Taoist Monasticism in China Today

[BaguaKicksAss]

The cool thing about so much Taoism (and other spirituality) here in the West is that you can do a trial run right at home. I have traveled to a few third world countries to learn various spiritual (and magical in my case) practices. Each place was never what I imagined it to be. The peopl are far different than how we are used to, and the ethics of each country is different than what we take for granted. The whole being viewed in general as a walking wallet also tends to get old. The squat toilets weren't so bad fortunately. Very fortunately I set things up before I went each time, and I would say my trips would have been useless (aside from some nice sight seeing) if I had not made some contacts ahead of time. I haven't visited China yet thanks to some warnings from a friend who lived there for many years. He just laughed when I said I want to train martial arts there, and said I have better back home. Many many Asian folks are moving to the west for various reasons. Of course there is still some amazing old masters of various practices there, but difficult to find without prior legwork AND prior practice. It is so easy to fool someone new to something . However if you get in many years of good experience here while you travel back and forth, it is far far more likely someone serious would take you seriously.

 

I'd say if you wish to live the monastic life, start now and see how it works for you... aside from your requisite job hours to pay rent, sit quietly with no distractions and meditate, cultivate and so forth. That should be a good 6 hours per day at least. Also going to your local temple daily to at least medtate and see what they have to offer would give you a good head start on someone who never has. If you don't have any local Talist temples (hard to imagine for me), then move. If you are thinking of moving to China, then moving to another state in the meantime costs far far less and much easier.

 

Most of the universities teach mandarin, a 2 year course in that should help.

 

And of course go visit china, with the plan to return. Test run so to speak. Get a feel for the place. Hey you might luck out, but if you have a return ticket home you will be more choosy about your teacher/temple .

 

The whole amongst white clouds thing, I'd suggest practicing camping in the wilderness in a hut for a few months to see how that works out for you. For some it really does, for others, well... not so much.

 

Oh and of course the first step is to pray lots, for help to open up opportuntities. I have found that prayers don't go unanswered, however they don't always work out how we might think they will either...

[i am]

Very good post.

 

I think visiting china before committing to moving there is a pretty damn good idea. I love china and will go back...but it was a very eye opening experience...it is, for the most part, a dirty, noisy, crowded polluted place and its hard to merge with the culture, as a westerner. "Walking wallet" is right.

Edited March 28, 2013 by i am

[shanlung]

Very good post.

 

I think visiting china before committing to moving there is a pretty damn good idea. I love china and will go back...but it was a very eye opening experience...it is, for the most part, a dirty, noisy, crowded polluted place and its hard to merge with the culture, as a westerner. "Walking wallet" is right.

 

 

China is VAST. I travelled widely from mid 1990 to 1999 in China. If you go to the dirty, noisy crowded polluted places, you get the dirty noisy crowded polluted places then.

 

You also get hauntingly beautiful places as well. You get what you chose.

 

I was at Wudang Shan, Tai Shan Omei Shan and Hua shan (when they did not put up those safe walkways yet and you depend on chains, steps cut in rock face and a lot of prayers and curses why in hell you went there?) and ChingCheng Shan. I do not know about now as obviously 15 years ago, a lot lot less tourist (especially Chinese tourists).

 

I guess now a lot more charlatans will be there in robes, rosary beads and all.

Where money can be made, crooks will be there.

 

Baguakickass is right. Go do trial runs and check out your own state of mind, where it is cheaper and easier to get back home to.

 

I did a 3 weeks trial run of checking Taiping, Perak Malaysia as retirement home before actually going there to retire.

Taiping a beautiful place to contemplate the Tao and retirement, but not a place that I will retire in. I decided I be going to many more places to contemplate further. Eventually might even be a Taoist temple somewhere.

 

So I be on that back of an ox (or equivalent) in a couple weeks or so.

 

Taoistic Idiot.

[dawei]

I spend about a week in CCS. I would have spend even longer time there.

I took a lot of photos. But sadly those were digital and in the hard drive when a strange entity fingered that sending those jpgs to oblivion with everything in that drive.

 

So those Taoist temples and their Taoist monks exist now only in my memories of those days.

