Ageing monk’s devotion leaves deep mark on temple
Hua, also a doctor of traditional medicine who believes he is about 70 years old, has been performing a strict daily ritual at this temple in the monastery town of Tongren, in Qinghai province, for nearly 20 years.
He has knelt in prayer so many times that his footprints remain deeply, perfectly ingrained on the temple’s wooden floor.
Every day before sunrise, he arrives at the temple steps, places his feet in his footprints and bends down to pray a few thousand times before walking around the temple.
The footprints are three centimeters (1.2 inches) deep where the balls of his feet have pressed into the wood.
“How easy it is in our life, to miss what’s being offered.” — Paul Haller