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| a short walk to The Lion Forest |
Just
a short walk from the Humble Administrator's Garden there is another
garden called The Lion Forest. Admission was the same for
senior citizens of any nationality 50% for people 60 to 69 and free
for those over 70. I joked that if you're over 70 and still alive
they think you should get in free.
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| rocks of the Lion Forest |
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| footpaths on different levels |
The
Lion Forest is a 14th Century garden built by a Zen
Monk named Wen Tianru in honor of his teacher, Abbot Zhongfeng. It is
centered around a water area and covered with hundreds if not
thousands of rocks full of holes and strange shapes. The garden is
something of a maze with footpaths on different levels and through
holes in the rocks. The garden is named for these supposedly
lion-shaped rocks. (It seemed hard to see the “lion shapes” in
the rocks to me.) The shape of the rocks is said to be in reference
to the symbolic lion in the Buddhist's Lion's Roar Sutra.
Whatever the provenance of the rocks, the effect is quite
spectacular. The Lion Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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| the central water area |
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| Can you see a lion in the rocks? |
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| tiered waterfall |
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| praying monk? |
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| willows soften the effect of the stone |
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| bamboo grove makes a good spot to rest |
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| shades of red trail off into the background |
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| Why walk a straight line when you can zig-zag . . . |
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| Guanqian Street |
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| Xuanmiao Guàn Taoist Temple |
From
The Lion Forest we walked back towards Guanqian Street, the main
pedestrian and shopping street in Old Suzhou City. The Xuanmiao Guàn
Taoist Temple is located on the north side of Guanqian Street. The
original main temple building dates from the 3rd Century
AD, but was destroyed by wars in the Southern Song Dynasty. The
current structure was rebuilt in the 12th Century. The
temple gateway, Zheng Shan Men, a graceful double roofed structure,
is made entirely of wood and dates from the Tang Dynasty (AD
618-907). It was damaged and rebuilt in 1775 AD. There are some
interesting sculptures of Taoist gods in the Zheng Shan Men, one of which, a deity named
Wei Tuo, is posed making an interesting and humorous hand gesture.
Wei Tuo is a guardian of the gate. As such he protects the temple
from evil spirits; so, if you're a bad actor, his gesture could very
well mean . . . well, you know.
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| Wei Tuo - guardian of the gate |
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| Taoist deities, Wei Tuo in center |
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| Zheng Shan Men -- graceful, double roofed temple gateway |
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