TOO MANY MONKS!
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Dear friends,
I came across this article about how a monastery in China was overloaded with applicants wanting to become ordained! The surge in traffic to the monastery’s website caused it to crash!
Earlier this summer, Ci-En temple in Zhe Jiang Province announced that they were accepting 20 applicants to join their short-term sangha (monk/nun) program. Applicants were invited to hold ordination vows for a minimum of 3 months, or up to 2 years. During the program they would learn about Buddhist culture, read Buddhist scriptures, live an ascetic lifestyle, follow a vegetarian diet, perform morning and night exercises and participate in Buddhist activities.
It all sounds inviting for those already within the temple’s order, but the monastery didn’t expect 1,100 people to apply!! They vetted through the applicants, and due to space constraints, accepted 200 people. According to Ci-En temple, majority of their applicants were born after 1980.
I rejoice that Ci-En temple offers short-term ordination programs. In most parts of the world, people are unable to be ordained due to the lack of facilities… and in some countries even unable to practice Buddhism due to the lack of religious freedom.
The overwhelming response is encouraging, and I pray for their programs to continue being successful!
Tsem Rinpoche
Short-term monk program suspended at China temple
HANGZHOU – A large influx of applicants has forced a Buddhist temple in East China’s Zhejiang province to suspend the recruitment of “short-term” monks, the temple said Thursday.
“Safety concerns and media pressure have made the program deviate from our original intentions,” said Zhidu, master of the Ci’en Temple.
In July, the secluded mountain monastery in the provincial capital of Hangzhou started inviting both religious and secular men and women to live as monks for periods of time ranging from three months to two years.
The program is free but requires that participants follow the ascetic, vegetarian monk lifestyle.
To date, the temple has received applications from more than 1,100 people. Some of the applicants said they were feeling too much pressure at work and hoped to gain spiritual support and enrichment, Zhidu said.
“The number of applicants has far exceeded the temple’s ability to accommodate. Safety is also a big issue,” he said.
“The program aims to provide a halcyon period of time for participants, who can enrich and sort out their minds in the process of learning about Buddhism,” a post on the temple’s website says.
The program sparked heated discussion after a local newspaper posted the notice on Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter.
“We have communicated with the applicants and introduced some of them to other temples,” Zhidu said.
[Extracted from: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-07/18/content_16795840.htm?]
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In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, monastic vows are for life. But somehow Ci’en temple in Zhejiang province offers three-month course and part-time vows recently. Situated in the luxurious forest, Ci’en temple a small temple remains its charm with impressive landscape and Buddhist culture. The Buddhist temple decided to offer admission to civilians who wanted to experience a monk’s life, only to be overwhelmed with applicants. It’s a small temple , hence only those were interested in Buddhism were given a chance. Participants of the program will live as monks in the temple free of charge. They will learn about Buddhist culture, read its scriptures and will also perform all Buddhist activities as arranged. It’s a good training ground to live as a monk or nun to cultivate minds.
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
Rejoice for the organizer and participants. It is not easy for the temple to accommodate so many people for the short-term ordination programme. Hope the participants learned the dharma and continue practising the dharma after the programme in Zhejiang province, China. .It is wonderful to know that more and more young people are seeking spiritual for support due to stress at work.And they are to learn Dharma as well. It is good of the temples to provide and guide them to live as monks for short term. Thank you Rinpoche for this short and interesting article.😘💖🙏
Rejoice for those have been accepted as short-term monks in Zhejiang province, China.Its wonderful to know that more and more young people are seeking spiritual for support due to stress at work.And they are to learn Dharma as well. It is good of the temples to provide and guide them to live as monks for short term.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing .
Rejoice for the organizer and participants. It is not easy for the temple to accommodate so many people for the short-term ordination programme. Hope the participants learned the dharma and continue practising the dharma after the programme.. Looking forward to attending the short-term ordination programme if there is any at Kechara.
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing.
