Mahayana: Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images Part 2

7 Temples, 6 Pagodas, 1 Dagoba and a Turtle (Roughly)

Mahayana

Attempting to explain the differences between Mahayana and Theravada is beyond my level of understanding of Buddhism, and not helped by both being ‘broad churches’. I will confine myself to a few basic points and hope not make too many howlers.

Distribution of the Different Buddhist traditions
This is a simplified map by Javierfv1212
To see his more complex map, click here

Mahayana came from India before Buddhism was abandoned in the land of its birth. It accepts the main scriptures and teachings of early Buddhism, and adds new doctrines and texts, particularly the Mahayana Sutras, writings from between 100 BCE and 100 CE preserved in Chinese, Tibetan or Sanskrit manuscripts. Mahayana also consorted with the various folk religions it encountered on its eastward journey.

There is a heavenly hierarchy in Mahayana. Arhats are those far advanced along the path of enlightenment who have escaped the cycle of death and rebirth but lack the altruism to advance further. Bodhisattvas, however, are struggling to become fully awakened Buddhas. There were Buddhas before Siddhartha Gautama achieved enlightenment and Maitreya, the ‘Future Buddha’ will come after him.

Mahayana Buddha images often come as a triad, the Bodhisattva Maitreya (the Future Buddha), the Buddha, and Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (The Compassion Buddha).

A monastic tradition exists, but is less important than in other forms of Buddhism.

China

There are roughly 244m Buddhists in China, almost half the world’s total and most follow the Mahayana tradition. Tibetans have their own Vajrayana tradition, sometimes regarded as a branch of Mahayana.

Buddhism arrived in China during the latter part of the Han dynasty around 150 CE. Travelling teachers brought writings from India that were translated and formed the basis of local Buddhist thought. Periodically a feeling would arise that modern practices were drifting from earlier teaching, so someone set off to fetch some more written wisdom

Yuan Zhao in Suzhou

One of the earliest know teachers was Yuan Zhao, who may have been Chinese or may have come from India and been given a Chinese name. He brought Buddhism to Suzhou, near Shanghai in eastern China and his statue looks Chinese, but as he lived in the 2nd or 3rd century the likeness may not be exact – or even approximate.

Lynne and Yuan Zhao in Suzhou

He sits facing Ruiguang Ta (Pagoda of Auspicious Light). Built to house his teachings around 250 CE by the local king, it was rebuilt in the 10th century and again in the 12th and restored in 1879. By 1978 it was a ruin but has since been restored yet again – or maybe completely rebuilt, the Chinese are unfazed by distinctions between restoration, rebuilding and outright fakery.

Ruiguang Pagoda, Suzhou

See Suzhou (3), The Lingering Garden and City Gate: Part 5 of South East China (2016)

Kumarajiva and Baime Ta

Locations mentioned in the Kumarajiva story

Born in Kucha in 344 the son of a Kashmiri priest and the King’s sister, Kumarajiva studied in Kucha and then Kashmir. Back home, he became the royal priest and a renowned Buddhist teacher.

The ‘Later Qin’ Emperor in Chang’an (now Xi’an) wanted Kumarajiva to come to what was then the world’s largest city. After various vicissitudes, including time spent imprisoned by a war lord, he arrived about 400.

His life is well documented, but it is unclear who he was fleeing in 384 when his white horse dropped dead in the Dunhuang Oasis. As the horse turned out to be a disguised Dragon God rather than merely a white horse, it felt reasonable to build a Dagoba over his tomb.

Baima Ta, the White Horse Dagoba, seemed in fine repair considering its antiquity. Only as I left did I spot the plaque bearing the (English) words: 'the White Horse Dagoba, rebuilt by Dunhuang City government in 1992’. I felt cheated, but then I also doubt the horse was really a dragon god. Kumarajiva was among the greatest intellectuals of his age - sad then that his hokum is his major memorial.

Baima Ta - The White Horse Dagoba - Dunhuang

Kumarajiva’s finest achievement was the translations of a vast number of Sanskrit documents and the development of language for expressing Buddhist concepts in Chinese. Previous translators had made do with adopting words for similar Daoist or Confucian ideas. For all his efforts it can still be difficult to tell Daoist from Buddhist temples.

See Dunhuang, Dunes in the Gobi (2008)

Xuanzang and the Great Wild Goose Pagoda

Xuanzang, an illustration in Journey to the West
In Public Domain

Born in Henan Province in 602, Xuanzang became a novice monk at the age of 13. Unrest forced a move to Chengdu, where he became a full monk in 622 and then to Chang’an, capital of the peaceful and orderly Tang Dynasty. Concerned about misinterpreting the incomplete Buddhist texts available he decided to journey to India.

He left China in 629 journeying through what is now Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He travelled throughout India and Nepal before returning to China to much acclaim in 645. The Great Wild Goose Pagoda was built in Chang’an to house the writings and Buddha images he brought back from his 17-year sojourn.

