VIHARA BUDDHAGAYA (WATUGONG)

After eating at Pesta Kebon Restaurant, we're going to pray at Vihara Buddhagaya at Watugong, Semarang. They have the highest Pagoda in Indonesia, 45 meters, and it's already recorded by MURI (Indonesian World Record Museum).This building is called Avalokitesvara or the Metakaruna Pagoda. As meta, a Pali word means love and karuna, another Pali word, means affection, so metakaruna means loving and kindness. So, it is a seven-storey pagoda of loving and kindness. This pagoda is a new landmark for Semarang, after the Sam Poo Kong Temple in Gedung Batu, Simongan. The pagoda construction began in August 2005 and Rp 1 billion had been spent because many materials were imported from China. Here is a special place for those wishing to worship and make a prayer to Kwan Im Poo Sat or the Goddess of Mercy (Kuan Yin).
The base of the building is octagonal in shape and measures 15 meters by 15 meters. From the second level up to the sixth you can find the statues of the Goddess of Mercy Kwan Im Poo Sat facing all directions: west, east, north and south. On the first level, you can find four different statues of the Goddess of Mercy. This pagoda has a total of 25 statues of the Goddess of Mercy. The statues of the Goddess of Mercy face all the directions so that she can always spread loving kindness in all directions and maintain peace among the residents of Semarang. Level seven is believed to be the highest level of holiness that can be attained by a monk so seven-storey symbolize the achievement of the highest level of material life. We can admire the stone staircase in the shape of nine dragons, the dragon lamps, the dragon pool, the dragon fountain and even the statues of a phoenix and a Chinese mythological animal that looks like a lion. All the stone has been imported from Fujian province while the copper from Tung Guan, China.