Sunday, October 31, 2010

Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Hanging Monastery--tourists



These are outstanding pictures of the famous Hanging Monastery in Beijing China. It has been kept in condition by the monks and so on, who still carry out the mission. You can see the people visiting all around the stairs and walkways. Isn't this amazing? There are things inside that connect all world religions though it seems to be Chinese Buddhist, it is actually a mix. It is explained inside with icons and so on of the different religious cultures. The story behind it:
Excerpt:
Although the Hanging Monastery is located at the base of Hengshan, one of the most sacred mountains in Daoism (Taoism), it is in fact a Buddhist temple. At the same time, this unusual structure has shrines devoted to all of China ’s main religions—Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Sanjiao Dian (“Three Teachings Hall”), where a Buddhist Sakyamuni statue is flanked by Confucius on the left and Laozi on the right.

This unique monastery is located along the traditional route between the sacred Wutai Shan mountains to the south and Datong City to the north, making it convenient for passing pilgrims. This temple was suspended above a cliff to protect it from the frequently flooding waters of the river below (now controlled by a dam upstream) and from the snow, rain, and sunshine above. It is also said that the original planners located in this unusual location based on a Taoist concept; they desired that the monastery be as silent as possible, and this location shelters it from the ground-level sounds of the area

Consisting of a complex of 40 rooms linked together by mid-air corridors and walkways, this remarkable monastery appears to be glued to the side of ... this architectural wonder has been hanging here for over 1400 years. Known as Xuankong Si in Chinese—“ Temple Suspended in the Void”—this architectural wonder was build in 491 during the Northern Wei period. It has been renovated a number of times over the years, most recently in 1900, and much of the current structure dates from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Language Development as Prehistoric Beginnings Would Have



Cave people hear animals making noises amongst themselves, wanting to be in on the pleasure, they begin making noises amongst themselves, showing off they can do that too. This feels stupid before long, so the cave people start letting their sounds mean something. A small language begins. The languages are very involved even by Biblical times, seemingly at some point in time humans were more, not less, mentally advanced than we are today. If you were fighting nature among beasts and animals and when in time you find yourself with child, you would not have time to or enough other human subjects to develop a very large vocabulary, unless you have a highly developed brain, perhaps. More than what we are all using today, maybe like the select whizzes who make the news, of which there aren't so many.
Images: How Stuff Works & Google Images