Two doves and a dragon

Looking for a Strathcona corner store that is open Sunday evening, (a difficult assignment), I came across this small Buddhist temple on Keefer Street:


Up top, keeping the dragon company, is a pair of mourning doves. **


Zooming in:


Maybe they're nesting there. We'll go back soon to see if we can find them again.

This was supposed to be a wordless post, because it's late, and I'm sunburnt and tired. So, no more. I'm going to bed, with Noxema on my nose.

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**Patrick says they may be rock pigeons. Could be; I'm often wrong. They didn't look like our everyday pigeons to me; smaller, head too small, tail too long. But it could have been an effect of the pose.

I went back and got more distant photos of one, in shadow, unfortunately. Stripes on the wing: rock pigeon. Comma on the face, longish tail, thin body: mourner. White rim on the bill: rock pigeon. Skinny rock pigeon.

One of a million. Oh, well.

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More photos from the Buddhist Temple

This modern world is spoiling us. We go on an outing, I come home and dock the camera, transfer the photos. By the time I've got my jacket and shoes put away, the photos are ready to be viewed, selected and blogged. So the photos from Laurie's film camera, not developed until he has finished the roll, not loaded to the computer until we have assessed the prints and taken them bodily back to London Drugs for loading to the web, almost come as an afterthought.

An afterthought well worth waiting for, though. There is a texture to film-based photos that I don't see in digital, a less clinical, gentler view of the world.

These are some of his photos from our visit to the Buddhist Temple a week or so ago.

Starting with the Guan Yin in the shade of flowering vines. (Compare with the March photos; there was more light back then, simpler shadows.)

The "laughing Buddha", in his glassed-in kiosk beside the pool. A side view, bringing to mind those Chinese sedan chairs. All he's missing are the poles and the carriers.

A bridge over the pond, with a turtle sunning himself on the ledge.

A happy reinlion. Or something. The mate to the one with a spider in his ear.
Dramatic colouring. Natural: Japanese maple,

And flowers floating in a stone tank.

And man-made: the roof of a tiled mural.

And, to untangle your eyes after that, a temple guardian in his kiosk, shady, serene and maybe oh-so-slightly amused.

Beauty and the Beasts

At our last visit to the Richmond Buddhist temple to see the jade Guan-Yin, we were told she would be once again on display "in the spring". So, it is spring; the birds are singing, the flowers are blooming. Time to go back.

We dawdled around the garden areas, first. The temple staff expends a fair amount of effort on this; it is an integral part of the philosophy, as essential as the statues of the Buddhas themselves. It's all about "mindfulness", awareness of the moment and our place in the ever-changing, ever-the-same pattern. Focussed attention on every act, seeing, hearing, speaking. Even a simple cup of tea becomes a reverent ritual.
Along the side of the parking lot.
A bud. I don't know what it will open out to.
Laurie in the rock garden by the gate, blending in.
The pool, with swimming dragons.

And I, of course, found tiny inhabitants, wasps and spiders. On one of the rock sculptures, a tiny seedling. On the seedling, a wasp.
They were building a nest on the next rocks over. The tiny stemmed upside-down paper flower is the beginning of the nest. (Click to see this full size. And see another from my box of goodies in close-up .)
And spider webs. In a crevice in the rocks:

And in the ear of a fantastic lion/reindeer. (Lion face and body, reindeer antlers.)
In the courtyard, the roof of a shrine held more fanciful creatures.
Another hybrid, just the size for a kid to ride:
And, necessarily, one of the Buddhas, meditating by a pool to the music of three strands of falling water.

The hall where the jade Guan-Yin is was still behind "Under Construction" signs. The woman I asked about it was more realistic than our previous informant. When would the hall be open? "A long time. Very long. Maybe a year."

Oh, well. Laurie pronounced himself satisfied with the beauty of the gardens; Guan-Yin can wait. She won't fade.

There were three peonies blooming beside the path back to the parking lot. Dessert.

