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| Jing Yin Temple in Scarborough |
Every year, we try to check something out for Doors Open.
This year, in Toronto, we discovered a couple of places of worship and a historic
schoolhouse.
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| Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto |
1. Tyndale University College and Seminary: we got
a guided tour in this Christian university culminating in the chapel.
Originally we thought they focused mainly on theology, but they apparently also
have other (and growing) undergraduate programs such as Business and Math. The
Seminary offers doctoral degrees and graduate programs. The Toronto
Bible Training School (later on, Ontario Bible College), established in the late 1800’s, moved to this 53acre property in 2006 after purchase from the Sisters of
St. Joseph. The interesting fact we got was that this was Pope John Paul II’s
residence when he visited Toronto during World Youth Day in 2002! It was a nice
university with big-windowed classrooms, furnished with AV equipment as well as
some nice meeting/breakout rooms. The chapel was also quite beautiful with rose
marble carved Stations of the Cross and stained glass windows.
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| Chapel @ Tyndale University College and Seminary |
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| Chapel @Tyndale University and Seminary |
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| Carved Rose Marbles, Stations of the Cross @ Tyndale University and Seminary |
2. Jing Yin Temple in Scarborough: we checked out this chapter of the True Buddha
School founded by Grand Master Lu Sheng Yen. It was built by Master Lian Xong
who also designed the temple, patterned after ancient Chinese Buddhist
temples. Construction was mostly done by a group of volunteers over two years
and completed in 2012. Outside, the structure gave some glimpse of the
Forbidden City with ceramic roof tiles and stone walls, a beautiful pagoda,
dragon relief, and lion guard statues.
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| Pagoda @ Jing Yin Temple |
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| Dragon relief @ Jing Yin Temple |
We got a tour of the main worship hall
as well as the basement. The main shrine was just magnificent comprised of over
100 different gold plated bronze Buddhas. The biggest at the top supposedly
weighs a ton each!
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| Main shrine @ Jing Yin Temple |
There were smaller shrines at the sides with hundreds of
carved tiles on the wall.
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| blue backlit glass tiles at the backdrop of one of the smaller shrines @ Jing Yin Temple |
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| Mini Buddha statues at the Main Hall @ Jing Yin Temple |
In the
hall you can buy offerings of incense and food (we were told these are later donated
to food banks) and there were also booklets and religious
articles for sale.
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| Offering table at the Main shrine @ Jing YIn Temple |
The basement was a venue for meetings and gatherings and it also houses a smaller shrine. As you can see, I was able to take more photos here!
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| Shrine at basement @Jing Yin Temple |
3. Historic Zion Schoolhouse in North York: the
smallest of the structures we visited. This was built in the time of Queen
Victoria in the 1860’s for the free education of children in what used to be a
small farming community in the area. The great thing about this structure was
that it is the last unaltered one-room schoolhouse in North York. They made the
event seem more authentic by having the guide dressed in mid-century teachers’
uniform. While the majority of the artifacts are apparently not original to the
building (but acquired through purchase and donations appropriate for the time)
we enjoyed sitting at the school desks and looking at attendance forms and
books. They even had a 19th century piano and a stove there.
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| Historic Zion Schoolhouse |
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| school desks @ Historic Zion Schoolhouse |
So excited to check out interesting spots in next year's Doors Open! Happy Summer!