The (much restored) Great Wild Goose Pagoda, Xi'an (formerly Chang'an) 2004

In 646 Xuanzang completed his Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. the longest and most detailed account of the countries of Central and South Asia of the period. 900 years later his journey was fictionalised by Wu Cheng'en in Journey to the West, one of the earliest Chinese novels and 500 years after that set to music by Damon Albarn in Monkey: Journey to the West.

The photograph of the pagoda is from our pre-blog 2004 visit to Xi’an. We re-visited in 2008

Pagodas and the occasional dagoba are easy to find in China, but temples are less obvious. It is easy to book a Chinese tour and see no temples at all – an impossibility in India or Thailand. But they do exist, and I will start with the most important (though for political rather than religious or architectural reasons)

Guangji Si, Beijing

Power in China is centralised and Xi Jinping is their most authoritarian leader since Mao; religions can offer an alternative power base so the government keeps a firm grip on all religious activity. Guangji Si, in north central Beijing, is the headquarters of the Chinese Buddhist Association, so although the Buddhist flag flies, this is as near as makes no difference a government department.

Buddhist flags fly around the Incense incinerator, Guangji Si, Beijing

The temple was built in the 12th century but most surviving structures are Ming (1368 to 1644). Inside are some important sculptures and pictures, but we missed them. From the outside it is a typical building of its period.

Guangji Si, Beijing

There were also many closed doors - the offices of the association we presumed.

Visited 06/09/2013, see Beijing (2): Xicheng and Beihai Park

Yuantong Temple, Kunming

When we visited in November 2010 Kunming had forgotten that it is the ‘city of eternal spring’ and was practicing ‘Incipient Winter.’

The Location of Kunming and Xingyi

A little north of the city centre, Yuantong was built in the 8th century, rebuilt and expanded in the 15th and took its present form in the late 17th. It is (according to the Rough Guide) the ‘most important Buddhist site in northern Yunnan Province’ - faint praise or what?

Approaching from the south an ornamental gate leads into a garden.

Entrance, Yuantong Temple, Kunming

Beyond the garden an octagonal pavilion sits in a luridly green pond.

Octagonal Pavilion in a green pond, Yuantong Temple, Kunming

At the end is space for devotees to light their incense sticks and hold them in a bunch while bowing in each of the cardinal directions.

Burning incense, Yuantong Temple, Kunming

Prayers may then be offered while kneeling before a Buddha image.

Buddha image, Yuantong temple, Kunming

see Kunming to the Stone Forest (2010)

Cave Temple, Wanfengling, Xingyi

Xingyi is a small city (by Chinese standards) some 300 km east of Kunming. On the edge of the city is Wanfengling, the Forest of Ten Thousand Peaks. It is an area of karst geology and the peaks are jagged, other-worldly limestone cones.

One of the Wanfengling peaks. I cannot vouch for there being 10,000, but there are lots.

Temples and shrines – some Buddhist, most Daoist – abound and we encountered the temple below in a cave on the side of one such peak. The cave has been sacred since ancient times, but the statues of the Buddha are relatively new, the originals having being destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. The residue of scrubbed out Cultural Revolution graffiti was still visible on the cave wall.

Main Buddha Images as a triad, Wanfengling Cave Temple

To the left, in front of a wall of small Buddha images, sits Budai, often erroneously called ‘Happy Buddha’. A possibly mythical Chinese monk, he allegedly travelled and taught in the Wuyue Kingdom (the Hangzhou/Shanghai region of Eastern China) during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960CE). His name comes from the Budai (cloth sack) in which he carried his belongings. His cheerful nature and humorous personality distinguish him among Buddhist masters and some venerate him as Maitreya, the ‘Future Buddha’.

Budai, not really the 'Happy Buddha'

See Xingyi and on to Huangguoshu (2010)

Lingyin Temple and Felai Feng, Hangzhou

The Lingyin-Felai Feng Scenic area is a 20-minute drive into the countryside outside Hangzhou in eastern China.

According to tradition, Lingyin (lit: Soul’s Retreat) Monastery was founded in 328 CE by an Indian monk given the Chinese name ‘Huili’. His ashes are allegedly entombed in the small, weathered Elder Li’s Pagoda.

Elder Li's Pagoda, Feilai Feng

Between the pagoda and Lingyin is Feilai Feng (lit: The Peak that Flew Here). Limestone is so unusual locally that the outcrop was surely whisked through the air from India by the power of Buddhist philosophy. It is covered with carvings many dating from the 10th century when Lingyin housed 3,000 monks.

Carvings, Feilai Feng

In the monastery courtyard visitors are presented with incense sticks.

Main courtyard, Lingyin Monastery

Which they light in the brazier...

Lighting the incense stick, Lingyin Monastery

…and bow in the four cardinal directions before planting them in the incense the burner.

Bowing to the north, Lingyin Monastery

The Guardian Hall, like most of the existing buildings dates from the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). It contains four scary guardians who frighten off evil spirits…

Guardian, Lingyin Monastery

…while the main hall contains the primary Buddha image.

