湖北归元寺英文导游词

Next, we’ll pay a visit to the Ahrat Hall in the south court.

The Ahrat Hall is an important structure in a Buddhist temple. But not all temples have an Ahrat Hall, especially, well-kept Ahrat Halls are very rare in China. This one is among them, and what’s more, it has its own unique characteristics.

Generally, an Ahrat Hall is a square building. The building is subdivided into four small square courts so that the hall can get enough sunlight. This kind of structure show some lucky implies in Chinese Buddhist culture.

Another characteristic about the hall lies in these sculptures themselves. They were neither made up of wood, nor stone, nor clay. A special way was taken in making them, which could prevents them from being burned, being soaked or being eaten by insects. All the sculptures were floating in water while Wuhan was flooded in 1954, but, surprisingly, they were sound and safe after the flood had receded. It was really a wonder.

Ahrats are the immortals in Buddhism. But when you have a look around the sculptures, you may find from the expressions on their faces that they are so familiar to you. That’s only because they were molded on the basis of the people in the reality, so they are human beings in our daily life rather than immortals.

Ahrats are the symbols of harmony, happiness, and good luck, so the Wuhan natives have got used to counting ahrats since ancient time to pray for peace. There are a few ways of counting ahrats. We can count from the first ahrat from left to right or from right to left, when we just enter the hall. We can also choose any ahrat as our starting point, and count in the same way, left to right or right to left. We should base counting on our own ages whatever we take. For example, I’m 25, so I should stop in front of the 25th ahrat from the starting ahrat. The sculpture in front of which I stop is my lucky ahrat. My lucky ahrat will accompany me to spend a peaceful and lucky year. Wouldn’t you like to have a try now? If you need, I can explain connotation of some ahrats.

That’s all for the explanation to Guiyuan Temple. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. You will have another 30 minutes to have a look around the temple. If you have any problems, do let me know. I would like to repeat our bus number, A3074. Please don’t forget. See you later.

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