Rejoice for those who learned the precious of Dharma and wanted to be ordained in this short program. I think is very meritorious for those who joined this program because they can live a life like a monk for at least 3 months or even until 2 years to learn and experience fully the benefits of being a sangha without other distractions from the outside world. I like this idea very much. I would like to join this program to be a nun for a short period of time if we have it in Kechara Forest Retreat in future. Even just experience it for 3 months, we not only learned dharma, prayers and meditation, we will also learn to discipline ourselves by holding the vows and following the schedule and rules in the monastery. It’s a perfect healing program for our mind, spirit and body. It also serve as a training ground for those who truly wanted to be the long term monks. At the same time we can dedicate it to our guru, parents, children and friends. Thank you for sharing, Rinpoche.
Rich or poor, we all need spiritual nourishment. After so many years whereby the Chinese have been starved of any kind of spirituality, this is encouraging news. So many of us think we know what is buddhism but only when we check it out will we know exactly what it is all about. Is Buddhism just about praying, obviously not. Anyway good things to come it seems for the multitudes of Chinese for their keen interest in the Buddha Dharma.
I am so happy to learn that so many young Chinese in China are keen on learning Buddhism. Buddhism used to be very popular in China, it was regarded highly even by the Chinese emperors. Some emperors like the Emperor in Tang dynasty used to rule the country using Buddhist values as the fundamental principle to rule the country. As a result, Tang dynasty was one of the wealthiest, peaceful and developed dynasty among all.
As technology progress, people realize that high-tech do not bring them any peace in mind. Thus, lots of people begin to look into spirituality hoping to look for an answer or have a peace of mind.
To be a monk, is not easy especially in this age of time, that people are caught up with materialism and all kind of entertainment. Thus, to have this short program is a good idea for people who seek for peace in short time.
Hopes KFR will have this short ordained program soon.
It was said that after a local newspaper (the chinese version of Twitter) posted the report on SinaWeibow, the program spark heated discussion. It was amongst the websites most discussed topic, and the surge in traffic to the temple’s site caused it to crash. The temple abbot, master Zhidu, said he was surprised by the attention, because “it is common practice for buddhist temples to invite members of the public to experience monkhood”. As master Zidhu said in an interveiw with Xinhua “It was initially a small scale notice for our followers, and the strong reactions are really beyond our expectations”. The temple on the scenic Tiantai mountains started offering the short term monk program in 2006. Since then, it has received over a dozen people annually, usually stressed-out urban residents or unemployed people seeking temporary lodging according to master Zhidu. He continued on to say that “There are some temples that offer hotel-style rooms, but we insist on plain life as well as rijid rules for monks, like bans on alcohol, meat and fish dishes”. However, this year over 200 people have applied to the program, including students and entrepreneurs, and most opted for 3 months term. Nevertheless, Buddhism harmonises with many asian cultures, often regarded as cultural background, and is one of the fastest growing religions in the World!
对城市人来说短期出家应该是一个很棒的生活体验。能让他们找到心灵的宁静，缓解工作和生活中的压力。 同是也可以修学佛法，累集功德，让我们永永远远都有佛法相伴。看到这样多的年轻人申请短期出家，真的是可贺可喜。希望将来克切拉禅修林也提供短期出家的体验，利益更多众生，广传佛法。
It is so comforting to know that, from the originally planned 20 applicants, there were more than thousands of applications.
Whether it is to get away from the hectic lifestyle the country gave, or to gain spiritual wisdom, the temple really provides a safe haven for those people.
I believe KFR will also have such an impact when it opens its doors to public. From a 3 days retreat to an intensive 3 months retreat…or for a 1 week monk/nun program…to a 2 years program as per the temple in the article.
Nice!
Its wonderful to know that more are seeking spiritual means to balance their stressful lives instead of samsaric distractions. It is also very good of the temples to provide and guide them during the duration of holding sangha vows. Kechara Forest Retreat in Bentong is also providing retreat for people through their scheduled weekend programmes. Hope KFR will expand to provide longer retreat programmes in the future.
This is incredible. I truly rejoice in their wonderful success. Its wonderful that even to their surprise 1100 people had sent in their application. Its a great thought to know that so many buddhist are pursuing their spiritual path and they were even kind enough to increase their intake and recommend the remainders to other monasteries. I can understand the hustle and bussel in china can be very stressful it would be great to get away from all of it.