Group 1 Site Visit 2: Lo Hon Monastery
On the 9th March, 2018, we visited Lo Hon Monastery which located in Tung Chung together. This visit includes two parts which are the group discussion of some main Buddhism concepts and the activity of "Nung Chan" (農禪). This trip aims to link the Buddhism concepts with our daily life in order to help us understand deeper about the concepts than before.
Before the group discussion, we visited the monastery and took some photos.
There are two stone lions placing outside the door. They are sitting and watching like two securities of the monastery. We believe that they could protect the monastery's safety.
There are some offerings includes fruit and rice which offered by some believers putting in front of the Buddhas.
Also there are two pagodas with some blessing cards on both sides of the monastery. Believers will write down their names under the cards. They would bless for themselves or their family.
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| This is the Chinese plaque which was hung outside the monastery. The monastery was built in 1974 and it housed some great halls with the main hall being "The Great Hall" which was 12 meters high laid out in such a way it gives a sense of space. |
Before the group discussion, we visited the monastery and took some photos.
There are two stone lions placing outside the door. They are sitting and watching like two securities of the monastery. We believe that they could protect the monastery's safety.
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| Inside the hall, there are three Buddhas sitting in the middle of the monastery who are Sakyamuni, Maitreya and Bhaisajyaguru. |
There are some offerings includes fruit and rice which offered by some believers putting in front of the Buddhas.
Also there are two pagodas with some blessing cards on both sides of the monastery. Believers will write down their names under the cards. They would bless for themselves or their family.
After visiting the monastery inside, we sit on the chair together to have the group discussion about some main concepts of Buddhism. We talked about Four Noble Truths which are Suffering(苦諦), the Cause of Suffering(集諦), the Cessation of Suffering(滅諦) and Truths of Passing the Suffering(道諦) and Eight-fold Path which includes Right Action(正行), Right Speech(正語), Right livelihood(正命), Right effort(正精進), Right Mindfulness(正念), Right Concentration(正定), Right Thought(正思維) and Right Understanding(正見). Although the concepts were a little bit hard to understand, the abbot tried to link the concepts with our daily life in order to inspire us. She asked us to share our annoyances and pointed out the reasons that why we would feel painful about those troubles. For example, someone felt confused about his friendship. Abbot suggested him to think more about the reasons behind the behavior of his friends rather than complaining about his friends. She pointed out that communication is very important. We shared a lot in the group discussion and were enlightened by her speech.
After the group discussion, the abbot invited us to joined the activity of "Nung Chan".
We tried to pilled up the weeds and experienced farming together. The paths of the garden was grown with weeds which would obtain nutrients from the soil. It would affect the growth of the vegetables, so farmers have to pill up the weeds very often. The abbot taught us how to distinguish the vegetables and weeds and how to dispose the weeds. Link to the realm of our life experiences, if we want to succeed, we have to solve different problems in our daily lives. Some of us did the farm work for the first time and we found it was an interesting activity. Although this is not a real farming activity, we could reflect on our past mistakes and think about what we should do in the future.
In general, it was a significative activity and it helped us understand the concepts of Buddhism more. Buddhist studies are not only about belief, but also about the attitude of our lives. We enjoyed his visit a lot and it was an unforgettable memory of our lives.
Reply from Chan Pui Yee 11239967 from Buddhism Group 2
回覆刪除I totally agree that this visit is an unforgettable memory of our lives. I think that one of the reason of that religious still has a useful role to play in mordern society, is it can closely related to our live experience. Religious belief lead us to think positively and calmly when facing dificulties in life. "Nung Chan" (農禪) is an example of linking up the Buddhism thinking into the daily-life- experiences. I believe that every activities include eating, drinking, writing, etc, could also link up with the Buddhism thinking, which help us to create positive attitudes and become brave enough to discover and solve the problems in life.
Sorry for some typing error. To prevent misunderstanding, I correct the error and post the comment again, please read bellow.
刪除I totally agree that this visit is an unforgettable memory of our lives. I think that one of the reason of that religious still has a useful role to play in modern society, is it can closely related to our live experience. Religious belief lead us to think positively and calmly when facing difficulties in life. "Nung Chan" (農禪) is an example of linking up the Buddhism thinking into the daily-life- experiences. I believe that every activity includes eating, drinking, writing, etc, could also link up with the Buddhism thinking, which help us to create positive attitudes and become brave enough to discover and solve the problems in life.
