#94 Teaching at Taizhou Teachers College, China (Beijing Temple #2. Ji Tai Si (Temple) or Ordination Terrace near Beijing)

The coldest winter in fifty years is slowly coming to an end in China, and I am excited and grateful for the blue, sunny skies and the warmer winds, that bring the hint of the on-coming spring to Taizhou. I have done much travelling during these past "very-cold" weeks, and these travels to the South of China, such as a two week visit to the province of Hainan, China's "warmest" island, will be the subject of some of my next TravelBlogs.

Since the new semester (my third semster) has now arrived at Taizhou Teachers College, time once again is limited, at least for the moment; but I am eager to share my freezing though entertaining winter experiences in South-China and their photos with you very soon.

For now let me offer you the promised second of the three-part series on my visits to Beijing's great temples:

In the last TravelBlog (#93) I introduced you to Beijing's most spectacular temple complex, the Lama Temple (Yonghegong), located within the city of Beijing.

This travel entry (#94) will take you to the Ordination Terrace (Jie Tai), the Jie Tai Temple. This beautiful temple is located in the hills surrounding Beijing. Looking more like a fortress, this temple complex has been used for over a thousand years to elevate monks to higher levels of the Buddhist hierarchy.

The 2nd of Beijing's great temples, the Jie Tai Temple, takes us on a drive outside of China's capital. It takes the driver an hour to pass through this large and expansive city, often choking with traffic. We pass serious construction, most in anticipation of the up-coming 29th Olympics, now only months away.

We have to pass and cross 5 major and crowded highway-rings, each surrounding in succession the city of Beijing. Each ring is a major highway, and these surround the city, just like our Belt-Ways in the West. Passing over each of these five rings at a distant succession gives a sense to the size this great city of Beijing encompasses.

Beyond the 5th and last highway-ring, we now head toward the mountain region located to the West of Beijing. We pass lush farm-land among trees and fruit-orchards, but these areas are obviously less developed than the capital city itself.

My eyes feast on make-shift fruitstands by the hundreds along the narrow country-roads, each offering their freshly-picked fruit in season such peaches. These are displayed in all shapes and sizes and colors under the umbrella-shaded, wooden tables by the eager Chinese-farmers, hoping for China's and Beijing's thriving tourism to bring them some additional income.

Our car begins to wind into the hills of some beautiful country-side, quite busy with the traffic of tourist busses taking their tour-groups to the various historical sites surrounding this amazing city of Beijing. We are heading for the Ji Tai Si Temple, another great temple complex a 45 minute drive from Beijing. There has been a temple in this mountain cleft for 1,350 years.

The Jie Tai Si Temple is located 22 miles West of Beijing. It is also known as the "Temple of Ordination Altar" and takes its name from its Ming marble Ordination Altar built some 1,300 years ago and rises some 15 feet. The ordination of Buddhist novices became the Temple's chief function during the Liao Dynasty from 916 B.C. and 1125 B.C. The altar is decorated with exquisite carvings, but most of the temple compound's structures were built during China's last Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty.

Built on a hillside it looks more like a fortress than a temple and is surrounded by forbiddingly tall red walls. On a "clear" day, this temple offers an unhindered view of Beijing.

Surrounding the main hall are a number of courtyards containing rock formations and ancient twisted pine and cypress trees. Some of the eccentric looking trees grow in odd directions, one leans out at an angle of almost thirty degrees, as is pushes over a pagoda on the terrace beneath it.

One of the trees, known as the "Chinese Scholar Tree", and revered as the protector of Buddhism is more than 1,000 year old.

Another tree is named the "Nine Dragon Tree" which has 9 branches that reach up to the sky like 9 flying dragons.

Another was known as the "Mobile Tree", known to tremble even when only one branch was slightly touched. Sadly it no longer survives and is only marked by a stone-tablet.

The enormous white marble ordination platform is China's largest and is intricately carved with figures such as monks, beaked and winged monsters, and saints. It is a three-tiered structure and has 113 statues of the God of Ordination placed in niches around the base, some as tall as 3 feet.

The ceremonies conducted on this platform to commemorate the ascension of a devotee to full monkhood required the permisssion from the emperor, and once a year, at midnight, an initiation ceremony was conducted at this site. In one ritual, the novices, having fasted all day, would endure burns from lighted incense sticks upon their freshly-shaved heads.

The Jie Tai Si Temple is known as the "Beida of Buddhism" or one of Pekings best Universities for its ability to attract the most promising monastic scholars, and continues to be the most significant site for the ordination of Buddhist monks.

On an extended visit to China's capital, Bejing, this temple-complex should not be missed. A walk up the mountain to the temple and up the terraces of the compound provides great repose from the heat and hustle of the capital city of Beijing, the site of the 29th Olympics on 08/08/08.

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