For temples and monks, most people, like me before taking the monkhood class, are unfamiliar with temples and Buddhism, and are curious about the life in temples. So, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you my experience of these eleven days, from the aspects of registration, life in the temple, study, and my impression of the temple/monastic community. Of course, there may be some mistakes in the middle. You will use it at will; the actual issue shall prevail)
First of all, let’s introduce the temple that holds the short-term monk class this time—Putuo Temple in Zhuhai.
Zhuhai Putuo Temple is located in Dongkeng, Zhuhai. It was formerly known as Huaiyan Ancient Temple. It was built in 2000 by the founding abbot Shangmingxiasheng, the great monk Shangmingxiasheng, who spent fifteen years planning to build it into a garden-style Buddhist sacred place Putuo Temple. The temple has also developed a group of highly educated monks with dozens of monks. The temple offers lay classes, eight-pass fasting and other courses all year round. It also holds short-term monkhood activities or English summer camps from time to time. It also organizes charity classes, reading clubs, poverty alleviation, elderly care and disability and other charity activities. At the same time, it promotes traditional culture. , offering free courses in calligraphy and painting, Guqin, Guzheng, Zen tea, etc. In addition, the temple also has a charity traditional Chinese medicine clinic and a scripture circulation center to benefit the country and the people. The second phase of the project is also planning to set up a hospice care nursing home and other charity platforms.
The short-term ordination class I participated in was also for charity.
On the first day of the temple, our task is to report in and get familiar with the environment.
1. Registration
The day to report to Putuo Temple is July 23rd. We were required to report in at 12:00. When I arrived at 10:30, most of the senior fellow students had already reported in. The dormitories were arranged from the second and third floors to the fifth floor, and I was almost in the last few rooms.
After submitting the physical examination form and checking the ID card, I paid a deposit of 200 yuan in the living room and received the floor card and room card and two sets of laymen's uniforms for each person (men also had two sets. Monk robes. If you hand over your room key and clothes when you graduate, all the deposit money will be refunded. However, we spent no money on study, including food and accommodation, during these eleven days in the temple. There is also a teaching syllabus. , a notebook, a letterhead with Putuo Temple printed on it, a pen, camp rules and some money, an information bag with spells printed on it, and then took the floor card and room card, and came to 507 of Liuhe Building - what the masters call it " This is the dormitory where I will stay for eleven days.
I didn’t expect that the Master Zhicheng who signed my registration form was the ceremony guide of our group, haha.
2. Accommodation
The dormitory has six people per room, with hardwood beds in bunk beds. The hotel-style room card opens the door. The room is equipped with air conditioning, water dispenser, wardrobe, lockers, bedside tables, tables, chairs, sofas, slippers, etc. Bedding is neatly placed on the bed, and there is a kettle, tea set and alarm clock on the table. There are clothes hangers in the closet, a box of bottled mineral water in the corner, garbage bags in the drawer, a water heater in the bathroom, cups, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, shower detergent, combs, paper towels, and even two buckets and a washbasin. Ready to move in, truly turnkey.
After reading it, we all sighed: We didn’t expect that the temple would also keep pace with the times and be more prepared than our home. The environment must be great. In such a good environment, it seems that if you don’t study hard, you will be unworthy of the teachers’ good intentions. (Sent the picture of the dormitory to a friend, and the friend asked: What kind of air conditioner do you want? (Isn’t spiritual practice just about enduring hardship?) Forget it, each person is given a big cattail leaf fan!)
We are also deeply ashamed. You are not here to practice, you are simply here to enjoy yourself. So, although the air conditioning in our dormitory was not powerful, and my bed was the hottest spot, everyone had a spiritual practice and did not ask for repairs. As a result, for eleven days, I went to the sofa to sleep in the first half of the night every day. , and then go back to bed in the second half of the night after the night has cooled down.
Looking from the dormitory where we live, opposite is the dormitory of the masters
Three, personnel
There are one to six people in the dormitory. They all come from several different places, some are from Zhuhai, some are from Foshan, Shenzhen, and one senior brother is actually from Taiwan. The senior brother said that she lives in Macau and knows about Putuo Temple, so she saw there was a monk class this time and signed up.
After getting acquainted with fellow practitioners in the class, I realized that most of the 120 students in this class were from other places, not to mention the nearby Guangzhou, Jiangmen, and Shantou in this province. There are many people from as far away as Hainan, Fujian, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Beijing, and Tianjin. It can be seen that this short-term ordination class has a wide impact.
High academic qualifications are also a highlight of this ordination class. Among the 120, 40 are men, 60% of whom have a bachelor's degree or above, and 80 are women, 40% of whom have a bachelor's degree or above. There are many university teachers among them.
Of course, the cutest thing is the group of children from Zhuhai and Jieyang. There are more than a dozen innocent and active little guys ranging from 9 to 17 years old, who are a highlight of the class. After class, the little ones gathered around and grabbed Master's hand to eat ice cream together, which became a scene in the temple.
(Well, I secretly posted a photo of the little ones. I missed them after being away for a few days)
Four, food
The place to eat in the temple, It's called Wuguantang.
Wuguantang is Zhaitang, also known as Xiangji Kitchen.
