Welcome to Tsz Shan Monastery! We had to reserve tickets weeks in advance and the tickets are always gone within about three minutes of them being offered so this was a real treat to be able to go there.
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| We'll include some of what it says in Wikipedia and the monastery website: "The monastery is overlooked by the world’s tallest bronze statue,Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy, also known as Kwun Yum) which is 76 meters (about 235 feet) tall." |
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"Tang Dynasty-style buildings and landscaped gardens are a
feature of the monastery which is set against the backdrop of the Pat Sing Leng
mountains and overlooks Tolo Harbour."
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"As a Chinese Buddhist monastery established for the inheritance of the teaching of the Buddha, Tsz Shan Monastery is a sanctuary for the purpose of spiritual purification, and endeavors to open the door to compassion and wisdom for the public through various activities."
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| "1.7 billion was donated by Li Ka-Shing, the richest man in Hong Kong, chairman of the Cheung Kong Group and the Li Ka Shing Foundation, to benefit society through the propagation of the Dharma." |
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There were some beautiful Eucalyptus trees there, too.
Here, Elder Yan is demonstrating how a water offering is made. You can read about it below: |
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| This big pot was where the water was taken and poured. |
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| Here are some of the wooden bowls that are used. |
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| Here's Sister Ferguson also demonstrating a water offering. |
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| The grounds were beautiful everywhere. Some of the big trees were brought in from China, too. |
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| "The monastery is run by Tsz Shan Monastery Limited, set up in 2009, whose chairman is The Rev Sik Kwok-kwong, who is also chairman of Hong Kong Buddhist Association, and whose board of directors include Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hong Kong multi-national conglomerate Cheung Kong (Holdings), members of his family and three managers of Cheung Kong. The whole project has been funded by the Li Ka Shing Foundation which will also fund the day to day operational costs of the monastery." |
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| We saw a big group of monks there, too. |
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| Here the monks are climbing up the stairs to the golden statues. |
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| How's this for a door knocker? |
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| The water lilies and other flowers were gorgeous. |
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| They had posters with these captions: In the family, there should be acceptance rather than sufferance. |
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| In the family, there should be support rather than control. |
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| The family should confide in, but not complain to each other. |
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| This one said something about discipline rather than indulgence. |
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| Of course, there were the ever present guards at the entrance. |
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| The flowers were so beautiful there. |
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| We stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant at the train station on the way home. Gary's food is pictured in the front. He had lemon grass pork with glass noodles and I had spring rolls. |
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The whole day was rainy as you can see as we walked the final few meters home. You haven't really seen rain until you've seen the rain in Hong Kong!
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We enjoyed our day off but we enjoy very much serving here each day in the Asia Area. By the way, if you haven't seen this short film, we think you will enjoy seeing it by clicking on this link:(The Vision)
We love you all and we do know that Joseph Smith truly saw these things and the gospel is true.
