When Tao told us on our second full day in Beijing that we were going to visit the Lamas, I am embarrassed to say that I honestly thought he meant llamas. For about thirty minutes I pondered why there might be a herd of llamas in the middle of an urban jungle like Beijing. "Cows are sacred in India," I thought, "maybe there is a certain percentage of the Chinese population that is partial to llamas. Never mind that llamas are indigenous to North and South America, they might be perfectly happy wandering around Red Square." It didn't actually dawn on me that we might be visiting a Lamasery until we stopped to purchase incense along the way. I clearly deserved to be whacked upside the head by Manjushri's Sword of Wisdom. Seriously. What is wrong with me?
The Yonghegong Temple, or Palace of Peace and Harmony, is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries in the world and was lucky to survive the Cultural Revolution. Originally an Imperial palace, it is now a massive working monetary with such an impressive statue of the Maitreya Buddha that it actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. No photos are allowed in any of the buildings, but I found this somewhat official picture of the statue. It is made from a single piece of White Sandalwood.
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