Puning Palace, Chengde, China Poem by Sheena Blackhall

The Puning Si Temple, of Universal Peace (built 1755) beside the Putuo Zongcheng Temple, is modelled after the Tibetan Potala Palace.



A World Heritage site, it’s an active temple
Buddhist monks of the Tibet Yellow Hat school
Go calmly about their tasks
Weaving out and in through wreaths of tourists

It is alive with worshippers,
Young Chinese pray and offer flowers and incense
At many shrines and alters, where sparrows chirrup
Dowdy beside the red robed monastery tenants

Here is the wooden statue of Kwan-yin,
22.metres tall, flanked by a guardian and a dragon girl
Pine, cypress, elm, fir, linden, are Her composites

Here are lama pagodas, copper gold tiled roofs,
Imperial eaves and elephants cut in stone
Skull drinking bowls, the constant whirr of the prayer wheels
Pouring blessings into the mountain air

To be a Buddhist in Britain’s to be an oddity
But here, amongst the chanting, churning stream
Of pilgrim worshippers, is to feel very much
For once, like coming home