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Vincent Lim Sui-leong heeds a master's advice to plaster the word
"death" on his forehead while on a visit to the gravity-defying Hanging Temple
in Shanxi.
Cruising along the highway
after an inspiring visit to Yingxian Pagoda
(article published in the Dec. issue of FOR YOU), we headed for the
majestic peaks of Hengshan (恒山). At one point, we had to stop our car to let a herd of sheep
pass. While the driver was tapping his fingers rather impatiently on the
steering wheel, my two German companions and I were amused. We took the
opportunity to snap some pictures, and I whispered the mani
mantra into the ears of a few sheep to bless them. Many of us would have
heard of Hengshan when we watch Chinese kungfu movies. The name itself conjures romantic images
of chivalrous swordsmen gamboling through woods thick with gnarled pines
and crisscrossed by clear streams, with mist-shrouded temples and peaks in
the distance. I was definitely thrilled, being able to step foot on this
gorgeous precinct.
Though Hengshan
is one of the five mountains sacred to Taoists, its most famous sight is a
Buddhist temple situated on a very strange location------ the seemingly
gravity-defying Hanging Temple (悬空寺), which clings halfway up the side of a sheer precipice.
Alighting from the car, I was refreshed by a cool breeze blowing through
the valleys. Looking up, I was awe-struck and humbled. The temple is
anchored to cliff walls with merely thin wooden beams set into the rock.
From afar, it gives rise to the optical illusion of floating in mid-air,
and hence its Chinese name Xuan Kong, which
translates as "Suspended in Void". There has been a temple on
this site since Northern Wei, but the present structure is mostly Qing.
Periodically, the temple buildings were destroyed by the flooding of the Heng
River at the base of
the cliff. With each successive rebuilding, the temple was shifted higher
and higher. The river has since dried up, thanks to the construction of a
dam further upstream.
You do not need to jump and
fly around like a swordsman to explore the temple, but you do need a lot of
guts to maneuver your way around the tall, narrow stairs and plank walkways
connecting its six halls. Looking down from the temple, the views are
likely to induce palpitations and vertigo. But why build a temple on a
cliff face of all places? Surely there are better places in Hengshan? Buddhist meditators
have been known to practice in frightful places such as cliffs, charnel
grounds, and desolated wastelands to induce a sense of impermanence and
weariness with samsara, and to feel the imminent
need to gain Enlightenment. Figuratively, the temple balancing precariously
on beams is akin to our lives hanging on by a thread. Death will certainly
come to all; the time of death is uncertain though. When death has come,
there is nothing that you can bring along with you------ not your house,
car, cash, relatives, pets, country club memberships, fame and prestige.
Heck, you have to relinquish even your very own body. It was taught that
those who constantly keep the thought of death in their minds will quickly
accomplish the path. Master Yinguang (印光大师) even went to the extent of recommending that you plaster the
word "death" on your forehead (把“死”字贴在额头上) to spur yourself to diligence in your practice. The great Nyingma master Longchen Rabjam, advises in his Guide to Locations for
Cultivating Samadhi:
High among the mountains the
mind becomes clear and expansive,
Ideal for refreshing mental
dullness and for practicing the generation phase.
Snowy regions help to make samadhi clear and awareness bright and lucid,
So for cultivating vipashyana they make ideal places with the fewest
obstacles.
Forests bring stillness of
mind and help us to develop mental stability,
So they are ideal places for cultivating
shamatha with a sense of ease.
Below rocky cliffs we can feel
a vivid sense of impermanence and disenchantment,
Clear and inspired, helping us
to achieve the union of shamatha and vipashyana.1
References: 1.Translated by
Adam, based on an earlier, unpublished translation of Finding Comfort and
Ease in the Meditation of the Great Perfection by B. Alan Wallace and Adam Pearcey, prepared for HH the Dalai Lama's teachings in Lerab Gar,
France,
2000.
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