 

About a year ago, I spent a week plus in Sichuan visiting temples including Qing Cheng Shan.... it was a very misty, overcast day and the photos reflect the haze throughout the mountains. We walked to the top and Lao Jun is still there...

[shanlung]

About a year ago, I spent a week plus in Sichuan visiting temples including Qing Cheng Shan.... it was a very misty, overcast day and the photos reflect the haze throughout the mountains. We walked to the top and Lao Jun is still there...

 

 

I wonder if I will go back again to Ching Cheng Shan. Especially after I been told by YMWong most of the temples there were flattened during that 2008 earthquake.

 

Temples might have been rebuilt. Perhaps it might be better I rest on my memories on those earlier days. When very few tourists were in CCS.

I am not sure if I can handle it or accept CCS to be a chinese Disney land with karoke bars and such.

 

Taoistic Idiot

[Suliman]

Hey Kongming , i have wanted to do the exact same thing as you want to do in China.

Im still considering it also , im from the Uk and although i can read some old Chinese texts i cant speak Mandarin so i am either going to go to China to learn it or find chinese people in the Uk to learn with.

Have you decided to go to China and when you thinking of going?

[Guest Jason Croft]

Every home has its own - very expensive - albeit small shrine where they pray to their ancestors <-This is the essence of Taoist/Buddhist religion throughout China. Simply put, it is up close and personal

 

Here is a very popular Taoist temple for the masses - The Taoist side is free to go in but the Buddhist side costs 2Hong Kong dollars (about 50 cents for the upkeep of the grounds - which are extremely immaculate - with two - 3 story tall waterfalls, that mask out the noise of a busy city close by and small meditation temples for individuals)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wong_Tai_Sin_Temple <=This one is in Hong Kong but they are scattered throughout China - some are -extremely large- and this one is not small. I can take a bus from where my wife and I live to the temple for about 5 US cents. A Taxi is more expensive. The family Wong, that the temple is named after was the family of Wong Di - the emperor that created the philosophy - Tin Hau - or "all under heaven" which ended the warring period that was destroying China. Jet Li made a -very good- movie, and historically, accurate, about this under the title 'Hero' where he carries out the emperor Huang Di's wishes to help preserve China. The Historic period that the movie was set in was 2,000 years ago - and China has not attacked any other nations since -Although China does defend its borders in Vietnam, Korea, Tibet etc...

So you can see that Taoism and Buddhism are both about family - and largely set toward the philosophy of reincarnation as described in the book "The Secret of The Golden Flower."

 

How popular is this temple?

 

There are a few hawkers selling incense and popular religious artifacts at the gate that are like fake paper money, fake phones, fake shoes, clothes etc. that the families want their passed loved ones to have in their afterlife. When I went there the air by the temple was so thick with incense smoke that at times it was difficult to breathe.

 

Enough for now.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Jason Croft

[林愛偉]

The movie "Hero" showcased Qin Shi Huangdi, not the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi). :-)

[ChiDragon]

The movie "Hero" showcased Qin Shi Huangdi, not the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi). :-)

 

Yes, it is confusing with the phonetics.

 

Qin Shi Huang Di: 秦始皇帝; since his existence, all the emperors after his period were addressed as 皇帝(Huang Di).

 

In the Chinese legend, Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) is 黃帝. 黃帝(Huangdi), here, is actually a proper name which is the name was given to the Chief of a Tribe at the time. 黃帝(Huangdi) was interested in medicine by collecting herbs to cure some diseases which his people were having at the time. He was the one who had written the 黃帝內經(Huang Di Nei Ching), a history of his medical record.

 

Btw there was no emperor at that time.

 

Edited April 18, 2013 by ChiDragon

[shanlung]

I wonder if I will go back again to Ching Cheng Shan. Especially after I been told by YMWong most of the temples there were flattened during that 2008 earthquake.

 

Temples might have been rebuilt. Perhaps it might be better I rest on my memories on those earlier days. When very few tourists were in CCS.

I am not sure if I can handle it or accept CCS to be a chinese Disney land with karoke bars and such.

 

Taoistic Idiot

 

 

I feel pained. Yet another big earthquake hit Szechuan yesterday. At LuShan, about 80 km from ChingChengShan.

I guess whatever temples rebuilt there went down. Maybe with the karoke bars.

 

Idiotic Taoist