The monks’ precepts stipulate that five kinds of observations should be made before eating: The five observations are: first, whether the source of the food is clean; second, whether one’s virtue is suitable for accepting this food; third, whether greed, anger, ignorance, etc. Greed will arise from the good taste, infatuation will arise from the middle taste, and anger will arise from the bad taste. The fourth view is that food is medicine to cure dryness. The fifth view is the karma of enlightenment, so you should accept this food.
The vegetarian dishes in Wuguantang are very rich and delicious. Breakfast includes porridge, steamed buns, fried noodles, sweet potatoes, and no less than five or six kinds of side dishes. For lunch and dinner, there is white rice, soup (sometimes mung bean syrup), and seven or eight vegetarian dishes. You can add as much soup and food as you like until you are full. There will also be fruit or biscuits after lunch. The fruit is not cut into plates or pieces, but like this:
Every time I get the fruit, I am a little worried. It is too big, how to eat it! And after observing the eight-pass fast on the 26th, I didn’t eat after lunch, so I really didn’t have the chance to eat.
After staying in the temple for two days, my roommate sighed with his stomach full: The food was so good every day, I felt like I had gained weight!
At every meal time, we line up in groups and enter the Wuguan Hall to eat together. We sat down on the bench one after another. We first arranged our bowls and chopsticks in front of the table - rice bowls, soup bowls were placed flat on the edge of the table, and chopsticks were placed horizontally in front of us. When the masters took their seats one by one, the monk in charge was guiding us. Recite an offering verse. During meals, before we eat, we should also recite an offering verse to express gratitude for the gift of offerings.
At this time, under the leadership of the "fantou" master in charge of Wuguan Hall, the senior brothers in the hall brought rice, soup, and vegetables, and filled our bowls with food one by one. (Of course, in the next ten days, the staff of the hall were changed from volunteers to us, and we would go to the hall in two groups every day to distribute meals and dishes to the monks)
Of course, for the first contact For me, who is a person of precepts, these rules are just a formality. Anyway, I just follow my master and brothers.
What struck me most deeply was that speech was silenced throughout the Wuguan Hall, that is, speaking and looking around were prohibited. In other words, "eat well while you're eating."
You are not allowed to talk, so what if you want to add rice, soup and vegetables?
Don’t worry, adding rice, soup and vegetables, even the wetness and dryness of the soup, and the amount of food are all indicated by certain gestures. For example, if you want to add rice, vegetables and soup, just push the bowl to the edge of the table. , if you want to eat less food, put your thumb and little finger on your back, and if you don’t want a certain meal, put your palm up (so, in the past few days, what I have used most skillfully is to put my palm up and put my thumb on my little finger)
In addition, there is another important criterion for eating, which is to pick up the rice bowl and eat it.
Master said, animals are the ones who bend down to eat from the rice bowl on the table.
Fifth, our course schedule:
As you can see, the wake-up time on the course schedule is 4:30. In fact, 4:30 is the gathering time. If you really arrive outside Puguangming Hall at this time, then, sorry, Master Jie Ming’s board will be waiting for you. Therefore, we usually get up before four o'clock in our dormitory, because the six of us have to take turns to wash up and go to the bathroom. I had never woken up so early before. After handing over my phone, I realized the true meaning of having an alarm clock in the dormitory - otherwise I would have overslept.
So our daily schedule is as follows:
Get up at 4:00,
Gather at 4:30,
Early morning at 5:00 Class,
Breakfast at 6:00,
After a short break, return to class at 7:30 to recite Buddha’s name,
Class from 8:00 to 10:30,
Lunch at 11:00,
Take a break from 11:30 to 13:30, or use this time to memorize spells and prepare for the closing debate;
13 : 30 chanting Buddha's name;
14:00-16:30 class;
17:00 medicine stone (on July 26th, men will be tonsured and women will undergo the eight fasts. Don’t eat after lunch, so you can have an hour’s rest during this time)
18:00 evening class
19:00-20:30 class
21 :00Depending on the situation, you can either continue class, study spells in groups, discuss debate topics, or go back to rest
After returning to the dormitory every day, wait until all six people have washed up, usually at eleven o'clock or even later Night.
After reading this course schedule, do you feel particularly fulfilled?
Six, hand in your mobile phone and concentrate on practice
On the first day of reporting, we have been in a state of excitement and uneasiness, not only because of the novelty of temple life, but also because of the rules of the camp. Uneasy about the terms of handing over your cell phone. I was confused between whether to pay or not, and I was feeling lucky. So throughout the registration day, I carried my phone like a treasure, secretly looking for opportunities to take pictures, for fear of forgetting this rare experience in my life. In the long river of time (actually it is rude).
I took it when I was in Wuguan Hall, when I visited the temple, when I was gathering for evening classes, and when I returned to the classroom at night, I took it again, so I got this picture:
In the picture, what Master Anguo said at that time was: " Don’t you have to hand in your phone? Why are you still patting it?”
After finishing speaking, the volunteers brought a stack of plastic bag stickers – so they really had to hand it in!
Well, without the mobile phone as a medium of communication and recording, it seems that in the following days, I can only remember, see and feel with my heart!
(To be continued)