Main Buddha image, Lingyin

See Hangzhou (1) West Lake, Lingyin Temple and Longjing Tea (2016)

West Garden Temple, Suzhou

And finally for China, a brief look at the small and outwardly unremarkable West Garden temple in Suzhou.

Either the Drum or the Bell Tower, West Garden Temple, Suzhou

It has magnificent statues of the arhats, though doing them justice in a photograph was beyond me.

Arhats, West Garden Temple, Suzhou

But, best of all, is the pool at the back. For over 400 years it has been home to a colony of Asian giant soft-shelled turtles. As they only surface to breath twice a day it is very unlikely one will pop up when you have your camera ready. But it can happen.

Turtle, Fangsheng Pond, West Garden Temple, Suzhou

See Suzhou (3), The Lingering Garden and City Gate (2016)

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is China, but not China – as long as Xi Jinping permits.

The Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery, Shatin

The temple its on a low hill near Shatin railway station. The path up the hill is lined with arhats.

Arhats on the path ip to the 10,000 Buddha Monastery, Hong Kong

As an ensemble they always look eccentric, but that effect is multiplied when seen singly.

Arhat on the path up to 10,000 Buddha Monastery, Hong Kong

Even the courtyard at the top is surrounded by them. Clearly there is a story behind each one, as there is a story behind each Christian saint, but the statues do not make guessing easy.

Courtyard, 10,000 Buddha Monastery, Hong Kong

And, of course there are Buddha images, too, big ones….

Compassion Buddha, 10,000 Buddha Monastery, Hong Kong

….and little ones. Maybe there really are 10,000.

Little Buddhas by the thousand, 10,000 Buddha Monastery Hong Kong

North Korea

The Koreas with Sariwon circled

Buddhism arrived in Korea from China in 372 CE, largely supplanting Shamanism. Early Korean monks perceived inconsistencies in their inherited Mahayana traditions and their quest for harmony resulted in a distinctive Korean form of Mahayana known as Tongbulgyo ("interpenetrated Buddhism"). There must be something in the Korean air as over a millennium later the remarkably stable genius Kim Il Sung similarly resolved the inconsistencies in Marxism/Leninism/Maoism to create North Korea’s ruling ideology.

Songbul Monastery, Sariwon

Today the majority in both Koreas describe themselves as irreligious with only 16% of South Koreans and 5% in the North claiming to be Buddhists. There is of course complete freedom of religion in the worker’s paradise of North Korea and to prove it we were taken to Songbul Monastery near the city of Sariwon.

Founded in 898, the monastery consists of six buildings in a rough square….

Songbul Monastery, Sariwon

….including two of the oldest wooden buildings in Korea. The Kukrak Hall was last rebuilt in 1374 and the little pagoda outside is of much the same date.

Kukrak Hall and small pagoda, Songbul Monastery, Sariwon

Inside are the expected Buddha images (another appearance of a triad)...

Buddha Images, Kukrak Hall, Songbul

…while beside sits what what looks like an overlarge jury but is, presumably the arhats.

Arhats, Kukrak Hall, Songbul

They wheeled out the abbot to greet us….

Actors, Songbul Monastery

… but it’s not this chap, he is an actor like those lining the buildings in the top photo. The North Korean film industry is booming and ancient monasteries make excellent locations. The ‘real abbot’ is the guy below.

Lynne and the Abbot, Songbul Monastery

‘Are there any other monks?’ I asked through the interpreter. He assured me there were. ‘But where are they?’ ‘They are not here, but they are nearby.’ After a few days in North Korea you get used to the bland and unconvincing. I preferred the actors, at least they admitted they were just pretending.

See Sariwon to Nampho (11/09/2013)

Vietnam

Although officially atheist, Vietnam seems to permit genuine freedom of religion. According to the government 15% of the population identify as Buddhists and 8.5% as Christians (French colonialism created a catholic elite). Most of the rest are lumped together as no religion/folk beliefs. Folk religion has seen a revival and every house we entered, whether grand or humble had an ancestor altar in the entrance hall. Vietnamese Buddhism has no hierarchy to direct teaching and there is a growing overlap with folk beliefs.

Buddhism has deep roots in Vietnam, but it has never been the majority religion and Buddhist temples are harder to find than catholic churches.

The locations of pagodas mentioned below (and Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon)

The One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi

The tiny One Pillar Pagoda, once considered a symbol of Hanoi, is today overshadowed by the adjacent Ho Chi Minh museum and mausoleum. Built in the 11th century by King Le Thai Tong, it has suffered some heavy-handed restoration; the concrete single pillar looks anything but 11th century.

See Hanoi (3), the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Temple of Literature (2012)

The One Pillar Pagoda, Hanoi

Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue

In Vietnam ‘pagoda’ is applied to the whole temple complex not just a particularly shaped building, though the 17th century ‘pagoda style’ building at Thien Mu is a symbol of the city.

Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue

The pagoda was busy and the local school parties noisy…

Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue

….but inside the atmosphere was calm and subdued, like the lighting.

