James Baquet

I LEFT Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou and took a taxi for the short ride to Jingci Temple (Temple of Pure Compassion.)

The ride skirts West Lake. Surrounded by pavilions, bridges, and quaint hotels, it’s Hangzhou’s most famous feature. But I had no time for a lakeside stroll, and entered the temple right away.

It was smaller and friendlier than Lingyin Temple: old laymen greeted me at the gate; an old monk offered me a chair by an electric fan in the first hall; and two young monks in the Three Western Sages Hall offered me a fresh peach, proving the temple’s “Pure Compassion.”

In the bell tower I saw the newly cast bell; the original was one of Hangzhou’s “Ten Scenes of West Lake,” called the “Evening Bell Ringing at Nanping Hill.”

On up the hill there were more halls built in the 1980s; a relic hall was being built at the top. And in a small courtyard next to the Main Hall was an older building with a statue of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, with a monk outside reciting sutras.

Entering the Main Hall, I found a stately Vairocana, “The Great Sun Buddha” who is my personal favorite, and behind him was a figure of the “Crazy Monk” named Ji Gong.

A popular folk figure, also called Daoji, he is known for his uncontrolled behavior and compassionate acts. He became a monk at Lingyin Temple, but they kicked him out, so he moved to this temple.

I left the temple and took a bus back to Beilun. After I finish my 142-temple quest, I’m looking forward to a return visit to Hangzhou and the by-then-completed Jingci Temple.