Bintan, Indonesia

The 500 Lohan Temple, Bintan Island, Indonesia

Also known as the 500 Lohan Temple, the Vihara Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is one of Bintan’s best hidden treasures. Located in Kijang (South Bintan), the premise is just a short drive away from the main bustling scene of Tanjung Pinang.

Step into the temple grounds and be transported into surreal settings of towering structures and the highlight—more than 500 life-sized (Lohan/arhat) stone statues with intricate physique and facial expressions, each one unique and different from the next. Look through the sea of faces and try spotting famous Chinese characters such as Journey to the West’s Tripitaka or Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ Guan Gong.

Pictured here is the giant Bodhisattva at the entrance to the Vihara.

An interesting story this one. I had planned for a couple of photos at the Vihara well before we even got to the island. One was to be a Milky Way rising over the 500 Lohan and another was to be a light painting of the magnificent Bodhisattva at the entrance. There were two problems:

1. Getting into the Vihara as both photos were late night and almost the entire night ideas

2. The weather gods had to oblige.

Thankfully the hotel solved the first problem by getting us a driver who knew the local crew at the Vihara and agreed to take us there at midnight. So, with the kids safely in bed and the babysitter to keep an eye on them we, my wife decided to accompany me this time, ventured out into the night on an island we had never visited before to get to a location we had never seen before except on Google Maps.

After a beautiful hour long drive through the quiet rolling hills of the island we reached the Vihara around midnight - if memory serves me right. We made our way in and walked around the amazing campus in moonlight and waited for the lights and light pollution to die down and also for the clouds to clear but unfortunately it was not to be. Eventually, after a three hour wait, the cloud cover got so frustratingly heavy that we decided to leave and on our way out I looked up to see a break in the clouds and this happened.

This was photographed between 3.30am and 5am with almost 75% cloud cover.

The gear and settings:

Canon 1Dx Mark 2 with the amazing Samyang 14mm f2.8 manually focused.

For the foreground - at 14mm, f8, ISO 640, 25 frames of light painting the Bodhisattva at 9 second exposures and 25 dark frames for noise reduction. The bright star above the Bodhisattva is the planet Jupiter and a few shooting stars are also visible. The light at the top of the structure is from the sodium lights at the main entrance of the compound.

For the background - 14mm, f2.8 and ISO 10000, two 8 second exposures again with two 8 second dark frames for noise reduction.

I had the camera perched on my sturdy ProMediaGear TR424L tripod with the BH-55 Pano ball head from Really Right Stuff. All images were stacked with StarStax.

The 500 Lohan, unfortunately, will have to wait for another time.

The Vihara To enter the vihara, visitors must pass through an impressive archway guarded by General Heng and General Ha. Next to the archway is a pavilion with Buddhas in Thai style and facing this pavilion is a sculpture of baby Buddha. The surrounding wall is decorated with Tibetan Buddhist symbols. The main hall is just next to the pavilion where a sculpture of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva sits on the altar. Below it and on the floor is a Taoist deity of filial piety. Guarding the main hall are life size sculptures of the Dharma Protectors Weituo and Sangharama Bodhisattva, more well known as Guan Gong.

The 500 Arahats From the main hall, a felt of stairs leads visitors to an amazing garden. There, 500 life size sculptures of arahats stand orderly in rows on each of the steps at the edge of the garden. The names of each arahat appear at the base of their sculpture. Each of the 500 sculptures is extremely lifelike capturing the characteristics, facial features and postures of the arahats. There is a sense of orderly formation and movement at the same time. These 500 arahats must be every photographer’s wonderland. Facing the 500 arahats are another three great bodhisattvas; Wen Shu Bodhisattva sitting on a lion, Puxian Bodhisattva sitting on a elephant and Guan Yin holding a willow. Bintan Island had history of Chinese (and Indian) merchants settling there, and with Singapore so nearby, the cultural influences are sure to be prevalent here. Nonetheless, whilst Indonesia is home beautiful mosques and churches, Vihara Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is a testament to the country’s motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, Unity in Diversity.

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