A novice monk and a triad of Buddha images, Thien Mu, Hue

In one of the sheds around the courtyard was an elderly, rusting Austin Westminster.

Thích Quàng Đúc's Austin Westminster, Thein Mu Pagoda, Hue

In the early sixties, as the Vietnam war picked up ferocity, the autocratic, Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem marginalised Buddhist voices and ensured all positions of power went to Catholics. Buddhists felt persecuted.

In June 1963, Thích Quàng Đúc, the abbot of Thien Mu, drove to Saigon in this Austin Westminster and notified the foreign press that “something important” would happen. He sat in the lotus position at a major road intersection while a monk poured petrol over him, then he set himself alight. The “Buddhist crisis” was old news and only one press photographer turned up. Malcom Browne’s picture was World Press Photo of the Year 1963. It is an appalling image, as are many that came out of the Vietnam war. I will not reproduce it here but it can be seen on the relevant website.

The shrine of Thích Quàng Đúc on the corner where he died, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon)

See Hue (2), A Self-immolating Monk, an Impotent Emperor and an Imperial Dinner (2012)

and
The Cu Chi Tunnels and the Cao Dai Great Temple (2012)

Vinh Trang Pagoda, My Tho

In the heart of the Mekong delta, My Tho’s Vinh Trang Pagoda resembles none of the previous temples. Completed in 1850, it was seriously damaged ten years later during fighting between the French and Emperor Tu Duc. There was more major rebuilding after a tropical storm in 1907.

It has been described as ‘like a rajah’s palace’ or ‘blending classical European and Asian architecture’ but to me Vinh Trang is typical southern Vietnamese exuberance, not always in the best of taste but always vigorous, even flamboyant.

In front of the façade is a garden of tropical profusion....

Vinh Trang Pagoda behind its luxuriant garden, My Tho

...with a Disneyfied shrine...

Shrine, Vinh Trang Pagoda, My Tho

... and a large Budai, often, though incorrectly called the 'Happy Buddha'. It may have something to do with my build but I have occasionally been greeted with the words ‘Happy Buddha’ when sitting down in restaurants, I have even had my stomach patted. This should be taken as a compliment, the Vietnamese consider being well-nourished a sign of prosperity; they do not (yet) live in our strange inverted world where obesity and poverty so often walk hand in hand.

Two Happy Buddhas, Vinh Trang Pagoda, My Tho

The temple courtyard is lined with monks' cells and beyond there are more courtyards, more statues and a hall, but Vinh Trang is not about inside, it is a place to be enjoyed outside.

see The Mekong Delta (3) Cai Rang and My Tho (2012)

Finally

When I compiled the same sort of posts about mosques, it was obvious that, with rare exceptions, the buildings retained a definite Arabian style in deference to Islam’s Arabian origins. The opposite is true of Buddhism, Chinese Temples look Chinese, Vietnamese look Vietnamese – though different in north and south - and Korean look Korean. Buddhism is far more flexible and readily bends to the society in which it is taught, both in doctrine and architecture.

Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Mahayana Buddhism
Part 3: Tibetan Buddhism
Part 4: Theravada (1) Sri Lanka
Part 5: Theravada (2) Myanmar
Part 6: Theravada (3) Laos, Cambodia & Thailand

Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images. Part 1 Introduction

Since my 2011 post ‘Three Favourite Buddhist Temples and Monasteries’ it has been our good fortune to visit many more, so it is time for an update and expansion - as I did with mosques earlier this year.

But first a brief introductory post.

Dharma Wheel (a symbol also used by Hindus and Jains)
Shazz, Esteban.barahona  GNU Free Documentation License

Who was the Buddha?

Early texts suggest that Siddhartha Gautama was born in Lumbini in Nepal around 560 BCE (or maybe 480) and grew up in Kapilavastu, a now lost site probably in the Ganges Plain, near the modern Nepal–India border.

Moved by the suffering caused by the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth, he set out on a quest for liberation from suffering (nirvana). He first studied meditation, particularly the attainment of "the sphere of nothingness" and philosophy to explore "the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception".

He found these teachings insufficient and turned to the practice of severe asceticism, included strict fasting.

The Buddha after fasting, Gangaramaya Temple, Colombo, Sri Lanka (2015)

When this too fell short he turned to the meditative practice of dhyana, the training of the mind to withdraw from automatic responses. After a long period of meditation beneath a Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya, now in the Indian state of Bihar, he became the Buddha (The Awakened One).

From Bodh Gaya the Buddha walked some 250 km west to Sarnath where he first taught the Dharma to a group of disciples. The Damekh Stupa occupies the site where this was believed to have happened. The foundations of the stupa were built around 200 BCE, the higher parts have been built and rebuilt many times over the centuries.

Damekh Stupa, Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh (2013)

He spent the next 40-45 years travelling the Gangetic Plain and teaching the Dharma to all who would hear, while his disciples took his words across the whole of the subcontinent.

