May 1 2014, Thursday
Have Mercy On Them!
One of the highlights of our
Ningbo trip (April 18 – 22 2014) was a visit to the Putuo
Buddhist Mountain which is on one of
islands of Zhoushan Archipelago in Ningbo. Putuo Mountain with an area of 12.93
square kilometres is one of China’s four great Buddhist Mountains. It is a
Five-A tourism destination in China.
That day, we were lucky as it was only drizzling. The mountain would
be closed in bad weather. The walk or rather the climb up hill was quite
exhausting especially when there were crowds of people including hundreds and
hundreds of pilgrims. Hands were
all over my back pushing me to move faster. But when I
did not have to watch my steps and could spare a moment to look around, I
savoured the green mountain with its native vegetation and plunging cliffs and
rare rocks inscribed with famous calligraphy. The big bronze statue of Kwan-yin
or the Goddess of Mercy shrouded in clouds watching benevolently over all the
worshippers did transmit a feeling of mystery and sanctity.
Putuo Mountain is a famous Kwan-yin ceremony centre with a history
tracing back to Qin Dynasty. The day of our visit, April 19 was Saturday but
not any of those particular days in commemoration of Buddhist events
and yet the mountain was bustling with old and young, men and women. Some
of these were organized pilgrims in uniforms of grey Taoist robes and geared up
with padded knees and palms. They were chanting and performing the “kneel three
times, kowtow once” ceremony all the way up the mountain. Among these
worshippers were some elderly who could hardly get back on their feet after kneeling down. One old lady was wobbling so much that I
couldn’t help offering her my hand. I didn’t know if it was proper for me to
disturb her in her “trance”.
Our tour guide explained that these pilgrims were either going up
the mountain to ask the Goddess for favours or they were expressing their
gratitude because their wishes had been granted. It was believed that the more
effort was shown, the more pleased Kwan-yin would be. These pilgrims had to pay
several thousand renminbi or Chinese dollars to join.
By the time I was face to face with Kwan-yin, I dared not ask for
favour fearing that I would have to be back to thank her once my wish did come
true. I might be too old or too feeble to return!
