Jade Buddha Temple

"It is said a Shaolin priest can walk through walls."

Yes, sadly my primary reference to Chinese philosophy and religion has always been "Kung Fu," a TV show set in the Wild West of the United States.  It was my favorite program as I transitioned into adulthood.

I have no doubt I would enjoy going to Tibet to check out that more religious side of Chinese culture

The government of China, however, is Communist, and Communism is by definition atheistic.

That doesn't mean the citizens follow the official party line, but it is a fact that everyone who works in government must be a card-carrying Communist and by extension an avowed Atheist.

Had Mao's Cultural Revolution succeeded, all "superstitious" religious beliefs, including Christianity, would have been snuffed out a half century ago.

Nonetheless, religion has survived, often in some form of folk traditions based on the precepts of Confucianism or Taoism, which in themselves have been adopted even by western civilizations as ways of living.

While Emperor's like the revolutionary leaders who followed ruled primarily based on Legalism while paying lip service to Confucianism, they all claimed the "Mandate of Heaven" as the basis for their claims to rule.

Their circular logic was that new empires wrestling control from old tyrants who had become corrupt was proof of that Mandate.

There certainly are ceremonies and rituals to be followed, but from what I can tell, these eastern religions basically come down to veneration of ancestors, living honorable lives and worshipping some random gods that work in conjunction with their specific beliefs for some subjective reason.

Buddhism, which is also prominent in China, started in India.  Perhaps like me you read "Siddhartha" when you were in college.  That classic Hermann Hesse novel retells the story of the enlightenment of the Buddha, who lived about 500 years Before Christ.  It's a short novel worth perusing.

In any case, we visited a Buddhist temple during our full day in Shanghai.

Our guide Yuan wisely brought us to the Jade Buddha Temple early, because this was International Worker's Day, May 1, which is the biggest holiday of the year for China due to its Communist-mandated rejection of official religion.

While almost every Chinese employee has May Day off, workers must make up their time with extra hours on the job either before or after the holiday, according to Yuan.  Apparently Milton Friedman's adage about capitalist societies applies in spades for communism: "There's no such thing as a free lunch."

The temple grounds are what you might imagine such to be, other than tourists milling about and modern high-rises peaking above the decorative roofs of the complex.  We even saw a few priests in their traditional robes.

The temple's classic Chinese buildings house many beautiful artifacts, including lots of Buddhas, with two feminine appearing Buddhas made of solid white jade being the main attractions.

The Jade Buddhas were brought as gifts from Burma by a Buddhist monk.  He founded a temple to house them in 1882.  You can see me photo-bombing the Recumbent Jade Buddha at the top of this blog.

Photos of the Sitting Jade Buddha, which at 6'4" and 6,600 pounds is the larger of the two, are prohibited.  I assume that boosts post card sales.  We bought one and Julie scanned this picture from it.

The original temple never reopened after being occupied by rebels in the revolution of 1911, but the statues and other artifacts were rescued and safeguarded until this new temple could be completed in 1928 thanks to donations by a former Qing Dynasty official.