Buddhism highlighted in social harmony
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-05-10 22:02
For Zhengfa, a 21-year-old monk from Hangzhou's Shangtianzhu Monastery, it
was a happy thing to see more young people turn to Buddhism, whether seriously
or just at times as they, more educated than before, can help spread Buddhism to
more people.
Unlike the old image of a monk wearing a grey or yellow robe with a bowl in
hand and parcel on back to beg alms, monks like Zhengfa use cell phones, digital
cameras and log on the Internet to understand how the world is developing.
"If modernization is a river tide, then we are a boat. We have to ride the
right direction and know what should be or not be done. Only in this way can we
stand ready for the tide instead of being washed away like fish," said Master
Yongxin of Shaolin Temple based in central Henan Province, who put the
once-secret Shaolin Kungfu documents online and is committed to promoting the
Shaolin culture worldwide.
As an epilogue of the forum, monks and nuns visited Shanghai and rode the
country's first magnetic suspension train and gained a bird's view of the
financial hub of the Bund with the 468-meter-tall Oriental Pearl TV Tower, all
landmarks of China's rapid economic growth in the past two decades.
"As long as people who love each other come together, who cherish peace and
harmony come together, as long as we sit down together to communicate, it's
something significant.
"It's good that the forum lets fresh air in and offers a platform for
different peoples to know more about China. And when we return home, we will
help more people to know China," said Dra.S. Hartati Murdaya, president of the
Indonesian Buddhist Council Association.
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