In China’s Sichuan Province there are two rocky hills hosting a temple accommodating both Daoist and Buddhist faiths.
In this multi-faith temple, built in 874 during Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), there are two groups of buildings. Those in the west follow the way of Daoism and the ones in the east pursue the Buddhist path.
The main hall in a Buddhist Temple constructed during North Song Dynasty (960-1127) houses a revolving Buddhist library.
Initially, this timber structure had panels inscribed with sutra on all sides of the upper layer, when a reader steps onto the doughnut-shaped stone platform, the weight will trigger the structure to revolve around the central column, and the reader could read the sutra without turning over pages.
This ground floor plan and across section was drawn by one of the greatest Chinese architects Liang Sicheng (梁思成 1901-1972). The round structure in the middle of the hall is a revolving library.
COMMENTS FROM GOOGLE PLUS
Mile HsiangYang Lee: A REVOLVING COLUMN with PAGES? 😮 And AUTOMATED at That + Sensed with HUMAN WEIGHT as The TRIGGER to REVOLVE? 😮MAGNIFICENT 👏 Like A REVOLVING TOP TOWER or A REVOLVING DOOR CONCEPT 😮 AMAZING CHINESE INNOVATION 😇
soxfan1957: One thing we have seen from this site is how advanced China was and how much of it happened before the Europeans even landed here. My guess is it all got derailed from invasions and internal conflicts. Yet China has prevailed and moved forward as seen with some of their more recent technological advances.
All Things Chinese: You’re so right. It was derailed due to the Manchu’s invasion of China. These savages burned 3,000 titles of classic Chinese books, totalling 150,000 volumes, mainly in science and technology.
These people from Tungus in Siberia just invented their written language based on that of Mongols decades prior to their conquest of China and they never learned to produce anything from crops to clothing but relied on hunting and looting to survive.
They controlled the Chinese through genocidal massacres with the Mongol warriors providing military support and Tibetan lamas offering spiritual assistance. The three jointly ruled China and collectively ruined Chinese civilisation. And of course, they also got help from traitors among native Chinese (most of them were Confucius scholars).
During the 100 years of time from the mid-17th to the mid-18th centuries, the number of Chinese killed by Manchus is said to be something between 40 million and 80 million.
They knew they were hated by most Chinese. As they couldn’t understand Chinese technology and feared they could be used by the locals against them, so they decided to destroy them – after all, these people never produced any books and had no respect for writing, thus burning books could even be a great pleasure for them.
Eric Horrobin: Technology of its day. And shared faith is interesting.
All Things Chinese: When faiths can be shared, it means their paths converge at the end – they take different routes but arrive at the same destination, which is to meet their true self and control their own fate.
When a faith is exclusive, it means its final destination is in an isolated location somewhere within this illusive world controlled by one or some external entity or entities. For individuals, such faiths won’t lead to total liberation, and for humanity, they won’t help foster a higher civilisation. Therefore they cannot be regarded as faiths of peace and enlightenment. They just turn people into mindless zombies manipulated by the external entity (or entities) fighting for its or their dominance in a part of the universe. These people would gain no understanding of themselves but a bitter and aggressive mental state hostile towards their fellow human beings who refuse to join their foolish spiritual endeavours (non-believers).
Mile HsiangYang Lee: That Means, The KEY is Always COOPERATION + COLLABORATION + TEAMWORK Instead of ISOLATIONISM + INDIVIDUALISM Above All Else? 😮 It Applies to What is Happening now in This World 😐 MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN to The EXCLUSION of The SUCCESSES of OTHERS + A ZERO SUM GAME is NOT VERY SMART nor ENLIGHTENING Then? 😮
hong cen: Those who have no mirror to see themselves will never know how they look. 😇
Mile HsiangYang Lee: Sometimes, There are MIRRORS Around Them. But They Just Refused to Accept The REALITY of What The MIRRORS Showed to Them 😞They Live in Their ALTERNATE REALITY WORLD like DONALD The NINCOMPOOP. Simply Not in OUR FACTUAL WORLD – DELUSIONAL + PHANTASMAGORIC + Always in PHOBIA + PANIC MODE – Always Afraid of The BOGEYMAN in The CLOSET + UNDER Their BED, Who are OUT + ABOUT to GET THEM 😂
chong cen: Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all ….?
All Things Chinese: When you use your eyes to see the images in the mirror and use your mind to process the images you see in the mirror, you will only see what you want to see in the mirror. 😎
Mile HsiangYang Lee: We Pick + Choose What We Want to SEE + HEAR. Just like We PICK + CHOOSE The Clothes We Buy + Wear. It’s SALIENT CHOICE on Our Part 😐
All Things Chinese: Karma (action vs reaction) works on every level, from an individual to a nation.
Mile HsiangYang Lee: In NEWTON LAW of MOTION – For Every Action, There is An EQUAL but OPPOSITE REACTION 😆 In NATURAL CYCLE of LIFE, We have – KARMA or What We Called in AMERICA as POETIC JUSTICE 😊 The ENGLISH Would Say The Same in An IDIOM – WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND 🙌