Better known for its business buzz and megamalls, Hong Kong also hosts one of Asia's most striking spiritual statues. Meet the Tian Tan Buddha.
Set on Hong Kong's largest island, Lantau – a day trip away from downtown Hong Kong – the Tian Tan Buddha boasts epic proportions. This extension of the squat and diagonal Po Lin ("precious lotus") temple soars 34 meters into the sky. Just to raise its height and make other Buddha statues more noted for girth feel inferior, the Tian Tan perches on a lotus throne atop a soaring 268-step staircase.
Price of peace
Built from bronze, the cloud-capped effigy cost a cool 68 million USD. The result of the monumentally expensive construction effort was unveiled on December 29, 1993, the birthday of the historic "awakened" Gautama Buddha. The superstructure's singsong name, which suggests some kind of candy, is a nod to Beijing's Tian Tan Temple of Heaven.
Blessed with an air of serenity that Hong Kong's workforce must envy, the big Buddha extends its right hand, signaling the removal of affliction. Its left rests on its lap.
Friends in high places
Around the soothing seer stand eight groupie-like effigies: immortals offering flowers, incense, light, ointment, fruit, and music. The offerings symbolize charity, morality, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom -- the checklist of graces you need to enter the Buddhist heaven called nirvana (good luck with that).
Hidden depths
Buy a coupon for a vegetarian meal that one dubbed "unthinkably scrumptious & nutritious" and you can delve under the plane that the figures inhabit. The base contains three floors respectively devoted to the universe, "benevolent merit", and remembrance. Curios contained by this block include a "relic" of the true-life Gautama Buddha, which consists of some of his alleged cremated remains, and a computer-operated bell engraved with Buddha images.
Buy a coupon for a vegetarian meal that one dubbed "unthinkably scrumptious & nutritious" and you can delve under the plane that the figures inhabit. The base contains three floors respectively devoted to the universe, "benevolent merit", and remembrance. Curios contained by this block include a "relic" of the true-life Gautama Buddha, which consists of some of his alleged cremated remains, and a computer-operated bell engraved with Buddha images.
The smart bell is programmed to ring 108 times daily -- a nod to the release of 108 strains of human vexation: about the number that routinely afflict peak-time travelers downtown in teeming Wan Chai.
Long view
According to Buddhism, all forms of grumpiness are all in the mind. Either way, undeniably the icon in the sky is imposing. At 250 tons, it weighs more than the Statue of Liberty. On a clear day, the Tian Tan Buddha can be seen from as far afield as Macau. Once you reach Lantau, the least vexing way to approach the Buddha is the Ngong Ping 360 cable car.
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