without mentioning it.  To my knowledge, I think the idea of the "Palace" was from Hindu (India).  Traditional Chinese Buddha buildings are temples not palaces.  And the fact that Buddhism originate from India can't be denied. Moreover, a Buddha Park or any religious center usually should be built by the followers not built and operated by the government.  But to make myself feel comfortable with this visit, I treated the park as a museum of Buddhist Art, Culture and Architecture, instead of a pure religious center.  And because the place was built by the government, we can see how rich the government is to build such a spectacular place to attract so many visitors.  So I had enjoyed the trip and like to share many pictures we took in this visit.

 

星期日我们去了久闻其名的靈山。

無锡靈山，位于太湖之濱，风景如画。一千三百多年前，唐代著名高僧玄奘法师，观此山形类似天竺的佛教圣地靈鹫山，因此授记留名。始建为靈山庵，宋时改名为祥符禅寺。後历经战乱，盛况不复。1994年当地政府重建靈山，於禅寺东方加入了大佛像、梵宫，並於景区入口处建了九龍灌柱，原来的佛教勝地，如今观光艺术价值似乎大于其宗教意涵，加上此地的宗教住持和尚们，通常是官派的（不知靈山是否也是如此）。而我也就就抱着观光的心情来到靈山，欣赏这世界最大的佛像与金璧辉煌的梵宫(梵宫的部分放在下一篇，敬请期待）。

 

雖然是抱着观光的心情来靈山，不知是秋高气爽的关系，还是此地真有靈气，逛完靈山勝地，喝下八功德水，精神舒爽，回頭看到大佛望着我们的背影離去，有點依依不捨。

 

 

The Entrance

入口能看到主要景观了

 

On the top of the Sculptured Pillar, is  a Baby Buddha covered by lotus leaves.

柱子上方的莲花包着佛陀太子

 

Nine Dragons around the Sculptured Pillar( will eject water to bath the baby Buddha)

九龍围绕着即将降生的小佛陀

 

The lotus on the top is open.

Baby Buddha turns 360 degree around while Nine Dragons are bathing him.

九龍灌浴，过程中小佛陀会绕行360度

 

After the bathing show, drinking water will flow out through the fire bird's peak.

Visitors line up to gather "purified" water.

表演完後，接饮凤凰嘴出来的八功德水

 

 

Buddhist Scriptures written on the Cylinders on the side way. 

When visitors touch and turn the Cylinders, that means they read the Scriptures.

108个转轮，每个转轮上刻着经文，转一次表示读了一遍

 

 Sculptures of Vanquishing Demons and attaining the Enlightenment

According to the costumes and layouts, the sculptures are more like Hindu style than traditional Chinese style.

降魔朝聖图

 

Statue of One hundred kids teasing Maitreya.

Maitreya is a happy Buddha representing Wealth and Fortune.

彌勒佛像

 

 

 百子戲彌勒

 

The biggest Buddha's Right Palm in the world.

Touching the palm will brings you longevity. 

佛手=福壽，摸摸佛手添福壽

 

 

The more than 1,400 year-old Gingko Tree

1,400年的银杏老树

 

Now, Ready to Climb up to the Biggest Buddha?

还那麽高，只好请Richy带表我们爬上去啦！

 

 

Buddha's Feet

We sent Richy to climb up and take this picture.

此时只有爬得上去的人才能“抱佛脚”哦！ 

 

 

 There are Buddhist Cultural exhibitions in the hall under the footbase of the Grand Buddha.

