True Story: A Daoist's
Other Worldly Encounter
A Monk in A Daoist
Temple (1)
19 July 2006
1
A Daoist College
I am a
Buddhist monk in a southern province of
China. When attending a Buddhist meeting in
Beijing in September 2003, I took the
opportunity to visit the famous Daoist centre
– White Cloud Temple.
The
temple is a hot tourist spot, and like most
popular Buddhist and Daoist temples in China
today, it is treated as such – you have to
buy a ticket to enter the premise. But there
is an exception: that is if you are an
ordained Monk or Daoist; in this case, you
can expect not only a free entry, but also
free meal and accommodation. So in my
brownish-yellow robe with my shaven head, I
strode into the temple without hindrance, and
cupped my hands (the Daoist way of greeting)
to greet every Daoist I met. The Daoists, on
the other hand, all returned my greeting with
folding palms (the Buddhist way of greeting).
It was rather amusing, really. You just
picture this: A Buddhist acted like a Daoist,
and all Daoists behaved like a Buddhist.
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A hall in
White Cloud Temple
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I soon
came to a humble two-storey building with an
external corridor along the front and was
told it is a Daoist college, offering a
two-year diploma program and a four-year
course with a bachelor’s degree. Out of
curiosity, I knocked on the door of the
administration office. When I was invited in
by Daoist Zhou, I surprisingly observed that
there were quite a few Buddhist Scriptures on
the shelf and table. "Aha, I’ve just
got stuck in some of its chapters and hope
someone can help," said the Zhou,
pouring me a cup of brewed hot tea before
showing me some text on a Sutra. "Nay, All
things arise through karmic force from
Empty Nature-Root, what is your
explanations on this?"
The Daoist
College in White Cloud Temple
So we
chatted away, from comparing the similarities
between I Ching’s lianshan theory
and Buddhist doctrine of Consciousness Only,
to identifying the correlations between
Daoist idea of Ontology and Buddhist concept
of Ultimate Wisdom, Perfect Enlightenment,
Impartial Observation in Awakening the
Mahayana system. The abbot of the college
also came to join our discussion, soon it was
lunchtime, and they insisted that I should
have the meal with them so we could talk even
more.
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A side door
to the inner
living quarter of the Daoists
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Left
the college, I wandered around the temple at
leisure, thinking my visit to the White Cloud
was all worthwhile as I had learned so much
about the Daoism, little realising that I was
yet to encounter a truly amazing character
and hear his extraordinary life stories.
It all
started when I turned about the corner of the
Hall of Commandments and bumped into a man
– Daoist Wang.
2
Daoist
Wang
(Source of
original photo: Beijing Laosu Photo Studio)
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