2024 CAC Fall Outing to the Wutai San Buddhist Garden
The sun shone bright all day as members of Citroën Autoclub Canada members enjoyed a road tour East of Toronto to the Kawartha and Port Hope regions of Ontario.
Starting in Richmond Hill, the group traveled to Port Perry where they took a break to enjoy the charming downtown and grab some lunch before heading on more lovely back roads to a magnificent site just west of Peterborough and north of the town of Bethany where a massive Buddhist temple sits on a mountain top — part of the Wutai San Buddhist Garden property that encompasses 535 acres.
It could first be seen from 5 kilometers away as we approached along Gillford Rd off of Hwy 35. Turning onto Ski Hill Rd, and entering the garden complex, we were greeted by a mammoth Happy Buddha statue, an imposing figure weighing a staggering 126 tons.
The Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden, spearheaded by the Buddhist Association of Canada, endeavours to embody Buddhist culture, architectural magnificence, and serene landscapes.
Central to the spectacular garden stands the 170 feet high Main Buddha Hall. Inspired by the East Hall of the Foguang Temple in Wutai County, China, a structure erected in 857 C.E., the building is an example of Tang-dynasty architectural style and its construction followed ancient Chinese building techniques that rely on large wooden interlocking brackets instead of nails. The wooden components consist primarily of high grade rosewood imported from Laos, as well as other imported materials such as camphor and yew. The temple roof boasts 24,200 bronze shingles that weigh roughly 61 tons.
Within the Main Buddha Hall are enshrined five sacred Buddha and Bodhisattva statues. In the center of the hall, on a Sumeru pedestal, are three colossal Buddhas, each standing at 6.85 meters in height, arranged from left to right: the Medicine Buddha in the east, the central Shakyamuni Buddha, and Amitabha Buddha in the west. Following common convention, they are known as the “Three Worlds Buddhas.” Flanking these Buddhas are two Bodhisattvas, representing the wisdom and vows of Mahayana Buddhism: Manjushri and Samantabhadra, each standing at 5.4 meters in height. Additionally, the four walls of the Main Buddha Hall are adorned with precious redwood bas-reliefs gilded with gold, featuring the Eighty-Eight Buddhas.
The lower level of the hall has another worship area with a vast wall of various Buddhist statues.
It was an impressive sight and just one of four sites in the Kawartha Lakes region. These sites are to be home to the creation of an abbreviated, North American version of the sacred pilgrimage of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains in China, including Wutai Shan, Omei Shan, Putuo Shan and Jiuhua Shan Buddhist Gardens.
We drove to the uppermost part of the garden for a photo op at the Central Platform Manjusri Bodhisattva that brings forth good health, longevity, peace and auspiciousness.
The Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden located at the westerly edge of Cavan Monaghan on Ski Hill Road north of Bethany is the first site to be developed and is now the largest Chinese Buddhist installation in Canada.
From there, we headed toward Bethany and drove more scenic back roads toward Port Hope and then took the Lakeshore road to Bond Head, just south of Newcastle, where we formally ended the outing with folks returning home whatever they felt was the best means to deal with traffic back towards Toronto.
Great weather, marvelous roads and an hour of zen at Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden made for a truly unforgettable day!
