Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple
Chicago Chapter

【A BRIEF INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE LING SHEN CHING TZE TEMPLE CHICAGO CHAPTER】

『THE STRUCTURE / BRIEF HISTORY』

Has over 120 years history.  Originally an Emmanuel Presbyterian Church, designed by John Wellborn Root, one of the most famous architects of the 19th century.  Root died prematurely in 1891.  The rest of the project was completed by his famous partner Daniel Burnham in 1894. The simple geometry of the building (triangle-shaped) represents Root’s unique style developed near the end of his short life.  

After the Presbyterian Church closed in 1930s, the building became the Benton House gym and then in 1950s, the local Knights of Columbus Hall (a well known Catholic charity organization). In 1992, the property was acquired by Ling Shen Ching Tze Temple and has been its home serving the Great Chicago Area and its vicinity since.

After two years major transformation — from a church to a Buddhist temple, the Temple opened to the public in 1994.  Unfortunately, an electrical fire in 1998 had the rear portion badly damaged. Operation was closed for months. In 2000 the Temple officially reopened, this time bringing in even more enriched details to the interior and exterior as well as new Buddhist statues and embellishments.

 [ MAIN HALL / 大殿 ]

 Main Shrine Room Introduction (大殿壇城介紹):

The Main Shrine Room is the area where we conduct group practices, ceremonies, and major activities.  Group practice is every Sunday from 10 am to around 12:30, which covers mantra/sutra chanting, meditation, and dharma speech.  Every month we have a Ceremony, wherein we do mostly repentance or fire/water offering.

These beautiful statues on the altar are arranged according to the status of the deity.  The top row is the Buddhas, next is the bodhisattvas, and then the dharma protectors.  Seated in the middle is the founder of our True Buddha School, our Guru Master Living Buddha Lian Shen.  He’s still living.  This is his celestial image.  

We practice both Buddhism and Taoism in here, so you will see quite a few Taoist deity statues around too.  The lady statue in the middle with a heavenly fly-whisk in her hand, is Jade Pond Golden Mother, an infamous ancient Chinese goddess from Taoism.

(If encountered questions like “Why there’re many Buddhas?  In Christianity there’s only one god), you may say something like “In Buddhism every one has the Buddha Nature, every one has the potential to become a Buddha.  That includes you and I!”  The Buddhas up there have attained enlightenment and are named based on their vows and specialties.  The Medicine Buddha is an example.

Bodhisattvas are those on the path to Buddhahood.  However, there’re also cases where a bodhisattva had already become a Buddha in previous life.  Guan Yin Pusa is an example.  They just are coming back to help sentient being for salvation, appearing in the form of Bodhisattvas.  

Thankga (唐卡)  :

These wonderful scroll paintings on the wall are called thankgas. Thankga is a Tibetan word, which means “thing that one unrolls”.  100% hand painted on cotton or silk, using ground mineral pigment.  Other than decorative and homage purposes, thankgas are very important tools on visualization, meditation and Buddhist teaching.

Because the Thankga art is explicitly religious, the artist must be properly trained and have sufficient understanding, knowledge and background on the topic and elements. A monastic artist is often expected to have finished associated spiritual study before taking on the job.

Monastic or lay, there’s no talking and artists keep reciting mantras during the painting process.  In our temple we carry about 100 thankgas of varying sizes.  Most of them are displayed in the main hall.  On the entrance wall are the famous “Four Heavenly Gods”.  There’s a larger in the library - the 1000 armed 1000 eyed Avalokiteshvara —- where you will certainly be impressed by the intricate details. Most of these Thangkas come from Nepal.

Dragon Pillars in Buddhist Temples (寺庙中的龍柱):    

Quite contrary to the Western thinking, dragons are regarded as auspicious beings from water by the Asian world.  It’s believed they grant wish of fortune, luck and good health.  In Buddhism, numerous dragon kings had taken refuge to the Buddha and vowed to be the protectors of Buddha dharma.  For that reason, dragon pillars are a favorite decor in Buddhist temples, symbolizing support and auspiciousness.

