We spent the first part of the morning at the Six Banyan Temple which is a Buddhist temple. It was a very interesting experience. Veronica explained to us the different religions that are practiced in China and that Buddism is the largest group but only about 8% of the population practices. Christianity is one of the religions practiced here along with Muslim and Daoism. The children were blessed by the monk to have a long and prosperous life. As we walked, we received the high level overview of Buddhism, and I found it interesting in that overall, it doesn't differ much from the basic concept of Christianity and Judaism in that they believe in a god, a heaven, and a hell. They believe that you will be punished for your wrong doings, and while in Christianity you are completely forgiven of your sins and your slate can be wiped clean, the Buddist believe you can be forgiven, but you still have a record of your wrong doings so when you die, those transgressions still impact whether you go to heaven or hell. They also believe in reincarnation so if you have wrong doings, you could come back as an animal.
Daoism does not believe in a god, but it focuses on nature. The Feng Shui concept stems from Daoism.
The laughing budda greated us at the enterance. He was actually a skinny man in real life, but history remembers him with a large stomach to capture all of the good in life. The blessing temple had 3 buddas. You could pray in front of the one you wanted. They represent past, present, and future.
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