A Monk Ringing the Bell at Yeun-fu Monastery
Photograph by John Thomson
Thomson's trip to Fangguangyan monastery is sometimes
regarded as the most artistically accomplished of all his
photographic journeys. Situated at the summit of a high mountain,
the monastery is almost as difficult to reach as it is to enter the
'Heavenly door'. In addition to the location, Thomson was deeply
impressed by the monastery's architecture: "It looks like nothing I
have ever seen or dreamed of seeing, with its broad eaves, carved
roofs and ornamented railing painted in the brightest hues." Of his
stay there, he recalled that each morning he was awoken by the
monks chanting or by the ringing of the bell seen here.