Between two thoughtful temples, a throughful game

My cultural interlude on Monday took me to some religious cites northeast of my cooking school.

Stop one was the Yonghegong Lama Temple. Originally a prince's estate, it was converted into a temple that is still (highly) active today, with at least 70 lamas in residence. As it's active, it has been kept up fairly well, which means the architecture and the Buddhas inside were vibrant.

Near the front, there were two opposing dragon stela, that told the story of great deeds from ages past.

Also, in a large museum on either side of the main axis of temples was a museum of artifacts. I thought this conch shell scroll was quite neat, as were many one to two foot figurines of various gods and devils.

The main attraction came out of nowhere. In the back of the temple complex, I entered a three story building, expecting to see a golden Buddha about five feet high. Instead, I was presented with this:

More than 26 meters, or 80 feet, this large Buddha was carved from a single tree. The tree was sandalwood and was sent by those in northern India as a gift to the Chinese. It made my jaw hit the floor.

After the temple, I was bicycling to my next stop when I saw a couple of small crowds on the side walk. Pulling over, I saw that there were some competitive games of Chinese chess underway. I had to watch. I had just started to learn Chinese chess with Max after we picked up a traveling board. It is an intricate game with a handful of pieces that can do unexpected things (like the cannon that can jump over one piece to capture another). This game was transfixing. First, kibbitzing was clearly allowed, as everyone was talking all at once. One of the players, in particular, seemed to be spewing a relentless amount of trash talk. It was also a spirited match, with captures taking place with a loud bang of the table with the wooden disc pieces. Finally, I was amazed at how fast they played. When they set up, they would take about ten turns in succession, nearly instantaneously. As I'm still trying to learn how each piece moves, I could, alas, not follow. But, wow.

From there, it was down the street to the Confucian Temple. There was, as you might expect, a statue of Confucius.

There was also a hall of honor. There, I learned that Confucius had four sages and twelve philosophers (all essentially disciples that didn't quite reach his status). The hall was arranged to honor all of them, Confucius the most.

Other than that, this was a fairly nondescript place. Quiet, some trees, some nice buildings, but it wasn't long before I was back on my bike, getting lost in the hutongs.