Nestled amongst 32 hectares of peaceful bushland between Daisy Hill koala park and Underwood Park, you’ll find Chung Tian Temple.
Constructed in 1992, the temple is not only for those who want to practice their faith, but is open to anyone of any age.
“The temple offers a whole range of activities,” said the temple’s Ralph Smith. “People come here to study, they may want to learn Mandarin, they may want to practice Thai-Chi, we hold meditation classes, we hold Buddhist classes, and there’s also an avenue for people to come and practice their Buddhist beliefs so we have chanting every week.”
There’s also the tea ceremony based on traditional Asian culture and helps to create mindfulness through the simple art of tasting tea.
Visit the Bodhisattva Hall, one of the original buildings within the temple grounds. It’s used to practice Buddhist ceremonies, weddings and children’s classes. The purpose of the Bodhisattva statue lit up at the front of the hall is to show his thousand hands and each hand is there to help you through to manage crisis in your own life.
One of the centerpieces of the temple is the blessing bell, one of the largest bells of its kind in Brisbane.
“The whole purpose of the blessing bell is to resonate peace throughout the world so when people ring the bell, as you can hear it just goes for forever it seems to be and the whole purpose of the bell is that people right around the world can hear that and feel peace within themselves,” Ray explained.
“We welcome everyone to come here. It doesn’t matter what you believe in, it doesn’t matter who you are, we hope that people can come here, enjoy the surroundings, that they can pick something up but it’s something that they can take away with them. That they can leave this place and face life with a bit of peace that they’ve gained from here.”
