Adventures in the Middle Kingdom: Zhanghua Buddhist Temple Complex

This weekend we visited a Buddhist compound in the middle of Shashi, the sister city of Jingzhou. It was the first time I felt like a tourist since I have arrived in China.

In Buddhism, the Arhat - translated into Chinese as Lohan - is one who has followed the Eightfold Path to achieve human perfection and deliverance from earthly existence, including karma and reincarnation. Many of Buddha's disciples came to be given set features and stereotypes that quickly became tradition and are played out in various legends and stories. All Lohans are known for their great wisdom and supernatural powers. According to tradition, there are 16 Lohans. Due to their abilities to ward off evil, they are present in all Buddhist temples. Here are the ones that I found the most interesting:

Long Eyebrow Lohan: Asita was born with two long, white eyebrows. His father was told that Buddha also had two, long eyebrows and, therefore, his son had the look of Buddha. As a result, Asita was sent away to a monastery to become a monk, eventually attaining enlightenment.

Open-Heart Lohan: Gobaka (literally means "man of heart") was a prince of an Indian kingdom. When his younger brother wanted to start a rebellion, Gobaka assured his brother that it would cause more evil than good. In order to convince his brother, he exposed his chest to show a buddha in his heart. As a result, his brother was touched and abandoned the rebellion.

I could not determine which Lohan this is, but it is cool-looking. The man is peeling off his old-aged face to reveal a younger-looking face beneath. Perhaps it is meant to symbolize disciples' immortality.

As you can see, the earlobes are always elongated to indicate that they are all-hearing and a reminder that heavy earrings weighed them down before Siddhartha renounced material things to seek enlightenment.