The Beauty of Fo Guang

What: Chu Un Temple
Where: V Rama Ave. Cebu City
How to get there: Since its within the city a taxi cab ride would suffice. Its about 45 minutes from the airport, 20 minutes from any major shopping mall and 15 minutes from downtown Cebu.
What to expect: The serene feel of Buddhism in the middle of the city; A view of the middle of the city and the hospitality of the people there. Even get invited to dinner…

the temple at day

the temple at dusk

Brief History:
In 1988 the temple was built by Mr. Paterno Luym and his wife Rosita. Even though Paterno being a devout Catholic they decided to build the temple in the loving memory of his late mother who was a very ardent Buddhist. The temple was finished in 1990 when Abbot Venerable Hsing Peng led a group of disciples to the temple to mark its completion by the purification ceremony of the Kuan Yin Shrine. The Building is named Ti Tchang Shrine and has been made a milestone in the History of Buddhism in the Philippines. There are 3 building sitting in the 1.8 hectare land which are the Kuan Yin Shrine, the Bamboo Garden Dining hall and the Ti Tchang Shrine. On another not the back of the bamboo dining hall is an abundant amount of crops and vegetables which the disciples tend to. The Chu Un Temple is currently under the direction of Fu Guang Shan Manila Abbot Venerable Yung Zhao.

last rays of light behind the temple

Personal Experience
I knew about this temple when I was reading the newspapers back in 2008. When the temple held a photo contest named “The Beauty of Fo Guang”. The contest was aimed for professional and amateur photographers to document the activities, the people and the architecture of the temple. I decided to join the said contest and went there. I had a hard time looking for the temple since I didn’t know where in V Rama the temple was situated. I started going there for a preliminary ocular of the place and see if how light would fall at dusk.

long exposures on a windy dusk

When I got to the temple grounds I was caught unaware of the huge lawn that fronted the temple grounds. I didn’t expect to see a temple built on a hilltop in the City. I went straight to the Bamboo Dining hall to ask about the temple and the contest. An old Chinese woman gave me a registration form for the competition. It was my first time to interact with a Buddhist and I was very careful not to tread on their customs and traditions. They invited me for dinner and I humbly accepted even if I was on the verge of running away (I don’t accept hospitality very well). They had a prayer and people started eating.. The food was very a vegetarian's delight, it included nuts and a lot of garden fresh green leafy vegetables grown on the temple grounds. There was this saute of tofu and peanuts that i really liked. During dinner I got in the spirit of things and asked facts about the temple. After dinner I went home to wake up early the next day to shoot.

a mix of red and gold

insert incense sticks here

a hundred golden Buddhas

I woke up 3am to get ready; I went out by 4am to wait for the light to be perfect. I got there at around 5:30am but the weather was cloudy. So I took time loafing around the temple and checking out the architecture and the interiors of the temple. The interiors are your typical Chinese; interiors were littered with gold and red along with Chinese inscription which I couldn’t understand. Later that morning there were people practicing for a Siddhartha musical. I went to one of the performers and asked about additional facts about the place. So far I went back a couple of days trying to get a winning shot of the temple. One of my favorite parts of the temple is the koi pond, i love fish and seeing a lot of full grown koi was a sight to see.

a Siddhartha performer

my favorite koi pond

Come awards night I was blessed to be the 1st runner up on the photo contest, I was happy that all the patience and time spent photographing this wonderful slice of land in the middle of the city was worth it.

my winning shot


yours truly and Venerable Master Ru Xin during awards night
(photo credz: Melvin Tezon)

Thanks for reading! its been a while since i blogged since last week was a very busy week for me. Watch out for my next article further this week. :D