Wisdom Lights (智慧燈):

Similar to Lotus Lights, prayers light a wisdom light to pray for better wisdom or

intelligence for the year. This is a popular service among those prayers who have kids in schools, have someone taking exams, on a certain career path looking to get better performance results. 

Longevity Lights (長生燈):

Those smaller Buddha statues on the walls are Amitayus, the Buddda of Infinite Life, a manifestation of Amitabha.  Names under the lotus seats are prayers praying for the Buddha’s blessings on longevity and auspiciousness.

KALACAKRA ALTAR (時輪金剛壇 )

Kalacakra deity represents a buddhahood and thus omniscience. Since Kalacakra is time and everything is under the influence of time, Kalacakra knows all. He’s another form of the Shaykamuli Buddha.

FORTUNE GOD CHAMBER (財神殿 )

The deity in the middle is Jambala, who vows to bring fortune to worthy people. Pray to him!  If you’ve got your prayer answered, be sure to use the money as much as you can to help those in need.

LIBRARY (图书馆 )

Our Guru Master is not only a great spiritual leader, a great Buddhism/Taoism teacher, but also a writer and a painter.  He writes one article a day, for the last 49 years.  So far he has written over 260 books and he’s still writing.  On the shelves are all his books. The US Congress Library is keeping a full set as well.

Displayed in the glass cabinet is a robe worn by him, gifted to us.

CHENG HUANG CHAMBER (城隍殿)

This chamber houses mainly the Cheng Huang who watches our area.  The Talisman over him represents the god of the year (or Tai Shui).  In Chinese Zodiac there’s a god for each year in the zodiac 60-year cycle.   If those whose birth sign or other features clash with the Tai Sui of the year, it means they will face misfortunes or disturbances for the whole current year.  Names on the wall are those who pray to get Tai Shui’s blessings for the year in better luck or fortune.  

MEDICINE BUDDHA CHAMBER (药師佛寶殿): 

This is our Medicine Buddha Chamber (Hall).  Seated in the middle is the Medicine Buddha, also referred as the Healing Buddha.  On his sides (at the far back) are his two major attendants, the Sun Light Bodhisattva and the Moon Light Bodhisattva.  The 2 bodhisattvas, each holding a plant (or flower) in the hand, are his other assistants — the Medicine King and Medicine Superior.  These angry-looking deities are his 12 Generals. They all help Medicine Buddha on curing/decreasing illness and suffering - physically and mentally.

When the Medicine Buddha was still a bodhisattva he took 12 great vows to benefit sentient beings.  One of them was to relieve sickness, pain and poverty — let the sick be cured, the helpless be helped, the poor be assisted.  

That’s how he got his name after becoming a Buddha, and why he is often the center of devotion when health and healing is the focus.

We have some smaller Medicine Buddha statues here, 1000 in total maybe.  Anyone who wishes to receive the Medicine Buddha’s continuous blessings, are welcomed to subscribe.

 DHARMA PROTECTOR HALL (護法殿): 

These wrathful figures here look quite different than those in the main hall altar.  But no worry they’re just other forms or manifestation of the Buddhas or Bodhisattvas.  Actually they are the “good guys.”  Because they’re here to protect, they show their wrathful or fearsome sides to us.  True, some people are puzzled, or even horrified by these Deities at the first exposure.

For example, even Guan Yin Pusa (Avalokitesvara), the peaceful and wonderful Buddha of Compassion, has his terrible form here, 馬頭明王.  

The little pig figures on the wall shelves are adopted from the image of Marici Bodhisattva, who seats on a chariot pulled by 7 pigs.  In adopting the image we do one pig instead of 7 pigs! The nine heads on the Yamataka represents the Buddha’s 9 teachings.   

GODDRESS OF HEAVEN (MA TSU)  CHAMBER (媽祖殿 )

This is a deity from Taoism, very famous in the coastal areas of the Southeast Asia, in particular Taiwan.  There’re numerous folktales about this deity rescuing or helping fishermen or coastal workers.  Today workers in these areas before going out to sea would still pray to this sea goddess for a smooth and safe trip.

On her sides are her two door gods — the See-All and Hear-All Generals.