Lingyin Temple and North Peak Mountain, Hanzhou(820 views)
Release date:2009-08-25 09:52:10
I joined the nearest throng of people staring upwards. Cameras were flashing and the volume conversation contrasted sharply with the tranquil surroundings. On the brown cliff-face opposite a giant stone Buddha had been carved. It was complete with fat rolls, long dangly ears, and that beaming Buddha smile. From his perch he sat cross-legged, laughing at the crowds below. I had to admire his composure. He said: “Chaos is inherent in all compounded things”. The throng of people visiting Lingyin temple was certainly chaotic. Soon some of the cameras in our group started sneakily turning towards myself. A lone laowai, an easy target. The tourist had become the attraction and it was time to go. I battled my way through the crowds an onwards down the paved road towards the temple.
It was poorly thought out on my part. I had planned a quiet spiritually fulfilling hike around the hills of Hanzhou. Unfortunately the date of my plans coincided with the planned public holiday of the billion or so other people in China. And some of them liked spiritually fulfilling hikes around Hanzhou too. I had to admit it was interesting experience nonetheless; battling through hoards of incredibly friendly tourists. Once passed the temple gates, I pressed on through the thinning crowds toward the forested hills. I would see the temple the next time. For now I would try to find a path up the hill behind the temples and monastery.
After a half hour I had left the big crowds far behind, and was well into the ascent of the forested Northern Peak mountain. I passed fewer people now, and the stone path winded its way upwards. Feeling a bit like Ji Gong, I left the main path and started on a rough trail around the steeper part of the hill. Ji Gong was a famous monk here before being forced out of the monastery by his fellow monks. He liked meat, wine and general rule breaking, so this probably contributed to their decision. After leaving Lingyin, the kindhearted and oft-drunk Ji Gong roamed the streets helping people while his magical powers grew to almost mythical proportions.
With my own magical powers in doubt after a near slip down the mountain, I emerged at the top of the summit. There was quite a few people here, the ones that came up by cable-car and the real hikers who walked up, secretly debating a cable-car descent. After a quick stop in a shop I found a quiet place and enjoyed the spectacular view over Hanzhou. With a beer of course, in the spirit of Ji Gong.
The Wulin mountains splay their foothills into practically downtown Hangzhou. As ignorant as nature was to impede with its silent forests, the city below now retorts with the odd muffled and eerie car horn echoed upwards. Adjoining foothills struck into the city from this summit, and visible in the distance were some hikers on a path along the top. So after finishing my drink I decided to take the long way home and see where that path could lead me. To take literally our smiling Buddha’s cryptic saying “the foot only feels the foot when its on the ground”.
Two hours and several miles later my feet were very much feeling the ground. The late afternoon sun gifted me a sweat as I walked along the track over the hills slowly aiming towards the city below. Strewn with fantastic viewpoints, it seems to be a favorite weekend walk with locals in Hangzhou, and deservedly so. Although a few people share the path, even on this public holiday it didn’t disturb the serenity.
It was dusk by the time I emerged from the quiet forest straight onto a bustling main road in Hanzhou. A bizarre contrast, made even more surreal by the sight of other hikers emerging from the forest in random places to rejoin the city. It was like an alien landing scene from a bad science fiction film. I thought of Budha laughing in front of all us tourists in Lingyin temple, “It is better to travel well than to arrive”. But then I thought of someone else, and wandered into the Jazz Bar across the road, for a quick drink in solidarity with Ji Gong.
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