Today, I had the urge to visit a Buddhist temple, and so I went to Yufo Si, which means "Jade Buddha temple". There are two main temples in Shanghai--Jing An Si and Yufo Si.
I visited Jing An temple a few weeks ago during the New Year and found it to be touristy. Of course, Chinese New Year is the time when the masses throng to the temples. Kids and adults were playing a game of throwing money in ceremonial pots, and everyone (including me) had a camera.
My initial impression of China, from my quite narrow view of it from here in Shanghai has been that it is quite un-spiritual. As everyone knows, Shanghai is all about money and bling. As my Chinese friend (who's not from Shanghai) says, everyone is in a rush to achieve success and get rich quick (急功近利).
And for those of you who need a short lesson on Chinese history, 60 years of communism and a cultural revolution haven't been kind to Buddhism, or any religion for that matter.
Nevertheless, I was happy, nay, amazed, to see Chinese people praying, lighting incense, and bowing at the temple. It reminded me of my old home, Taiwan, which is full of temples and people bowing in them.
Yesterday, I was reading a book about Buddhism in present-day Chinese, and the author said that when he went to see the large Buddha on Leshan Mountain in Sichuan, his impression was that it might as well have been a statue of Mickey Mouse--the Chinese tourists with their cameras didn't come to worship, only to take pictures and say that they had visited this famous sight.
Just as I did at Jing An Si a few weeks ago, I paid the 20RMB (which is steep for China) fee to enter Yufo Si. Upon entering, I was again moved to see Chinese people devoutly bowing with incense. Yufo Si is smaller than Jing An Si, but it actually is a monastery (Jing An isn't). I could feel something special there. Maybe it's not just a tourist trap, I thought.
I walked around to the different parts of the temple, seeing the many different Buddhas, but mostly paying attention to the people, old and young, who were there. I didn't really pay attention to the foreign tourists there. I want to know who comes to temples in Shanghai to pray. I was curious.
As I was walking, I came to a small shop within the temple where they were selling statues and other Buddhist supplies. Lest I forget that I am in Shanghai and not Taipei, as soon as I walked in, I was accosted by a professional calligrapher, a performer and salesman, who offered to do calligraphy for me. When I told him I was American, he started talking about America (in English). When I mentioned France, he started saying a few word in French. I walked away to continue exploring the temple and a few seconds later could hear him continuing his spiel in English to the group of tourists just behind me.
After finally seeing the Jade Buddha, I ended up going to another of the shops that are part of the temple complex. I spoke to the girl who worked there in Chinese and began to look around. There was an incredibly intricate carving from a large slab of a tree trunk showing a whole village, probably a whole myth. There were jade marble bracelets. More Buddhas. And at the other side of the room, a bunch of Chinese men sitting around drinking tea.
One of them, upon seeing me, got up and started painting mountain scenes in ink using the meaty part of his hand. He tried speaking English to me until he was interrupted by the girl, who said I can speak Chinese. So, we started talking, and all the guys at the tea table behind us started listening, surprised that a laowai like me can speak Chinese.
His friend joined the conversation and asked me where I learned my Chinese. I said in Taiwan. I mentioned that in Taiwan, there are quite a lot of temples. He nodded his head. He asked if I am here on business, and I told him that I am here to study Chinese.
We had a fun conversation and I even cracked some jokes that made everyone laugh. They told me to come back, and I think I just might do that.
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