Enlightenment and Extortion on Putuoshan

One of the reasons I came to China was to experience a little bit of the religion. This was somewhat of a dubious goal since religion has more or less been marginalized since the Cultural Revolution. As, one of my Chinese friends told me "superstition," rather than the organized religion communist governments tends to oppose, is the opiate of the masses. This could range from typical burial rites on a family plot to various auspicious acts one can do (though certainly not required) to appease various deities providing such services as dream-free sleep, babies, or fortune.

Buddhism, a bastion of religious and philosophical thought, was once mighty in this country, easily fitting in with the two other giants, Daoism and Confucianism. But I would not describe China or many of her people Buddhist (exept Tibetans of course). To put this into perspective I recently went to one of the four "sacred" Buddhist mountains in China--an island of the coast of Zhejiang called Putuoshan. The island is devoted to Guanyin, a Buddhist goddess of mercy. There is an immense statue of her greeting the new arrivals who come on the ferry from Ningbo (which is the only way to get to the island). After paying a steep price for admission to the national park, you enter the land of tour groups and souveniers. Like so much in China, Putuo mountain is a tourist trap and without hostels or simple hole-in-the wall restaurants, it is a considerably expensive one.

But though its original identity has been obscured by commercialism, the island is still Buddhist. There are many monks. In fact I talked with one name Shi quite a bit (with some comprehension). The island and beaches are beautiful, and the temples are impressive and sacred-feeling. And most of the "tourists,"whether they are legitimitely Buddhist or just the superstious kind pay their respects by lighting their incense-burining sticks, bowing in all four directions, kneeling before the statues, and leaving an offering.

So there is a peace to Putuoshan. Yes, the same secularism and commercialism typical of China is evident, but it is still a holy place. Though I am not Buddhist I even felt compelled to bow now and again. My visit gave me renewed hope about finding more of the "spiritual China."

Leb wohl.