Tie Non: Beyonce Temple / 碧雲寺 / 碧雲寺

この間關子嶺（という台南にある地域）の碧雲寺（ビーユンス）に行ってきた。關子嶺は台南の山地帯にある温泉街だ。日本時代に温泉街に発展してきたが、明朝時代からとっくにお寺が建立されていた。雲仙地獄みたいなもんだね。お坊さんは普通な世界を逃げようとして山に住み着いたが、そこに温泉が出るせいで、結局人がたくさん来てリゾート地になってしまった。

碧雲寺は歴史が長いだけでなく、建築もかなり綺麗だと思う。私は以前も言っているが、落ち着いた感じの寺が割と好きだから、台湾の一般の寺廟は私からすれば、ちょっと派手過ぎだ。ここは色使いはもうちょっと上手く出来ていると思う。

ちなみに下の写真には地面に赤い物がたくさん散らかっているが、私が着く前に爆竹をたくさん放した様だ。その赤は爆竹のカスだ。

Well, ok, the post title lies; there isn't actually a temple to Beyonce in Taiwan, at least as far as I know. But a couple of weeks back I visited the Beeyoonsuh Temple in Kuan Tzu Ling.

Kuan Tzu Ling is a hot spring resort area that was developed back during the Japanese period, but the temple is even older, dating back to the Ming period. It reminds me of Unzen in Nagasaki, Japan. It's another place that was first developed as a temple complex by Buddhist monks wishing to separate themselves from the world, but that, ironically, later became a big resort thanks to the presence of natural hot springs.

The Beeyoonsuh temple is a very impressive temple, not only because of its long history, but also because the buildings themselves are rather pretty, and because of the scene of the mountain rising from behind the temple. This photo which I took below looks just like every other photo you will find online of someone introducing this temple because, hey, this is it. This is the shot to take. I was lucky enough to get a shot in while there was still debris from firecrackers all over the ground in front, adding some nice red to the photo.

幾禮拜前我去關子嶺玩。我的目的是參觀碧雲寺。以前我在網上看照片覺得看起來很漂亮，決定要去看看。碧雲寺的歷史很久。明朝時代已經建立了。我在網路看個故事，好像當時有的和尚把一個佛像帶走台灣格個的地方。到了這邊他一放在地面休息一下，就發現怎麼努力都抬不起來。他認為是因為佛神希望留在這裡，所以這個和尚在這裡建這座寺廟。

每個地方關子嶺的拼音不一樣。這裡是「Kuan Tzu Ling」但是也有「Guanziling」，「Kuantzeling」什麼的。我建議大家利用我想出來的「Gwahn Zuh Ling」。這才是對的。

This is why I am spelling the town's name "Kuan Tzu Ling" in this post. As for "Beeyoonsuh", that's just me being difficult and using my own spellings, which, though superior to all others in terms of readability, are admittedly non-standard.

台湾語（北京語じゃなくて、閩南語の一つ）では「關」と「高」の発音が似ているそうだ。だから名前の由来は単に「高い嶺」だということ。

Firecracker residue

温泉街の關子嶺はアカだらけ。

我到了之前放爆竹。不是因為要歡迎我，只是偶合而已。

好可愛的石獅。

The guardian lions out front were unusually cute.

獅子がいつものより可愛い。

I don't have much to say about the specifics of the temple's design, but I really enjoyed this place. As I've said in previous posts, I prefer more subdued color-schemes, so a lot of temples in Taiwan are a bit too loud for my tastes. I thought that this place was much more tastefully done than most, and the carvings on this main gate were quite interesting too.

この玄関の門が本当に面白いと思う。色が落ち着いて、彫刻物がすごいから。

我以前也有說過，我較喜歡顏色婉約的建築物。我覺得碧雲寺這方面真的不錯。然後刻物也很美麗。

Fire-spitting phoenix

太陽吐き出している様に見える。

好像把太陽吐出來了。

前門右邊的房子好像一般老家一樣。

One of the buildings inside the main gate was this one that looks like it could be an old store/family home like you would see anywhere in rural Taiwan.

昔ながらの民家みたいな建物が境内にあった。（門が今右側にある。）

常常在鄉下的老家看到這種圖案。

It even has these geometrical tile patterns that are so popular on old homes here.

こういう模様は本当に台湾の昔の家によく登場する。

門の内側

這天剛好有活動，全台別的寺廟的團體一直來來去去。很熱鬧。

The temple was really busy this day. There was some sort of event going on at the time, and busloads of people from other temples from all over Taiwan kept arriving during the time I was here.

私が来た日はちょうど何かのイベントがあって、台湾中の別の寺から人が来ていた。ずっと忙しかったんだ。

本館側面

The main building, as seen from the side.

