The Altar in the Main Hall

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on May 2, 2016.)

Left to right: Amitofo with a lotus; Shakyamuni flanked by Ananda and Kashyapa;
and the Medicine Buddha with a pagoda, at tiny Youmin Temple, Nanchang, Jiangxi

A temple's main hall may have various names. In most temples, the figure seated at the center of the altar will be the historic Buddha, Shakyamuni, so the hall is called the "Precious Hall of the Great Hero" (Daxiong Baodian). This is sometimes translated "Mahavira Hall" ("Mahavira" is Sanskrit for "Great Man" or "Hero"), but this can be confused with the proper name of one of the great leaders of the Jains, who lived in India around the same time as the Buddha.

Master Xuyun

(This article was published in the Shenzhen Daily on June 12, 2017.)

Statue of Xuyun at Yunmen Temple, Guangdong

Perhaps the greatest Buddhist Master of the 19th and 20th centuries was the monk called Xuyun ("Empty Cloud"). From Quanzhou to Kunming, and especially around northern Guangdong, it is hard to find a major temple untouched by his efforts.