Foguangshan Buddhist Monastery

A few years back, my favorite poet at the time was Adrie Kusserow. At poetry readings for Urban Spaghetti, I always read one or two of her poems, particularly, Hunting Down the Monk. There is a feeling quite like looking deeply into the eye of a bird in Adrie's poetry. I cannot speak or breathe for fear of disturbing the moment, nor can I look away. I learned a lot from her poetry. As an anthropologist, she studied Tibetian Buddhism and wrote about it. Not doubt that influenced my decision to go and stay the night at The Light of Buddha Mountain near Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The monastery is a sprawling temple complex which houses a university, meditation center, lodge and many artifacts. I stayed the night at Pilgrim's Lodge. Foguangshan is apparently the main center for Buddhism in southern Taiwan. I got scolded for photographing something I wasn't supposed to photograph. I'm not entirely sure what it was and I didn't even get a good photo. That's one of the drawbacks to being illiterate.... not knowing what is sacred in the temples. Generally, there are signs that show a camera with the "no-no" circle when photos are not permitted, but here there was no such sign. I tried to photograph the sunset at the top of the mountain in Buddha Land, but the trees limited my view. And what does one think about at sunset while standing amongst nearly 500 identical buddha images looking down the mountain and over southern Taiwan? Many things. But apparently, the wrong things in my case. No, I did not expect to find "enlightment" in any way, nor be inspired to write great poetry. Maybe that was my mistake. The following day I left the monastery a bit more relaxed, but none the wiser.