Hexi Corridor D7: Minle·Shengtian Temple

Discovering this temple was completely unexpected, but it's the biggest surprise of the day! After leaving the military horse field, several consecutive gas stations had no gas, so I had to leave the highway and turn into Minle County. On the way to find a gas station, I saw a towering pagoda standing in the county from a distance. During the idle chat while refueling, I learned that this is actually a hundred-year-old famous temple. Shengtian Temple was built during the Yongle period and has been more than six hundred years to date. It is said that Emperor Jiajing dreamed of lotus growing under his feet at night, sent people to search in the west and finally found this temple, so he took the meaning of 'Chongsheng Tiandao', and bestowed the name 'Shengtian Temple' to the Bodhisattva. The temple was destroyed during the Tongzhi period and the Cultural Revolution, and later the temple was rebuilt on the remaining three halls. There are more than 20 monks and nuns in the temple now, and the rest of the practitioners are all women, making it the largest nunnery in the northwest region. Shengtian Temple is very deep, with each hall arranged in a straight line. Behind the statue of the King of Ksitigarbha at the deepest point is the eye-catching pagoda I saw from a distance in the county, which is still under renovation. Because I arrived at the temple late, it was almost closing time, so I hurriedly walked around and left. Back at the central Great Compassion Building, I met a nun. After nodding and telling her where I came from, she surprisingly suggested going into the hall to worship the statue of Guanyin, and then turned back to the room to get the key to the hall. The moment I pushed the door open, I took a deep breath, feeling my heart pounding, and couldn't help but let out a 'wow...' sound: Inside the hall is a 9.9-meter-high gilded statue of the Great Compassion Guanyin, which can only be seen in its entirety when you enter the door. The whole statue is shining with golden light, almost as high as the three-story hall, and people are only up to the height of the calf in front of it. The light outside the window refracts on the body into a golden color projected at the foot, and Guanyin is looking down at the people under her feet with her eyebrows down, I feel my hair standing up. The bhikkhuni on the side smiled and watched me being shocked, and didn't urge me who was still lingering and looking back, until I walked out of the hall, she locked the door again, and told us to leave from the side door. Today is full!