Dayanta Monastery

June 9, 2018

On our first weekend in Xi'an, Grace and I headed over to Dayanta. Little did we know that this whole area would become one of our favorite spots in the city. The stunning architecture of the pagoda draws all attention from the throngs of people hanging around the open square nearby. We got student discount tickets from the ticket office and made our way into the monastery...

The Buddhist Monk who translated the original religious works into Chinese.

It's a beautiful garden with old Chinese buildings, ivy over brick walls, and stunning marble staircases and statues that resemble a gleaming palace from a fairytale.

Even with all the tourists wandering around, there's an air of serenity that permeates the monastery.

Monks in orange robes pass by, some of them carrying gongs as we take photos of the scenery.

There's a temple above the marble steps that house a giant, golden buddha. You can pay extra to go inside the pagoda. Around the back (north) of the pagoda there's another set of buildings that house old art pieces from past dynasties telling stories of ancient China and explain how the monks translated Bhuddist transcripts to Chinese. The museum had a lot of construction going on, but they masked the noise with traditional Chinese 'erhu' music, which made me feel like I was on a live film set of Mulan.

The stunning colors and traditional architecture can be seen below:

We visited the monastery on a semi-cloudy day, so we got blessed with a cool breeze, sunshine, and great photography lighting. There was a path around one of the buildings that led us to this scenic red door lined with ivy pillars. The shade plus my iPhone X camera gave us these shots!

Traditional Chinese watchdog statue, taken with my iPhone X on Portrait Mode with the Vibrant filter.

Until my next post, subscribe to my travel blog to see travel tips and how to get the most of your iPhone camera!

Blessings,

Tash

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