Northern India with the relevant sites underlined in green
Adapted and borrowed from Raju India

He died and achieved Nirvana in Kushinagar where his remains were cremated. The task was obviously poorly done as there are stupas/dagobas/pagodas all over the Buddhist world allegedly built over a charred shoulder blade/shin bone/forefinger pulled from his funeral pyre.

That Ing Hang, Savannakhet, Laos, allegedly enshrines a piece of the Buddha's backbone (2015)

What did the Buddha Teach?

The essence of Buddhism lies in

(1) The Four Noble Truths

Dukkha (Suffering) Suffering and pain are essential characteristics of the earthly realm.

Samudaya (origin) Dukkha arises from taṇhā (desires, attachments and unsatisfiable cravings).

Nirodha (ending) of Dukkha can be attained by the renouncement of tanha.

Magga (path) The Noble Eightfold Path leads to the renouncement of tanha and cessation of dukkha.

and

(2) The Eightfold Path

The practices of the eightfold path are often linked with the eight spokes of the Dharma wheel.

The Noble Eightfold Path
Ian Alexander used under  Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Internationallicence

Starting with Right View (the acceptance of the cycle of rebirth and the four noble truths) and working clockwise to Right Samadhi (Dhyana) steps 1 & 2 involve wisdom and insight, 3,4 & 5 moral virtue and 6,7 & 8 meditation.

These Truths and the Path encapsulate the teaching of the Buddha but were formalised after his lifetime. It is worth noting that the Buddha never claimed to be God, to be a messenger of God, or even that there was a God or Gods. Buddhism would be a philosophy rather than a religion except that it assumes an answer to the biggest of religious questions: 'What happens after we die?’ Do we spend eternity carousing in the Halls of Valhalla (my personal choice), or are we judged and sent to heaven or hell? No, we go round and try again.

What do Buddhists Believe and Do?

I cannot answer for all of them but, presumably they believe in the Four Noble Truths and try to follow the Eightfold Path. There are also stories and legends and later writings which become important to some believers but would be news to the Buddha (Christianity is like that, too). These can vary by region and, as in all religions, some believers are more sophisticated (and less credulous) than others.

Some believe the 108 marks of the Buddha were visible on his feet from birth…

The 108 attributes on the sole of Buddha's foot, Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho, Bangkok (2012)

….he walked seven paces immediately after being born…

Very large infant Buddha and his seven stepping stones beneath a cannonball tree, Wat Yai, Phitsanulok, Thailand (2015)

…and any Buddha image he breathed on immediately became an exact likeness.

The Mahamuni Buddha in Mandalay, Myanmar is allegedly over 2000 years old and one of the five images made during the Buddha's lifetime.
He breathed on it making the likeness perfect, so no gold leaf is ever put on the face

Many believe Buddha images are so important they should be covered in gold leaf...

Devotees have put so much gold leaf on these Buddhas at Phaung Daw Oo Temple, Lake Inle, Myanmar that they no longer resemble Buddhas (2012)

…or stored in great in quantity…

A huge number of small Buddha images, 10,000 Buddha Monastery, Sha Tin, Hong Kong (2005)

… or just be huge.

The 100m long Chaukhtatgyi Reclining Buddha in Yangon, Myanmar (2012)

Most Tibetans believe the endless spinning of prayer wheels will earn them merit.

Small prayer wheels can be carried in the hand, large ones line the street, Lhasa (2005)

How Many Buddhist are There, and Where are They?

Distribution of the Different Buddhist traditions
This is a simplified map by Javierfv1212
To see his more complex map, click here

There are thought to be over 500 million Buddhists (between 7 and 8% of the world population) making it the fourth largest religion. Although Buddhism has thrived to the north, south and east of India, it has all but died out in the land of its birth.

The Buddhist majority countries we have visited are Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Mongolia and Sri Lanka. Vietnam and Malaysia also have substantial Buddhist minorities. Almost half the world’s Buddhist (244m) are in China making up 18% of the Chinese population.

Like all religions Buddhism has schisms and there are three main groups.

66% of Buddhists follow the Mahayana (or Eastern) tradition, largely in Japan and China, but also in Vietnam, both Koreas and Malaysia

28% (150 million people) follow Theravada (or Southern) Buddhism, mainly in Myanmar, Thailand Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka.

4% (18 million people follow Northern or Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes called Vajrayana and sometimes treated as a subgroup of Mahayana. Adherents live in the vast but sparsely populated areas of the Tibetan plateau and the steppes of Mongolian and Buryatia in Russia.

There are other, smaller groups and the boundaries are never as neat as the map implies.

The following posts (links below) look at each tradition in turn, with pictures of temples, monasteries and (not too many) Buddha images.

Not too many, but this particularly fine Buddha image is in the National Museum, Sukhothai, Thailand  (2015)

Personal Thoughts

As if anyone cares what I think!

I am not a Buddhist, nor a believer in any religion, but I find much to admire in Buddhism. There is a gentleness, an inclusiveness that allows outsiders into the holiest of places and a lack of the overt piety and petty rules and restrictions that characterise other religions.

