China floods: 100,000 evacuated, Leshan Buddha threatened

August 19, 2020

Heavy seasonal rains wreaked havoc along the Yangtze river and across China, according to reports on Wednesday.

Some 100,000 people have been evacuated from the cities of Leshan and Ya’an, in worst-hit Sichuan province, as water levels rose and concerns grew over safety.

Flood waters also threatened UNESCO world heritage site, the Leshan Buddha – a 71-meter (233-foot) -tall statue carved into the side of a mountain that overlooks three converging rivers.

Floods had not reached the Buddha’s feet since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, reported state broadcaster CCTV.

Over 1,000 people were stranded in Fengzhou county, opposite the Buddha. Food and water is scarce after floodwaters cut off road traffic, before soldiers moved in to rescue residents.

People rowing past houses in a boat (Getty Images/AFP)

Soldiers had to evacuate tens of thousands

Bad weather across China

In Hubei province, east of Sichuan, authorities warned the giant Three Gorges Dam – also on the Yangtze – was facing the largest flood peak in its history.

In southwestern China, the sprawling Chongqing municipality in southwest China, where the Yangtze and Jialing rivers meet, experienced its worst flooding since 1981.

Swollen Tuojiang River (Getty Images/AFP)

The swollen Tuojiang River in Sichuan province

Overnight, typhoon Higos drenched Hong Kong before making landfall in Zhuhai, a city in southern China’s Guangdong province. It sustained maximum winds of 126 kilometers (78 miles) per hour, China’s National Meteorological Center said.

Five people went missing in Yunnan province after a landslide destroyed two houses, reported the state-owned People’s Daily newspaper.

Plagued by floods

Flooding has left more than 200 people dead or missing in China this year and caused $25 billion (€20.9 billion) in damage, authorities said last week.

Since June, more than 38 million people across the country had been affected by the severe weather, reported CCTV, citing Vice Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang.

kmm/ng (AP, AFP)

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Birth of the Buddha

According to legend, the Buddha was born in the 4th or 5th century B.C — or rather, reborn. Having done good deeds in his many earlier lives, he entered the world in an extraordinary way: a perfect being, he slipped out of the side of his earthly mother, Queen Maya.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Carried forth on a cloud

“Buddha” translates as “the enlightened one,” but the Buddha, born as a prince, also had an earthly name: Siddhartha Gautama. Discontented with his life in wealth and privilege, he stole forth one night to seek truth in a life of poverty. So as not to be heard during his flight, he rode off on a cloud.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Asceticism and mortification of the flesh

It is said that while fasting and meditating, the Buddha sat so utterly still that a bird built its nest in his hair. But learning that negation of the physical self did not take him further on his path, he broke the fast and sought a way of moderation to unite body and soul, the physical and the spiritual.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Animals are sacred too

After attaining Enlightenment, the Buddha became a teacher whose sermons were so compelling that even animals would come to hear them. At his death, he left the cycle of rebirths, entered Nirvana — and ceased to exist.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Clay propaganda

The Buddha lived before reading and writing existed in India, so his teachings were passed on in an oral tradition — and later, in pictorial depictions such as these clay tablets, found in places as diverse as India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Tibet. They were commonly buried at the construction of temples or carried by pilgrims.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

Another being attaining Enlightenment was Avalokiteshvara, who was so filled with compassion at mankind’s suffering that his head broke into a thousand pieces. Out of them, the transcendent Buddha Amitabha fashioned 11 heads and eight arms, so that Avalokiteshvara might see the world’s sufferings and come to the aid of those in need.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Bodhisattvas

Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have opted to remain in the world. Some of them strive for the redemption of all living beings. Others, such as these Bodhisattvas of Compassion, fulfill the wish of parents desiring children.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Jambhala, god of wealth

This smiling Buddha motif refers back to a monk whose friendliness and contentment were legendary. He crammed everything he found or was given, valuable or not, into his sack, symbolizing the notion that every object has value. Believers call on Jambhala to intercede to end poverty or to grant prosperity in this world.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Tara

One Bodhisattva cried out of compassion for the world until his tears created a lake. On the lotus flowers growing in the lake sits the goddess Tara, giving hope and joy to care-worn individuals.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Richly decorated temple

Around 550 A.D., rulers of the northern Chinese Qi dynasty had over 2,300 grottoes carved into stone and adorned them with 100,000 sculptures. The temples were plundered in early 20th century, the figures’ heads and hands chopped off and sold on the art market. In 2005, scientists were able to identify the original location of this Buddha head and virtually reconstruct the grotto it once occupied.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

The Buddha and his followers

Shown for the first time outside a museum in Peshawar, Pakistan is one of the largest Buddhist sculptures from the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D. It was found in Gandhara. This region in modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan was once settled by Greeks, which is why this Buddha is reminiscent of Greek art. Monks from China, Taiwan and Myanmar came to the opening of the exhibition in Zurich.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Precious burial objects

The Zurich exhibition’s biggest sensation is rather small. These tiny stones were found at a burial site in northern India in 1898 along with human ashes. Buried with them was an inscription in ancient Sanskrit reading “These are the remains of the Buddha.”

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Proof of the Buddha’s existence?

The stones and ashes were discovered in a “stupa,” a Buddhist grave in the village of Piprahwa by William Claxton Peppé, a British colonial engineer and landowner. The discovery was seen as proof that the Buddha actually existed as a historic figure.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

120 years in obscurity

After discovering the Stupa of Piprahwa, Peppé gave the ashes to monasteries in Asia, where they have been venerated by millions of Buddhists. The greater part of the precious stones remained in family custody however. Now, 120 years after coming to the light of day, they are being shown publicly for the first time.

Myths and methods of Buddhism

Indiana Jones’ great-grandson

This man calls his great-grandfather William Claxton Peppé “the original Indiana Jones.” For the past six years, Luke Peppé and his brothers have been the custodians of the precious stones and intend to show them to the world. Next stop: an exhibition in New York.

Author: Rick Fulker