The Wind In The Pine Trees.

Garden in The Temple of the Pine Trees.

"No writing on the solitary, meditative dimensions of life can say anything that has not already been said better by the wind in the pine trees."

Thomas Merton

After looking around Lantern Street in Yuen Long, I decided I would get back on the train and go and visit Ching Chung Koon Temple again. I went here briefly once before when I walked to Por Lo Shan, the Grand Canyon of Hong Kong.

To get to Ching Chung Koon Temple I took the MTR to Siu Hong Station, then took the light rail train number 505 in the direction of Sam Shing. I got off at Ching Chung Station. The temple is on the same side of the railway line where I got off. I crossed the road at the crossing, then went right. It's easy to miss the entrance to the temple, as it's just a little path off to the left through an inconspicuous looking red gate. Here behind a fenced off area, there are many bonsai trees. This temple is famous for trees. There are also several bonsai trees on the opposite non-fenced off side of the path. Apparently some of these are actually hundreds of years old. A few pots contain ceramic figures and give the illusion of miniature landscapes.

Bonsai trees.

Bonsai trees.

Bonsai trees.

Ching Chung Koon translates into English as Green Pine Temple. This is a Taoist temple which was founded in 1949 by the Dragon Gate Sect of the Complete Reality School of Taoism. Ching Chung Koon was originally located in Kowloon, but as it expanded, it needed more space to grow, so in the sixties and seventies new temple buildings were built here in Tuen Mun. Apparently the Taoist group this temple belongs to does a lot of charitable work and provides two medical clinics specialising in Chinese medicine, eight free schools and several care homes for the elderly. Ching Chung Koon Temple has a vegetarian restaurant and also provides a very large number of resting places for the cremated remains of departed loved ones.

There are a few buildings past the lines of bonsai trees. I am not exactly sure which part of the temple they are. I think this may be the site of the clinic and the restaurant.

Temple building.

Temple building.

Temple building.

Temple buildings.

Temple building.

My favourite part of this temple is its wonderful rock garden. The steps down to this were guarded by two stone lions.

Lion guards.

Lion guards.

The rock garden has a pond with fish and turtles, a zigzag bridge, a waterfall and interesting jagged rock formations. There were lots of pigeons and doves here. They seemed fairly tame, as they did not fly away unless I got too close to them.

Pavilion in the rock garden.

Rock formations.

Picnic table.

Bridges.

Dove.

There is a stairway that leads up through the rock formations. If you climb to the top of it the top of it, you are right next to the waterfall.

Waterfall.

Waterfall.

Waterfall.

Back downstairs I crossed more bridges and saw lots more doves. At the far end of the pond there's a round moon gate and a rectangularish shaped gate.

Moon gate.

Moon gate.

Looking through the moon gate.

Rectangularish gate.

There were some buildings next to the two gates which were rather prettily adorned with tree roots.

Buildings and trees.

Buildings and trees.

The rock garden is bordered by a rather ornate wall.

Ornate wall.

Many plants were being cultivated near the pond. I found some Buddha statues hidden among the vegetation.

Plants.

Buddhas.

Buddhas.

After enjoying the rock garden for a while, I went through a large archway towards the main temple buildings. I didn't go in to the buildings containing the cremated remains. There were people there to pay their respects to their loved ones and I had no wish to disturb them. The cremated remains are stored in little drawers. Each drawer has the name of the person whose ashes are inside as well as a photograph of them.

Walking towards the archway.

Archway.

Archway.

There were a lot of workmen on the right hand side of the complex. They were building a bamboo structure. I'm not sure why, possibly it is connected to the Mid-autumn celebrations.

Building works.

Pond near the area the workers were building in.

I headed towards the main hall of the temple which is known as The Everlasting Jade Tao Pavilion. Outside it there was a drum tower and a bell tower. There was also a massive bronze cauldron surrounded by dragons and a little pond.

Drum tower.

Bell tower.

Bell tower.

Dragon cauldron.

Incense coils

Main temple building.

Outside the main temple building.

Looking back at the main temple building.

Inside there are three altars. The one on the right has a statue of the founder of the Quán Zhēn Sect of Taoism, the one on the left has a statue of the founder of the Lóng Mén Taoist Sect and the centre altar has a statue of Leoi Dung Ban to whom Chung Chung Koon Temple is dedicated. Leoi Dung Ban is one of the immortals of Taoism and his symbol is the evergreen tree after which this temple is named.

Altars

Altars. I think the lanterns here come from the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Altars.

As I wandered around, I noticed that there were several pretty red lanterns hung in the trees.

Lanterns in the garden.

Lanterns.

It was time to head home, but this time I wandered back closer to the temple buildings.

Temple building.

Temple guard.

Temple buildings.

Temple buildings.

Then I headed back along the path among the bonsai and went home.