The Buddhist idea of a good life, live modestly and be nice to other people, echoes other religions and is easy to support. But the Buddha’s outlook seems unnecessarily miserable. Life is not a vale of tears, not always anyway, and would it not be better to help those for whom it is rather than to strive to opt out of the cycle of death and rebirth. I believe the attachments I have made (to people rather than things) and the desires and cravings I have endured/enjoyed (whether embraced or repudiated) have had positive effects. I know I have been very fortunate, and that my good fortune could end anytime at the whim of the gods I don’t believe in, but when that happens, as eventually it must, I will not regret these attachment, cravings and desires. ‘Regrets, I’ve had a few, but then again too few to mention.’ I need to stop now, before I disappear up my own sphincter.

Buddhist Temples, Monasteries and Buddha Images

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: Mahayana Buddhism
Part 3: Tibetan Buddhism
Part 4: Theravada (1) Sri Lanka
Part 5: Theravada (2) Myanmar
Part 6: Theravada (3) Laos, Cambodia & Thailand

I Don't Really Have a Sweet Tooth, but.....

.... I Used to Like Desserts

Time was we would go out and eat a three-course meal, today it is usually main course only (though in the Time of Covid we have not been out since we took up that nice Rishi Sunak’s invitation ‘to eat out to help out’). Part of the problem is the increasing size of pub main courses, but most of it is our increasing age – we just can’t eat like we use to.

So, this post is a celebration of all things sweet. It is not quite a fond farewell, we are still in 'one dessert, two spoons' territory, and of course there are many occasions where the casual purchase of something small and sweet is deemed appropriate.

My dessert at Rick Stein's Seafood Restaurant, Padstow (2007)

So where to start?

Portugal, Obviously

Why obviously? Because we have spent a week or two in the Algarve every October this century, and would be there right now if our flight had not been cancelled by the Curse of Covid.

The Algarve to us means, first and foremost, sea-food, fresh from the briny and expertly cooked, but a meal should not stop there.

Dessert menus generally involve a large glossy folded card produced by a manufacturer of synthetic desserts and ice creams. Stuck somewhere on the card there will be a small, sometimes hand-written, list of desserts for grown-ups, many of which will have been made in-house. Ever present is pudim flan, a rich eggy caramel custard, which is perfect when you have too little room for anything heavier. Sometimes it is just perfect.

Lynne and a pudim flan, Martin's Grill, Carvoeiro

Many residents of the dessert menu are equally at home with a morning coffee - another of the pleasures of Portugal and the reason why each trip is traditionally followed by a diet.

Coffee and Cakes, Ferragudo (2012)

An assortment of bolos (cakes) and tartes (translation unnecessary) are made from local produce including (but not limited to) almonds, figs, carobs, oranges and apples. The cakes will always be made with one egg more than would be normal elsewhere and are universally wonderful.

Different cakes (and cups) but at the same place in 2011

Apple Cakes

Portuguese apple cake is moist, flavourful and lovely. Elsewhere apple can be a little dull, though Lynne’s Dorset apple cake is always a delight and a French apple tart can be a thing of beauty. So is Moldovan apple cake – who knew there was such a thing? We made it our lunch in the ambitiously named Eco-resort, actually a clutch of traditional painted houses, in the village of Butuceni. Butuceni sees few visitors – it deserves more (click here to find out why).

Lynne and a Moldovan apple cake, Butuceni Eco-Resort

Pasteis de Nata

Our favourite and most frequent accompaniment to morning coffee is the pastel de nata (literally, if misleadingly, ‘cream pastry’)

Cafe con leite and a pastel de nata

Baked fresh every day – the supermarket version is cheap but a shadow of the real thing - the pastry is crisp and flaky, the filling rich with vanilla and egg. It can be enjoyed anywhere, but I know of nowhere better  than the Pastelaria Fabrica Velha in Carvoeiro, one of our favourite Algarve coffee spots.

I will also briefly mention Lord Stow’s Garden Café in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, just across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong. (Click here for our visit and ‘Lord Stow’s’ unusual back story.)

Lord Stow's Garden Café, Coloane, Macau

Lord Stow’s egg tarts are based on the pastel de nata; the pastry is first class, but they look a little too tidy and the oversweet filling lacks the subtlety of the real thing. Expanding from the Garden Café, Lord Stow bakery franchises can now be found in several east Asian luxury hotels.

Lord Stow's egg tarts, Coloane, Macau

SE Asia (and Mexico)

Vietnam

Having reached Macau we shall stay in Asia. There are many sweet foods in China, but there are no desserts because there are no courses. Dishes are ordered, arrive when they are ready and are shared by everybody.

The same is not true in Vietnam which has its own distinctive style. Finishing a meal with soup seems odd to us, but why not? In Hanoi (click here) our first dinner ended with che bo bo, a soup (though che means ‘tea’) described on the menu as a sweet southern dessert consommé.