門に入って目の前にある建物の横から。

就算寺廟也有歪敷癌。

Oh thank god there's wi-fi. I wouldn't want my religious experience to get in the way of my uploading selfies to Line.

台湾はだいたいどこに行ってもワイファイが飛んでいる。無料で使えるところも多い。この点では日本が恥ずかしいぐらい台湾に遅れている。（まあ、お寺には別に必要ないと思うけど。）

後面有冷泉。是能喝的。

Behind the main building was this fountain. It's spring water, and they claim it's safe to drink.

本館の裏に湧き水が出る。飲料できるって書いている。

本館後

The back of the main building.

本館の裏側

本館後有樓梯。趴一趴就看得到寺廟漂亮的屋頂。

There are some stairs out back that you can climb up to see the rest of the complex. It gives you a nice view of the roofs too.

本館の裏の階段を登ったら、屋根がよく見えてくる。

也有羅漢

There's also a collection of Arhat statues partway up the hill.

途中で羅漢の群が現れた。

前面較大的應該是觀音吧。

I think the large statue in front is probably Gwan-in. Among other things, her name in Japanese, Kwannon, or Kannon, was the inspiration for the name of the camera manufacturer "Canon".

大きい像は多分観音だと思う。

People hanging out behind the temple. The spring is just visible too.

I love tile roofs.

瓦でできた屋根が好き。

繼續趴樓，會到別的建築物。

If you keep climbing the stairs past the arhat statues, you come to another building.

羅漢達を超えて登り続けたら、他の建物に到着する。正直、下の方より面白くない。

This one's decoration is a bit fancier and brighter, and I quite frankly don't like it as much as the building below.

Though I do like pastels, so I approve of their use of pastels here.

我較喜歡下面的樣子，但是我還是喜歡這裡的這種粉紅色。

碧雲寺後面的山

Here's the mountain we originally saw behind the temple when I took a photo out front.

お寺の裏にある山。

下樓回去吧。

Let's climb back down the way we came.

戻って行こう！

我在閒晃時幾個這樣的團體來做活動。

Here's one of the big groups that came to do religious stuff while I was poking around the temple.

お参りしに来た人達はこういう感じだった。みんな同じ服着ていて、お寺の名前が後ろに書いてある。

因為本館裡很黑所以我拍得不好。

Inside the main building. It was kind of dark and hard for me to get clear photos. I need a better camera.

本館の中は暗くてあまり写真撮れなかった。私は最近この安いカメラの限界を感じている。もっといいやつ欲しいけど、、、高いなぁ。

這兩張模糊不清。我試試改顏色。

These next two photos were blurry, so I tried to save them with the power of editing. Eh, they could be worse.

この二枚はぼやっとして、色変えで救おうとした。

雖然人都不見了可是字還是很清楚。

I like how the people mostly disappeared, but the writing up top remains as clear as ever. I wish I could do this in real life sometimes.

文字がはっきり残っているが、人間がみんな消えた。混んでいるところにいると、こんな超能力を実際に持てばいいのにとしょっちゅう思う。

お寺の隣りに「出米洞」という岩がある。この名前に二つの話がある：

昔はこの岩は実際に米を穴から出していた。人は必要となった時、ここに来てお米をもらっていた。でもある日欲張りのお坊さんは取りすぎて、その日からお米が二度と出なくなった。

もう一つの話は、日本時代に税金を逃れようとした地元の人達はここにお米を隠して、必要となった時に取りに来ていた。それを知らない外の人間はお米を岩から取り出している人を見かけて、この岩が魔法的な物だと勘違いしたのだ。

Next to the temple is this rock formation. "Rice-Barfing Cave" (Ok, it's more like "Rice Come Out Cave".) The plaque said that there were a couple of stories behind the name.

One is that the rock was actually magic and that rice would come out of the crack whenever people needed it. However, one day a greedy monk tried to take more rice than he needed so that he could hoard it and sell it or whatever, and from that day forward the rock stopped producing rice.

The other story is that during the Japanese period, people attempted to avoid taxes by hiding some of the rice they produced. The hole here was used as a hiding site, and when some rube not from the area saw people going to the rock and filling up bags with rice, he thought that it must be a magic rock that makes rice.

寺旁有岩石名叫「出米洞」。有兩個故事：

一個是，這個岩石其實是有神力的，以前人需要米，只要來這裡就會出來。但有時貪心的和尚拿太多了，後來米都沒出來。

另外一個是，日本時代這邊的人想免稅，所以把米藏在洞裡。需要時他們來這裡拿出來了。但有時，不是當地的人看到人在拿米，以為這個岩石是魔法的。