I am Ho YingHei Kitty from group 2 and I have also been to the same field trip. I also agree that this is an unforgettable experience of the course since it is the first time to do "Nung Chan" and the part was very interesting. I had never think of farming could link with religious practice. It is very new to me and I have learned from the activity. We need to be breadth and not to cling to our troubles. I think your group has done a very good job on the detail religion knowledge and the experience of the activity, thank you for your sharing.
回覆刪除I have read your blog stating that your group participate in the activities called "Nung Chan" (農禪). It show one of the Buddhist charateristics. It is not inconclusive by the nowadays studies to find out that Buddhism insist on environment-friendly. In fact, one of the factions of Buddhism point out that everyone can become Buddha and everyone have tathāgatagarbha and buddhadhātu (Chinese: 佛性, English: Buddha-nature). It incubate the spirits to respect animal and, by extension, the Environment-friendly dogma in Buddhism. Therefore, you can participate the "Nung Chan" to experience this spirit in Lo Hon Monastery (Chinese: 羅漢寺). However, not only Buddhism grossly insist on the concept of Buddhism but also Taoism emphasize this concept. Now, I will post several comment to briefly introduce how Taoism lays stress on this concept for sharing. This series of my comment call “Environment-friendly Taoism”
回覆刪除First of all, Taoism talk about oneness of heaven and humanity (Chinese: 天人合一) in a bid to protect environment. The important note about that is that it is not about political vision like what the Confucianists (Chinese: 儒家) envisage. What Taoism, though, is a dream is more understandable to be personal philosophy than political rule. Therefore, some classical reading talking about Taoism develop this spirit. For example, Huainanzi (Chinese: 淮南子), a classical reading, have a chapter Jingshen (Chinese: 精神訓) pointing out the corresponding element between heaven and humanity. It have a paragraph tell us human have four limbs so heaven have four seasons, and also human gall, lung, liver, kidney and spleen correspond with different components of heaven. (the extraction of the saying is「天有四時、五行、九解、三百六十六日，人亦有四支、五藏、九竅、三百六十六節。天有風雨寒暑，人亦有取與喜怒。故膽為雲，肺為氣，肝為風，腎為雨，脾為雷」) Taoism, thus, think that human is relying on the natural environment and protecting natural environment is the prerequisite for surviving of human. Thus, there is the saying calling for treating heaven as a father and earth as mother in the classical reading of Taoism like Jingshen in Huainanzi. (the extraction of the saying is「以天為父，以地為母」) and embody the importance of protecting environment stressed by Taoists.
回覆刪除Secondly, Taoism is similar to Buddhism to the extent that the former suggest that everything have the nature of Tao (Chinese: 道性), leaving its mark on protecting environment. That dogma is showcased in different classical reading. One of the Outer chapters of Zhuangzi, autumn water (Chinese: 秋水) , point out that when we look at them in the light of the Dao, they are neither noble nor mean (the Chinese extraction: 以道觀之，物無貴賤). It tells us that everything is equal because they all have the nature of Tao. At the same time, in some classical reading of Taoism stress that the human mind is most clever. For example, Book of the Inner Vision, by the Most High Lord Lao(Chinese: 太上老君內觀經) claim that human kind is cleverest than all other species( the exact Chinese extraction: 萬物之中，人稱最靈). It calls for the humankind responsibility to protect environment and love animal and plant. It just like what you see in the Lo Hon Monastery. Therefore, you can see the direct resemblance between Buddhism and Taoism in terms of protecting environment.
回覆刪除Lastly, Taoism is not only speaking its mind but act for showing protecting environment. There were a lot of Taoism priest and relevant people participant in the activities intersecting with natural environment. For example, according to Taiping Guangji (Chinese: 太平廣記) an immortal called Zheng Si Yuan (Chinese: 鄭思遠) (The exact Chinese extraction:仙人鄭思遠嘗騎虎). Also, Zhang Daoling (Chinese: 張道陵), one of the Celestial Master, when preaching in Mount Qingcheng (Chinese: 青城山) plant a lot of grasses and plants. It show Taoism and his followers is really venerable because of liking natural environment and approaching natural environment, then showing the emblem of Taoism that tend to protect the natural environment according to its dogma. This is like what you experience Buddhism in Lo Hon Monastery.
回覆刪除In short, I conclude that Buddhism and Taoism is really similar to each others because they all delve into the principle of protecting environment. In this series of my comment, I , inspired by your experience in Lo Hon Monastery, only point out the environment-friendly characteristics of Taoism. If you like, you can introduce that principle in Buddhism to share and to open our eyes in that perspective.
回覆刪除last but not least, my name is Lam Tsz Ki from group 4 and my student ID is 11176206
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