{"id":20966,"date":"2023-06-15T06:56:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/?p=20966"},"modified":"2023-06-15T20:40:12","modified_gmt":"2023-06-15T12:40:12","slug":"getting-closer-to-the-buddha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/beijing-travel\/getting-closer-to-the-buddha","title":{"rendered":"Getting Closer to the Buddha"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Buddhist practitioners light and burn incense sticks. They raise the burning sticks above the head and bow to the statues of Buddha. Then they place their sticks vertically on burners from which smoke wafts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worshippers do so in a hope to talk to the Buddha who will appear in the smoke. This is the scene you will see in most of the functioning Buddhist temples in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Incense burning is a common Chinese religious ritual in Chinese Buddhism as well as Chinese ancestor worship and Taoism. The most common practice is that followers burn three sticks of incense at once, one for the Buddha; another for the Buddha’s teachings, known as the Dharma; and a third for the community of Buddhists, the Sangha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So incense smoke is a soul link between worshippers and the Buddha. With joss sticks burning, people are getting closer to the Buddha and it also reminds us to burn ourselves, to give and to sacrifice though in reality, many people come here\u00a0 praying for health, love, money and the list can be much longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would you talk with Buddha if you have the chance to burn incense sticks? For sacrifice or taking? If you  are planning your Beijing tour<\/a><\/strong>, do allocate one or two hours visiting Lama Temple<\/a><\/strong>, also known as Yonghe Temple or Yonghe Lamasery.  You will be infected by the solemn and mythical atmosphere of incense burning and praying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burning and Praying before the Hall of Harmony and Peace, the main building of Lama Temple<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Burning
Burning and Praying before the Hall of Harmony and Peace in Lama Temple<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The Buddha appears in incense smoke<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"
The Buddha appears in incense smoke<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

What does she say to the Buddha?<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"What
What does she say to the Buddha?<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Burning a joss stick and praying<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Burning
Burning joss sticks and praying<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Leaning to burn incense sticks<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Leaning
Leaning to burn incense sticks<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Raising joss sticks over the head and taking to the Buddha<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Raising
Raising joss sticks over the head and taking to the Buddha<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Try to experience incense sticks burning experience<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Try
Try to experience incense sticks burning experience<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Add On
<\/strong>How to Visit Lama Temple<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tip: Hassle-free Beijing Guided Tours<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours,  here are some options for Beijing guided tours:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beijing Day Tour<\/a>
Beijing Tour Packages<\/a>
Beijing Winter Tour<\/a>
Beijing Autumn Tour<\/a>
Great Wall Tour<\/a>
Car Rental in Beijing<\/a>
Beijing Tours<\/a>
China City Tours<\/a>
China Tour<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Readings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Best Time to Visit Beijing<\/a>
How to plan a trip to Beijing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top 10 Attractions in Beijing<\/a>
How to Visit Forbidden City<\/a>
How to Visit Temple of Heaven<\/a>
How to Visit Summer Palace<\/a>
How to Visit Ming Tombs<\/a>
How to Visit the Great Wall of China<\/a>
How to Visit Tiananmen Square<\/a>
How to Visit Hutongs<\/a>
How to Visit Olympic Sites<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top 10 Markets in Beijing<\/a>
Top 10 Shopping Malls in Beijing<\/a>
Beijing Shopping<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wangfujing Walking Street<\/a>
Qianmen Commercial Street<\/a>
Gui Jie ( Ghost Street) Food Street<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any questions, just drop a line.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Buddhist practitioners light and burn incense sticks. They raise the burning sticks above the head and bow to the statues of Buddha. Then they place their sticks vertically on burners from which smoke wafts. Worshippers do so in a hope to talk to the Buddha who will appear in the smoke. This is the scene…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,19],"tags":[3474,4337,3475],"class_list":["post-20966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beijing-attractions-tips","category-beijing-travel","tag-burn-incense-in-lama-temple","tag-how-to-get-closer-to-buddha","tag-incense-sticks-burning-i-n-lamasery-beijing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20966"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20966"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31866,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20966\/revisions\/31866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tour-beijing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}