Lynne and Nhu (representative of Haivenu Travel) at the Ly Club, Hanoi - we had not quite reached the dessert soup yet

At the other end of the country, Ngon is a Saigon institution. The huge restaurant is housed in a colonial mansion where tables fill the entrance hall, atrium, courtyard and every ground floor room. It was packed with office workers, students and suburban ladies on shopping expeditions; everybody, it seemed, headed for Ngon at lunch time.

Fortunately, we had a booking and a waiter led us confidently through the throng to the only spare seats in the building (for the full story click here). Sweetness is all-pervasive, so making good desserts is easy, but sublime desserts are rare. At Ngon, my glutinous rice balls swimming in a ginger and coconut milk sauce presented a combination of flavours and textures that hit that mark. I had difficulty grasping the idea that, for the locals, such delights are ordinary everyday food.

In the former imperial city of Hue, in Vietnam's narrow waist, we were treated to an 8-course imperial banquet. The food was all right, no more, but the presentation of each course was memorable. The dessert of sweetened red bean paste formed into fruits was one of the most inventive, though of course the fruits all tasted the same, regardless of colour or shape.

Fruits made from Bean Paste, Placid Garden Manor Restaurant, Hue

Malaysia

Malaysia is a great place to eat, but desserts are not a high priority. Cendol is a sort of national dessert available everywhere from 4-star hotels to street food stalls; the price varies, but the quality is much the same. It consists of shaved ice with coconut milk, green coloured rice noodles, a few red beans and a lot of unrefined palm sugar – simple, but pleasing.

Lynne eats cendol at a street food stall, Penang

Durian is popular from southern China southwards. The big, green spiky fruit smells like a chemical toilet left out in the sun, but if you can ignore that, and it is not easy, they taste wonderful (allegedly) – as the locals say ‘smells like Hell, tastes like Heaven.’

Green durian and red dragon fruit, Banh Thanh Market, Ho Chi Minh City

Malaysia is peak durian territory. There are shops entirely devoted to durian and the pastries and confections made from it. One-bite durian puffs are an easy way to approach the challenge, but the ‘one-bite’ is important. Attempting two bites deposits a surprisingly large slick of durian slurry over an extensive area (as well I know). The smell is repressed by the cooking and the flavour is actually quite pleasant.

The one-bite durian puff, Malacca

Emboldened, we tried a durian ice-cream on a stick in Kuala Lumpur, and actually enjoyed it.

Durian ice-cream. Are we beginning to develop a taste? Central Market, Kuala Lumpur

Ice Cream

So, having reached ice cream, here is a brief rant.

Ice-cream parlours figured large in my youth, or at least Borza’s on the prom in Porthcawl did. I know others remember Borza’s fondly as the last time I mentioned them complete strangers contacted me asking for further information. Unfortunately, all I know is that the Borza’s moved on, those that didn’t can be found in Porthcawl cemetery, just across the path from my grandparents.

In the late 1950s Borza’s did few flavours, but they did the most exquisite creamy-textured vanilla - a vanilla nut sundae was a once-a-holiday treat (well it cost 1/9d!*). For Borza’s, vanilla was not a synonym for ‘plain’ it meant ice cream flavoured, quite strongly, with actual vanilla. To get an ice cream that good today you have to visit a high-end restaurant where they make it in-house. (Click here for the Walnut Tree in Abergavenny).

Since then ice cream has diversified into a host of mostly synthetic flavours and lost its texture. Some American makers have gone so far astray that ice cream has become merely a filler of the interstices in pots of crumbled brownies, cookie dough or honeycomb.

Ice Cream in Mexico

Rant over, now please join me in a leap across the Pacific from Malaysia to Mexico.

To complete a street food lunch in Puebla, 100 km south of Mexico City, we ventured into an ice cream shop. We had rarely seen such a vast array of flavours.

Ice-cream choices, Puebla

But it was not the number that amazed us, it was the flavours themselves. With our rudimentary grasp of Spanish we could see the usual suspects, strawberry, chocolate, rum and raisin, even vanilla tucked in the end. But what about vino tinto? As an ice cream? And queso (cheese) or queso con zarzamora (cheese with blackberries) or chicle (bubblegum)? Our local guide helped with the translations, but even he could not render maracuyá or guanabana into English, so that was what we chose.

Eating ice-cream in Puebla

We enjoyed both. Maracuyá was familiar though we could not quite place it, guanabana remained a mystery. We googled them later; maracuyá is passion fruit, so we should have recognised it, and guanabana is soursop. No? Nor me. It is, apparently, a spikey, vaguely pear-shaped fruit that grows on an evergreen tree throughout the tropical Americas. Its flavour, according to Wikipedia is a combination of strawberry and apple with a sour citrus note. It makes a decent enough ice cream.

Now, back to Asia

India

Mava

Mava or khoya is made throughout the sub-continent by stirring gently boiling milk until its consistency approaches a soft dough. It can be sold like that…

The Bhirandiyara Mava Center, Gujarat

… and the result is surprisingly sweet.

