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Tranquil temple retreats

2013-10-23 14:32 Shanghai Daily Web Editor: Wang YuXia
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At precisely 3:30am, the deep bell sounds, breaking the tranquility long before dawn. It's still dark and the moon shines through the trees. Candles are lighted and incense is burned in front of statues of the Buddha.

Another day begins at the small Ci En (Kindness and Blessing) Temple, hidden in an enormous cave on Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang Province. The temple is an 80-minute bus ride from Hangzhou, the provincial capital.

Monks, apprentice monks, Buddhists and others — aged from 12 to 60 — rise quietly and dress mindfully. They move to a hall where, scripture books in hand, they follow Abbot Zhidu in loudly and fluently reciting and chanting sutras.

It was big news in August that Ci En Temple was recruiting students (not necessarily Buddhists) for its Zen Devotion Class, free of charge. Stays are typically up to a month.

Students need not take the tonsure, wear yellow robes, or observe the very strictest rules, though they must follow a simple regimen of quiet, prayer and work.

In a concession to the times, they are allowed minimal use of smartphones and tablets and can use the temple's free Wi-Fi, which was set up by a Buddhist volunteer from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, who was doing business in Hangzhou.

It's an ancient tradition for temples to welcome anyone. This temple and many others around China offer retreats and devotional classes that have become quite popular, especially among stressed-out or just curious post-1980s young people. There's even a term for short-stay monks, temple-hoppers.

But this tiny Zhejiang temple in a big cave made international headlines when someone posted a report on social media about regular "recruitment" of students for its Zen Devotion Class. More than 1,000 applications were received within the month. Thirty students were accepted.

Recruitment had to be suspended because of limited accommodation. Still, people kept calling and some arrived from distant parts of China to meditate.

"I never thought people would be so crazy about the event, but it demonstrates that people today are under great pressure and eager to escape, even for just a short period of time," Abbot Zhidu, 52, tells a Shanghai Daily reporter who spent three days on a retreat.

The Zen Devotion Class has been offered occasionally since 2006, but interest snowballed after the Sina weibo posting — generating intense discussion about the need for inner peace and spiritual meaning in a highly materialistic, competitive and stressful society.

"The temple is open to anyone who wants to follow the Buddha with a true heart and they are welcome at any time," the master says. A stay can be for days, weeks, months or even years.

Visitors chant sutras with the monks, learn scriptures, help with cleaning and other chores, and burn incense in the morning and at night.

"But this year we've got too many applicants and our small temple cannot accommodate them," the abbot says.

Ci En Temple has a history of more than 1,400 years on Tiantai Mountain, a sacred spot famous for more than 40 religious shrines. Hidden in a vast and sprawling cavern, called the "black cave" by villagers, the temple itself has no more than 20 monks and was virtually anonymous for many years.

The monks and visitors live an ascetic life. The 12 dorm rooms are shabby, dim and damp because of the humid cave environment. Each person has a simple bed with a damp quilt and pillow. Each dorm has a desk and chair. For an occasional hot bath, monks boil water from mountain streams.

Meditation rooms were carved years ago out of the cold, dark cavern, which is so immense that people can get lost. They have stone slab "beds" and monks still lock themselves inside and sit cross-legged in meditation in the dark for a whole month.

"The living conditions are not good, but that's not important," says Master Shengqing, 33, who chose to become a monk three years ago. "We are practicing Zen, not enjoying life."

The daily routine and temple rules are rigid for everyone, but every day there is a period when students can ask the master any questions about scriptures or problems in their own lives.

Wakeup is 3:30am, class starts at 4am and lasts 150 minutes. Monks and students hold the morning ceremony, chant sutras and burn incense. They repeatedly kneel, bow and pray in front of the Buddha.

Breakfast at 6:30am is a bowl of thin congee and bland pickles or two steamed buns stuffed with vegetables.

For the next three hours, monks and students study scripture and burn incense in two ceremonies. Then students sweep and mop the floors, clean the kitchen and meditation rooms, and arrange books.

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