Day 15: The Climb to Cheng Tian

Slept too late last night. See lah... talk to girls until forget to sleep... Woke up this morning and I had difficulties opening my right eye. But I had a lunch appointment with another girl! So I still went for it with half my eyes closed. Its just Christina.. no more new girls... lolz


After lunch, I began my journey to 承天寺 (Cheng Tian Temple). This is the temple of Master Guang Qin - one of the enlightened buddhist masters of the 20th century. Took the train to 永寧 station (NT$40), the last station of Banqiao Line. Little did I know... that was just the beginning... From the station, it was a 15 min walk to the mountain gate. Then from there, a 45 min hike up the mountain before finally arriving at Cheng Tian Monastery. It was a nice hike thou.


Entering the 2nd gate at the top of the mountain into the monastery felt as if I had entered a different world. The scenery was beautiful.


And it so happened the they were holding a 7 day Chan session! So with permission, I managed to enter the inner hall. I entered with the sun still up high in the sky. By the time we finished the meditation, the sun was already setting. Time flies... I caught the last rays of daylight and made my way down the mountain. The wind has become extremely cold. Freezing....


壇外日成夜, 壇內反無變 Outside, day turns to night. The inside has no change.
表外翻如海, 心內如如在 The exterior churns like the sea. The heart thus thus is.
~jozhade


Went back to civilization just in time to meet Richard Tsai and the rest. We went to Shilin. There were hella people there. So we decided to go sing Karaoke instead. And they have buffet in the Karaoke place! Crazy... but most of it is meat =.=. Went to stay and the other Richard's house later and had 麻辣臭豆腐 for supper. It was really 麻辣！So spicy that my tongue went numb immediately. But the weird thing was that you don't sweat that much from this kind of spice. Interesting... FInally went to bed at 4am. Another long long day...