Hsi Lai Temple

With 2018 coming to a close, I felt it was necessary for me to do something spiritual.

I ended up visiting Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple. Got there early enough and was able to get a nice parking spot easily. It wasn’t crowded and I was free to roam the grounds of the temple.

The temple is quite impressive and it would have been a lot more impressive had it been my first time visiting it.

I found myself feeling more refreshed than usual and I think the energy within the temple grounds have something to do with it. This will probably sound a bit nutty but I feel that places of worship can heal you as the ascetic people (ex. Monks and nuns) are supposed to pray for wellness/kindness and this of course would emit positive energy.

People interested in “meditating” or doing self-reflection can easily do it at the back of the inner temple. The only downside of this location would be the constant movement from visitors and the ongoing smell of incense. (Of course if you don’t mind either of the two, you’d have a good time “meditating” and what not.)

The grounds of the temple had Buddhist art all over for visitors to enjoy. The art consisted mainly of large Buddhist statues but there were also Confuscius statues or what appeared to be Confuscius statues as well.

The highlight in terms of art, though was the temple’s museum. I paid a dollar for admission to see various Buddhist items, which was nice although I’ll be honest and say there were some photos I saw from the art exhibit portion of the museum that got me confused as the quality of the photos were not so great. (It was only a dollar for admission so there’s really no need for me to complain however, I can’t help but to be honest when I need to critique something…)

If you’re hungry, you can eat at their dining hall.

If you’re thirsty, you can get a drink from the informational center.

If you want to buy gifts/souvenirs/charms, you can find it at the bookstore.

I unfortunately can’t tell you much about the dining hall, informational center and bookstore though since I didn’t bother getting involved in either of those places. (I did catch site of the informational center using good water for their tea, though. Think Sparkletts.)

Visitors also have the opportunity to light an incense stick and pray for whatever. The interesting thing is that each person is only allowed to light one incense stick which is a bit strange, considering how a single incense stick is often used solely for funerals. But the temple offers the incense sticks for free and I suppose it’s their way of preventing waste from visitors that want to light incense.

Since I wanted to take some “epic” photos, I decided to go down to the foot of the temple grounds, take photos and then climb all the way back up again. There are warning signs to make use of the handrails, but there aren’t that many steps to climb and I was fine, going up the stairs in the middle of it without handrails. Yes, I was fine and then this woman who was with her daughter (I assume) decides to just stop right in front of me. I kid you not.

This woman and her daughter were originally standing at the very left on the top of the stairs. There was no reason for her to all of a sudden move to the middle one step before I got up to the top. She was so close to me that it was not funny. I honestly do not get what her issue was nor do I get what it was all about. She was a safety hazard. I, or anyone else in my situation at that moment could have easily gotten hurt. Just an inconsiderate woman that’s self absorbed in her own world at a temple, of all places. Meh.

I have more to say about her and her daughter but I’ll leave that for the comments section of this post should you be curious. (Just leave me a comment, asking me about them and I’ll spill the additional details.)

Some tips if you decide to visit:

Parking is available on the temple grounds. Just make sure to get there early enough to get a parking spot. (Once it’s noon, the lots will be filled up and you’ll have to wait for a car to leave.)

Donations are optional with an exception to the temple’s museum.

Photography is prohibited in some areas (ex. Museum’s interior and temple’s interior).

Additional information of the temple can be found on their site.

With this post being the first of the new year, allow me to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2019. To those that have been following my blog since before 2019, thank you. To those that are new to my blog, welcome and I hope you’ll continue to visit my blog.