146-Trips - Buddhism in daily life

Trips


My new life as a "Shaolin monk" began to please me very much, the
doubts were gone, yes, I felt "comfortable" in the temple, people
began to greet me, the temple guard let me pass without a flinch,
through the gate of the monks. My master must have had a
conversation with the man at the gate, instructed him to let me
in, I was one of them. My Chinese improved, I could speak a few
sentences, the local people began to respect me, which was also
(and especially) due to the fact that I did not "give in", but
obviously "bit my way through" (otherwise I would not have been
seen in the temple for so long).


The training was always three days long, then there was a day
off. There we did something, went by cab via the nearest city
Dengfeng to the provincial capital Zhengzhou, where I could stock
up on supplies, we visited a restaurant, I could call home (at
that time there were no cell phones, some people don't know that
cell phones have only been around for about 20 years).


On the way from the temple to Dengfeng, we passed countless Kung
Fu schools that had settled along the road. Only then did I
realize how lucky I was to be "in the temple", to have been
accepted there. I simply drove past these countless schools on
the way here, because I wanted to go to the temple, not to a Kung
Fu school. I still didn't realize that the chance to stay in the
temple was somewhat smaller than a lottery six, I understood that
only later.


On nice days, all schools had students in front of the schools on
the training grounds, which were similar to barracks yards made
of bare concrete, which could hardly be seen because of the
students. All dressed in uniform, sportswear (like school
administration) in uniform design, with the logo of the school on
the chest, practicing in step, kept in line with barked
instructions. If you haven't seen something like this, it's hard
to imagine the crowds. Always in groups, an older student as
"Vorturner", the master (if he was to be seen at all) on a
gallery, from where he could better supervise the countless
students.


We quickly passed through Dengfeng, the way to Zhengzhou by cab
took about 5 hours (today there is a highway that runs straight
through the area; this highway (about 150 km) was built in 3
months, about 10,000 construction workers with thousands of
machines pulled the construction through in a short time).


As always: The way is the goal!


It is almost impossible to find an area that I would not have
already experienced on my long trip


- Buddha - honorary name of Siddharta Gautama - 560 to 480 before
the year zero


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