Page:Illustrations of China and Its People vol. I. 2ed edition.pdf/54

 THE TEMPLE OF THE FIVE HUNDRED GODS.

THIS celebrated shrine, which the Chinese call " Hua-lin-szu," " Magnificent Forest Temple," is situated in the western suburbs of Canton, and was erected by Bodhidharama, a Buddhist missionary from India, who landed in Canton about the year 520 A. D. and who is frequently pictured on Chinese tea-cups ascending the Yangtsze on his bamboo raft. The temple was rebuilt in 1755, under the auspices of the Emperor Kien-lung, and with its courts, halls, and dwellings for the priests, covers a very large space of ground. It is the Lo-Han-T'ang, or Hall of Saints, partly shown in the photograph, that forms the chief attraction of the place.

This Hall contains 500 gilded effigies of saints out of the Buddhist calendar, representing men of different Eastern nationalities. Colonel Yule, in his new edition of " Marco Polo," says that one of these is an image of the Venetian traveller ; but careful inquiry proves this statement incorrect, as there is no statue presenting the European type of face, and all the records connected with them are of prior antiquity. The aged figure shown in the next picture is that of

THE ABBOT.

OR Chief Priest of this temple. About three years ago, when I paid my first visit to this establishment, in company with a native gentleman from the Canton Customs Office, I was introduced to this Abbot- He received us with great courtesy, conducted us to his private apartments, and there refreshed us with tea-cakes and fruit. The rooms he occupied were enclosed by a high wall, and approached through a granite-paved inner quadrangle, adorned with a variety of rare and beautiful flowers. Conspicuous among the latter was a splendid specimen of the Sacred Lotus, in full bloom, and growing in an ornamental tank, on whose surface floated many other brilliantly green aquatic plants. The old gentleman had spent half his lifetime in this secluded place, and was greatly devoted to his flowers, discoursing on their beauty with an eloquent fondness, and expressing his delight to discover in a foreigner kindred sentiments of admiration. The furniture of the apartments consisted of chairs of skilfully carved black wood, one or two tables, and a shrine of the same material ; while a number of well- executed drawings, hung about the white walls, displayed a simple taste and refinement in keeping with the surroundings of their proprietor's secluded life. Two years afterwards I visited the temple again, and executed the photograph here represented. On the second occasion I met with the same kind hospitality at the hands of the Abbot and the priests in his care— a hospitality which, with one exception, I enjoyed in all the Buddhist establishments I visited throughout my travels in China.

A History of the Kwan-tung Province," p. n, Bowra.