Ian's photos 20

This trail is typical of the paths we followed in the hills and lower, less steep parts of the mountains.

This is the main gate of the next temple. A group of people were conveniently coming out so you can get a good understanding of its size.
After passing through the gate there was a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains.
Side by side statues of Amida, who is one of the characters speaking in the dialog contained in the Heart Sutra. It is easy to determine that a statue is of Amida, because he is always surrounded by children, since one of his functions is to protect them.
There are three main features in this photo, a large inscribed boulder, and a pagoda. I have no idea who is represented by the statue and the pagoda is typical. The boulder is quite interesting, though, at least the inscription is. The Chinese character, a kanji in Japanese, says "nothing". It is the kanji that contains the negative, negating anything that it is associated with. This "nothing" is extremely important in Zen and becomes the focal point of many of the Zen stories and koans.