118-Beginning part 2 - Buddhism in daily life

Beginning part 2


Read part 1 of "Beginning" here click


As I walked through the temple door, I passed the temple guards
and the Mile Fo, the happy, fat Buddha.


After that, everything seemed so familiar, the first courtyard
lay before me, buildings to the left and right, a staircase in
the middle, trees and stelae all around, some older, some newer,
the faint smell of garlic over everything.


An endless number of tourists made their way through the complex,
always following a tour guide with flags and a megaphone.


Chatter and chatter, as if it were a quiet and tranquil temple,
it was as loud as a fairground. There was no sign of the
world-famous Shaolin monks, who had probably fled from the
tourists, understandable at any rate.


Through another gate, we went easily up the hill into the second
courtyard, which was laid out similarly to the first, then
followed (again through a door) the third, then the fourth
courtyard. Here, in the middle, resided the abbot of Shaolin (but
I didn't know that at the time).


Slowly the temple emptied, I got tired, sat down on a bench in a
side courtyard, then I saw the first monk coming straight towards
me, a real monk, at least dressed like in the films, should it be
true, at least the one fighter I wanted to meet, I waved to him
friendly, he looked at me, what a wall of wardrobe the man was,
wide as high, with the gait of a feline predator.


Friendly he greeted me back. I was a special case in China at
that time, apart from me I saw no Europeans, the country was
still "Red China", entry was not easy, individual tourism did not
(yet) exist. So it was clear that the monk was curious, who was
sitting here in "his" temple, how had the person come here, what
had probably moved him?


Suddenly it was there again, the fear. What had possessed me to
come here, I spoiled little man from the West. I wanted to belong
to the hard men, what presumption! I had brought a translation
computer with me, on which I painstakingly entered my words (the
thing was not yet as comfortable as the models nowadays), but we
were able to establish some kind of understanding.


Where am I from, the powerhouse asked. And what's my name?
Rainer, from Germany. His name was Shi Yan Zi, the pocket
computer announced his words. And Germany is very popular in
China, where is my group?


I typed into the computer that I would not have a group. What was
I doing here all alone, the now curious monk asked? I wanted to
learn Kung Fu here at the source, with the world-famous Shaolin
monks, I explained to him.


He looked at me and said nothing for a long time.


What happened then, you can read in one of my next articles.


The path is the goal!


Paradoxical as it may seem, there is a path that can and must be
travelled, but there is no traveller. Actions are performed, but
there is no doer.


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





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