Long story short, yes, there are 10,000 Buddhas. There are technically more than 12,000 buddha statues, and each one is unique. Located in Sha Tin, Hong Kong, this monastery is hidden behind a local street up in the forest. It is also is widely well known, due to no monks residing at the complex. Be prepared to wear comfortable shoes and walk up many steps to reach the top. The path leading up to the main building is a hike within itself. As you walk, beautiful gold buddhas line both sides of the pathway, so it makes the incline to the top seem not so bad.
The day I decided to go to the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery I was able to convince some friends to go exploring with me. It happened to be a day off from my study abroad program. It was the day of the Ching Ming Festival, or otherwise known as Qingming. On this day, Chinese families will visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean gravesites, pray, and make ritual offerings. Offerings during this holiday usually include traditional food dishes and the burning of incense or joss paper. Due to this holiday, my friends and I knew that the metros and the monasteries would be incredibly crowded. But what time is better to experience a new culture, than to respect and observe it yourself.
As we stepped off the metro at the Sha Tin station, we were among a couple of hundred other people. Imagine New York City metros at rush hour and then multiply it by three. It other words, there was a lot of people. That became an advantage because we weren't exactly sure where to find the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery. We had rough Google directions, but when they led us into a street with high-rise buildings, we were majorly confused. Not knowing if we were lost or not, we ended up following a large mass of people who exited the metro when we did. They led us down a dead-end street that led to a path into the forest behind a high rise. We were a little apprehensive at first walking down the pathway that led into the woods, but about 100 yards in the sign for the monastery came into view.
The April heat was beating down on us, and we were starting to get restless. As we approached the sign, we saw our challenge. I looked ahead, and I saw a steep incline going up the mountain with a ramp on one side of the path and stairs on the other. I could barely see the top where the pathway was leading too. After assessing our challenge, we started to trek up the long twisted path.
I am a pretty athletic woman, but this climb up the mountain was no easy task in the heat. I stopped occasionally, took pictures, rested, drank my water, and continued pushing on. The path of 431 steep steps, was lined with golden Buddhas reflecting the sunlight. Each one had a different expression, body type, and pose. All are unique to the individual statue. This fact baffled me the entire walk to the top, as I continued to sweat my booty off.
Once we reached the top, I had never felt more relieved physically. My calves were burning, and I was sweating buckets. I turned and looked out over the mountainside to a magnificent view of thousands of golden buddhas that I had just passed. I looked down and realized, "Wow, I just climbed that entire way." A feeling of pride and accomplishment washed over me.
As I turned my attention to the main building, I honestly can not explain the respect and effect that this monastery made me feel. My friends and I were very conscious of what we were doing because we were visitors in this place of worship and did not want to be disrespectful. Due to the holiday, people were gathering around to worship and pray. We made sure to push ourselves further into the back, so we did not disturb anyone.
Eventually, my friends dispersed to look around the area more, and I just stood still. I just watched these people worship a faith I did not understand all that well. Tears began to fill my eyes with how peaceful I felt within myself. These people seemed so loving towards their faith that something about that moment sparked something in me. I quickly wiped away my tears, and I went to look around.
More golden buddhas were in the main center of the complex. Everywhere I seemed to look, there was a new one I had not seen before. The red paint on the buildings complemented the gold and made the whole area super vibrant and alive. The color red in Chinese culture is a symbol of luck, joy, and happiness. That is why it is seen in many buildings with associations to faith. Many of the buildings would not allow photography within the structure. That is known as disrespectful to the belief and the Chinese people worshipping. Please, if you are in any place of worship, respect the boundaries of that faith and people.
While being in the middle of the forest, it is normal that you would encounter the native animals of the area. One of those animals in Hong Kong are monkeys. The native monkeys to Hong Kong are the Rhesus Macaque, Long-tailed Macaque, and their hybrids. I had never seen a monkey in the wild before, and I will not forget this encounter. In the past, I had always been taught never to touch wild animals (even if you badly wanted to) because they were unpredictable, and they could carry disease. These monkeys in this area must have comfortable around humans because they were only two feet away from me or closer. Being someone who had only seen monkeys who were in a zoo before this experience, the anxiety of the proximity of the monkeys to me started to set in. While the unease was building within me, my friends and I had gathered at the center of the complex. We started observing a group of monkeys. We noticed that they were getting close to these Eastern European women who were eating their lunches. The two women did not realize how close these monkeys were to them, and when we tried to warn them, we realized they did not speak English. Behind the women, we noticed there was a sign, in English, that read "Do Not Eat Outside. Monkeys Will Attack." My friend went over and tried to explain with hand gestures (since none of us spoke anything other than English) that they should not eat outside due to this sign warning about the monkeys. One woman waved him off, probably because they thought he was acting rude for disturbing their lunch, and he walked back over to us. Less than five minutes after, a monkey races down the railing and jumps on one woman, grabs her bag of chips, and jumps down the cliff edge. The woman was understandably shocked and shaken to tears, but her friend immediately leaned over the railing and started shouting at the monkey. The monkey then threw the chips to the side and abandoned them. That made me more anxious to be around the monkeys and would quickly scoot on by them when they were near me.
Shortly after the monkey incident, my friends and I decided to call it a day. We headed down the mountain on a different path that was much easier than the first. We joked about how we should have taken this way up because of how lazy everyone is. I then turned to face my friends, and I stated, "Well, that's what makes this an adventure. Not really knowing what you are doing, but figuring it out along the way."
I had never felt so many positive feelings in one day. I could not stop smiling and laughing along the way back to the apartment, and neither could my friends. My mind kept thinking about the moment where I started to tear up due to the peacefulness that I felt within myself. I have never believed in faith like what I had witnessed at that monastery. At that moment, I felt something more than myself come over me. I still, to this day, am analyzing what I felt and am trying to incorporate that feeling into my life.
The impression that the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery left on me will be long-lasting and forever. It truly is a hidden gem in the big city of Hong Kong. It is a beautiful network of structures, that is not a tourist trap, and you can have a great, peaceful day there. Watch out for the monkeys, and wait to eat lunch elsewhere. This destination should be a must-see on everyone's travel itinerary, while in Hong Kong.
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