Under Construction

At the Buddhist temple, Richmond. I think it will eventually be a pool, with fanciful water spouts.
More on this day's outing, tomorrow.

Visit to the local Buddhist Temple

For some time now, I have been telling Laurie I wanted to show him a beautiful jade sculpture of the Guan-Yin (Kwan Yin) Bodhisattva, housed in the Buddhist Temple in Richmond (about 20 minutes drive for us). Last week, on a sunny spring-like day, he said, "Well, let's go."

So we did.

And I have a stack of photos to share.

A little bit about the temple, first: their website tells us ,

"To date, the Temple is the most exquisite example of traditional Chinese architecture in Canada. In many ways, it is like a piece of art straight out of the Chinese past, as it resembles any authentic temple that can be found along the banks of the Yangtze River in China, where one of the world's oldest civilizations originated.

The main focus of the exterior of the Temple is its palatial roof, which is similar in structure to that of any royal edifice within the Forbidden City of Beijing, China. The roof is covered entirely with red-orange porcelain tiles imported from China. As strikingly intriguing as the facade of the Temple is its artistic interior, which houses artifacts with superlative Chinese workmanship in sculpture, painting, carpentry and embroidery. Traditional Chinese art and culture are evident in the majestic Buddha/Bodhisattva statues, exquisite shrines, enormous silk paintings of the sixteen Arahats, and the spectacular ceramic murals."

They're not exaggerating. It was impressive the first time I saw it, some 20 years ago, and they have been constantly adding to it since then. And they haven't even mentioned the landscaping. Think Zen, think centuries of wind and water, think colour.

The jade Guan-Yin arrived sometime, if I remember correctly, in the 1980s. It was carved from a 2-ton piece of BC jade, mined in northern BC, shipped to China for the sculpting, and shipped back to the temple, where for a time it stood in a large crate outside the main hall. Then it was moved to a cubby-hole off the dining room for some time. The last time I had seen it, it was in a display stand outside the main entrance. Of all the treasures on display, this was the one I loved.

'nuff: on to some of our photos.

First, along the sides of the parking lot, on a carefully-manicured slope of lawn, we are greeted by rocks and sculptures.

A rock. I have been told the symbolism or meaning of some of the rocks here, so I am fairly confident that this one means something, too. I have no idea what.

In a small open shelter, the 16 disciples of the Buddha (arahats), each displaying his trademark characteristic. I've forgotten which 2 these are.

Another rock, just outside the shelter.

A few steps further down, protected by a slatted roof that will support flowering vines in the summer, a Guan-Yin, larger than life-sized. She often is portrayed carrying this upside-down vase, as a sign that she is sprinkling blessings on all beings.

A closer look at her.

Past the first gate now; this is one corner of the pool outside the main courtyard.

And the outside of the courtyard gate.

Inside the courtyard, Laurie took no photos. I probably would have tried, and been disappointed; there's no way anyone could do justice to the statues there. Even on their own webpage, they are diminished, shrunken.

Here's their photo of the "thousand-arm Guan-Yin". To get an idea of the size, the base is about chest-height to me, if I remember correctly. Camphor wood, covered with gold leaf. A thousand hands, so she can help all those who come to her, I have been told. And a thousand eyes, one in each palm. Many faces, looking in every direction; she sees, she knows. So they say, qualifying that with, "... if you believe."

Astounding, overwhelming, yes, but too garish for my tastes. On to look for the jade!

Inside the temple (several buildings, the final one of which had a sign: "Under construction: no entry.") no photo-taking is allowed. Upstairs, in a small shop, there were statuettes of different Buddha and guardian figures for sale, some of them new, some antique, many beautiful. We spent quite a bit of time and some money here.

And there I asked about the jade Guan-Yin. I had not seen her anywhere. "I'm sorry," I was told, "she is in the new Meditation Hall, and it is closed for construction." It will be open sometime in the spring. So we'll be coming back.

Here is a very bad, very small, photo of this statue, taken from the BT website, as she was before the latest move.