Summer Camp in
Monastery
24 Aug 2007
The
kids engaging in serious sitting meditation
are not little monks and nuns, but boys and
girls at a Guangzhou junior high. While
during this summer vocation, a large number
of Chinese students flock to coaching schools
learning English and other exam-driven subjects, dividing
their time between memorising, reciting and
thinking, these kids dare to retreat into a
monastic summer camp, spending their time on reflecting, chanting and,
trying hard to avoid thinking.
Following the conventional
daily routine of Chinese monasteries, every
day the boys and girls get up before dawn at
four clock to begin their early non-thinking
session, which is succeeded by vegetarian
breakfast that includes frying noodle dishes,
vegetable buns, bean rice soup, and pickled
radish, and dried greens and marinated tofu.
In the morning the students
learn from the monks how to deal with others
in a proper manner, in the afternoon, the
masters - who call the kids their fellow
cultivators (tongxiu 同修) - chat with their tongxius
about I Ching and Karma.
Such a circle of vege-eating, nought-thinking continues until nine
clock in the evening when Chinese monasteries
typically conclude their daily activities.
The opponents of the monastic
summer camp criticise it as religious
brainwashing exercise done to vulnerable
children.
But the supporters say the
camp only teaches about wisdom but not faith,
as all they strive to achieve is to help the
youngsters observing the natural law of cause and
consequences, thus being mindful of their
thoughts, words and actions, since what we do
to others will ultimately bounce back to us.
After all, some even argue, it is
questionable whether the teachings of Buddha
can ever be considered as religious, for it
is never about how to submit oneself to
unknown external forces, but all about how to
get liberated from within through knowing
oneself, and ultimately become the master of
one’s own destiny.
While true disposition of the
monastic summer camp may still be debatable,
one thing is clear, that after a period of
non-thinking, these self-driven only-child
kids become much more thoughtful of others.
Today is the last day
they live among the monks in the monastery,
according to the report by a local media Nanfangdushibao,
and it remains to be seen just how long this
positive effect of thoughtful and nought
thinking can last.
