JISHOU, HUNAN — I met the Buddha on Sunday, 1.5 kilometers above sea level. He seems well, and is not lacking for company.
The Buddha sits among a coterie of lesser buddhas in a rebuilt temple at the summit of Tianmen Mountain near Zhangjiajie, on the site of a much older temple dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907). My visit there was one of the highlights of a quick, impromptu trip to Zhangjiajie this weekend.
The occasion for trip, despite less than encouraging weather, was to meet the new foreign teacher at the Zhangjiajie airport Saturday evening. David, my liaison officer, asked if I wanted to accompany one of his interns, Christopher, on the trip. I said, sure, thinking anything has to better than sitting in my flat on a cool, damp weekend.
We caught a morning train, and arrived at the university’s Zhangjiajie campus hotel around 1 pm, parked our bags, and took a short, wet walking tour of the campus. Christopher has friends on this campus, and I have a friend and former colleague who teaches there, so we spent some time organizing our stay.
The new teacher from the UK was supposed to arrive at 8 pm, but Connie (my friend) invited me to dinner. So, Christopher and I decided he would go to the airport alone. As it turns out, for me, it was the right decision. The teacher did not make the evening flight, so Christopher didn’t go and instead hung out with his friends while I visited with Connie and her family.
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