Beijing, China Post 2



On day 3, we went to some temples. First was the Yonghe Temple also known as the Lama Temple. It is one of the largest and most important Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. Before arriving there, I thought the temple was more of a tourist site than an actual worship place for practicing Buddhists. When we got there though, I soon saw that I was wrong. Before even entering the main gate, we were "attacked" by salesmen trying to sell us incense to burn to the hundreds of fake gods. Once inside, there we lots of people bowing down, burning incense, and praying aloud.

People worshiping their false gods. It was a sad sight.

A statue of one of their gods.

After visiting the Lama temple, we went to the Temple of Heaven. It is a complex of religious buildings, which was visited by the emperor every year to pray for a good harvest. It is not really in use anymore and is solely a tourist sight, though a few people did pray to the gods housed within the buildings.

This was the hall of fasting. We joked that the moat around it was to keep the fasting emperor  from getting food. :)

This is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

 

They had lots of gardens all throughout the temple grounds.

There were 20 or so of these card games going on along the same railing.