大佛脚下是个文物馆

 

Buddha scriptures and the 500 hundred Disciples

 500 羅漢的壁雕和经文

 

To be continued~

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

固元膏

對於中药養身的方法，我總是後知後觉，但还是比很多人早实行。因为体质实在太差，很多症状都提醒我该付诸行动了，所以常查些医疗保健的资料。最近天冷，Winston和Richy都还身着短袖，我已批上外套且穿上袜子了，再下去，真不知如何面对寒冷的冬天，于是下定决心做“固元膏”。网路上不知從何时開始就盛传固元膏的做法与功效，我早看过，但程序繁复，暫擱一旁，这周心血来潮，買足材料做了一大锅，试了一口，嗯！好吃，且当晚睡觉就没有脚冷的感觉了。

固元膏是属温热补品，体寒者每日早晚空腹各一匙，体质燥热的人还有儿童要减量服食。

 

网路上的做法如下：

 

材料:

阿膠半斤（冬天可用1斤, 高血壓患者放半斤）

黑芝麻1斤

核桃仁1斤

紅棗1斤（半）

冰糖半斤 (糖尿病者去糖 )

黃酒2斤(或改為料酒)

 

做法:

1) 將大塊的阿膠連著包裝用榔頭敲成小塊，然後再倒進食品加工機裏

打成粉狀. (有的中藥店可以完成此部作業, 如雷允上)

2) 把黑芝麻洗乾淨，在鍋裏炒过(這樣利於在加工機裏粉碎)

3) 核桃仁在加工機裏不容易打碎，最好是在家用的小型絞肉機裏絞碎.

4) 紅棗洗乾淨，去核，再在絞肉機裏絞碎 (買紅棗幹片)

5) 冰糖放入加工機裏粉碎. (發黃色的較好)

6) 將這5種食品依法處理完後，放入一個大盆子裏攪拌均勻.

7) 倒入黃酒2斤（給小孩吃時可改加酒味較淡的料酒），攪拌均勻.

8) 放入盆子裏，蓋好蓋子，然後再放入大鍋內，隔水蒸。

9) 先用大火蒸15分鐘，然後再用小火蒸1個半小時，完全蒸透就可以了。

10) 等放涼後，放入潔淨、乾燥的大瓶子。

 我的改良做法：

1）阿膠泡酒二、三日溶化，個人觉得，泡酒融化比打粉好，不会流失粉末和破坏营养。

2）炒芝麻、核桃粒，不要炒太久，易上火。放凉打成粉状（核桃成粒状也行）。

3）将红枣片、冰糖这二项不易熟透的成分，放入（1）用台湾的大同电锅（十人份）煮15-20分钟 （没大同电锅的，只好照网路土法炼钢喽！）

3）再放入炒过的芝麻糊和核桃粉拌匀，续煮15-20分钟，再闷20分钟即可。

4）成品稠稠的，放凉後，一坨坨的挖到罐子裏分装即可。

 

以上的材料，成本颇高，光是阿膠，我是買有牌子的东阿阿胶，要价￥210，核桃也贵，也很费工费时，又是一项非闲人勿试的东西。

 

南浔游记（完）

既然累翻了，手上的票还有几个景点没逛完，我和Wisnton打算放弃，Richy还想继续走，为了節省时间，于是我们从前门入口出去開车，绕了一圈，從後门入口讓Richy一个人进去逛完南浔，Richy下车後，腹地太大，还是逛不完，不过他带回了两瓶酒，算是小有收穫。

 

结语：

南浔水陆發达，是江南巨富聚集之地，早期的丝绸和盐米的生意兴隆，它的建筑雕龙画栋，屋外的墙讓人觉得高不可攀，富豪的庭院内非常气派，除了小莲庄以外，总觉得缺少小桥、流水、假山等江南庭园造景的那份雅致，可见富豪的生活繁忙，无暇望山看水、粘花惹草。

看到牌坊上、墙壁上的的石雕，还有整片门窗的木雕，除了赞叹它们的工艺，也想到它的费时费力，一个石雕、木雕、运一塊石頭要多少人工啊？可见贫富差距的大，自古至今，毫无改善。

 

 

小桥、流水、人家

 

这幅可当水墨画和水彩画的樣版了

 

南浔贡酒的制造处

 

好酒酝酿中

 

古法釀造　

 

成品展示

 

Richy 的戰利品

 

Winston & June 累了，在桥边的小阁楼等候 Richy

 

要离开南浔时，已近下午四点，街道的黄昏市场热闹起来了