Lynne eating Mava, Bhirandiyara

Gulab Jamun

But it is also the basis of several sweets and desserts, my favourite being Gulab Jamun. Mava is rolled into balls, which are deep fried in ghee at low temperature until they are golden brown, then soaked in a light syrup, sometimes flavoured with cardamom, rose water or saffron. I have eaten many, but never photographed them, so I have borrowed this one from Wikipedia. In my experience they are rarely as elegantly presented as this.

Gulab Jamun with Saffron
Photo by Prakrutim, reproduced under CC Share-Alike 4. 0

Nimish

Nimish, a speciality of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, is another dairy based dessert. Double cream, icing sugar, rosewater and saffron are stirred together and topped with pistachios and silver leaf. The silver leaf has no gastronomic purpose, but the cuisine of Lucknow is the cuisine of Nawabs, so everything must look opulent.

Nimish at Lucknow market

Served here in an eco-friendly bowl of pressed leaves, it was sweet and lovely and slipped down very easily.

Nimish, Lucknow market

Turkey

Another westward skip brings us to Turkey. South-East Asia and India possess two of the world’s great cuisines and although few would say the same about Turkey, the country has, by my count, made three major culinary contributions; one is the donner kebab, the other two I like very much.

Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight, lokum in Turkish, really is a delight and Istanbul has whole shops dedicated to it.

A whole shop full of Turkish Delight, Istiklal Cadessi, Istanbul

The concept is simple, a gel of sweetened starch is cut into cubes and dusted with icing sugar. The ‘delight’ comes from the inclusions (dates, pistachio, hazelnuts, walnuts) and flavourings (rosewater, bergamot, orange, lemon). Other inclusions and flavourings are possible. It is not covered in chocolate like Fry’s Turkish Delight, which is a very poor approximation to the real thing inside.

Baklava

Baklava may have been developed in the imperial kitchens of Istanbul’s Topkapı Palace. Layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and bound with syrup or honey make a rich dessert entirely suitable for an emperor – and pretty much anyone else. It has always been a favourite of mine, but in the only photograph I have of baklava, it is already half-eaten (I wonder why?).

Light lunch with ample sugar - Baklava, Turkish Delight and sweet Turkish coffee, Istanbul

United Kingdom and Ireland

Leaping athletically across the rest of Europe, we arrive home.

Posh Desserts

Sugar is such a dominant flavour that desserts can be a problem for high-end restaurants where subtle flavours are important. One solution is to create a variety of textures, as in this dessert from the Michelin starred Loam in Galway. Called 'Strawberry, Juniper' it involved strawberry ice cream, shards of juniper meringue, sweet pickled cherry, lovage sponge, coconut butter, white chocolate mousse, white chocolate bonbon, hazelnut crumb and a hint of smoked hay. All the elements, some very small, made their contribution providing a variety of textures and flavours beneath the dominant sweetness.

Strawberry, Juniper - Loam, Galway

Another is to go architectural as in this henge of fruit and meringue from the then Michelin starred Box Tree in Ilkley.

Dessert, The Box Tree, Ilkley

Despite my garish lighting effect (it is as good as I can get it) this mille-feuille of raspberries with lemon curd and elderflower was very pretty.

There are fewer problems lower down the pecking order. While banoffee pie and tiramisu have become ubiquitous, there has also been a renaissance of the traditional British pud.

Bakewell Pudding

Nothing sounds and feels quite as traditional as a Bakewell pudding (and I mean ‘pudding’ not ‘tart’, but that story is complicated - click here for Bakewell and Haddon Hall). A two-person pudding in the ‘Old Bakewell Pudding Shop’ eaten at 11am (and not quite finished) kept us going until dinner at 8.

A Bakewell pudding for two, served with cream and custard(!)

The jammy, almondy, marzipany flavour of the not quite egg-custard was toe-curlingly lovely, at first, but it was so sweet that even this wonderful flavour became cloying surprisingly quickly.

Sticky Toffee Pudding (STP)

And finally a mention for Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding. Sadly, the only photo I have is of the factory in Flookburgh, 2½ miles from Cartmel, where STP has been made since demand outgrew the resources of Cartmel village shop. It seems wrong that a factory-made pudding that can be microwaved in minutes should be so good, but it is.

Cartmel sticky Toffee Pudding factory, Flookburgh

And finally, finally

That would be a dull picture to end on, so here is my dessert at the Makphet Restaurant in Vientiane, (the capital of Laos, as I am sure you know). Makphet exists to take children off the streets and train them for careers in the hospitality industry, so a worthy charity as well as a fine restaurant.

Top dessert, Makphet, Vientiane

Coconut ice-cream, fresh, sweet pineapple, cane syrup and a dusting of chilli powder. All my favourite flavours on one plate (although if they could have stuck in some ginger….)

*For the benefit for youngsters under 60, that is Old Money; one shilling and nine (old) pence – the equivalent of 8½p. That was expensive, in the 1950s when you could go round the world for half a crown and still have change for a fish supper.