Afterwards I stopped by a nearby Buddhist monastery called ZhaoJueShi. The square in front of it was a big flea market set up full of food vendors, various sellers, people begging for money etc... it was quite a sight. The most interesting attraction for me were the rows of fortune tellers sitting on stools and etc... There were different methods of fortune telling, all of the tellers had faces that was not clear, some of them even have weird swellings. I walked and checked them out as they did their business three separate times to inquire into each in detail. I would watch them from behind and from a corner and they would all be aware that I was watching them. The sad part is, there are people, their clients who have deep important questions that were not answered and they would then move from one teller to another hoping to get some light into their stuff. It was fun for me to watch. No, didn't try anyone of them out. If they even looked a bit decent and had some real skill then I may be tempted for fun but not in my opinion. They were too business oriented and lacked light in their eyes or face or even a basic clarity on the face.
I went into the monastery for 2 yuan, this was unbelievably the cheapest I've come by. This lay out was big for a city monastery. Upon entering I noticed all the garbage laying around. I can tell this place gets lots of traffic. There were people crowded under the old tree. Most were elders listening to a woman read from a magazine. I realized these elders are either illiterate or had bad eyes because they depended on this person to get the news or anything, she is like a local storyteller who passes on information.
I saw lots of locals all come to burn incense and bow and pray, most prayed for health recovery for their parents, some for a good marriage, others getting out of crisis for a loved one. People did what has been passed down as a custom, hoping for relief. People were very sincere in carrying out their understanding of practicing these customs. Some people were reciting sutras on their own there. Some were teaching others who had bad eyes or couldn't read how to read the sutra. This was nice to see. There are monks in this monastery and some really old ones too. They stay out of interface with the public. The public interface ones are all younger ones.
When I got to the main hall, it was packed with people. I found out that there would be a refuge ceremony taking place momentarily. I stayed to watch. There were about 100 people locals, taking refuge most were elders and a handful were young working professionals. The master of ceremony was speaking in Sichuan dialect so I couldn't understand his dharma talk, too bad, I really wanted to understand what he was saying. The whole event felt right, the event felt legit. The elders followed the ceremony, the younger generation were a lot more serious, focused and looked like they are leaving home to be a monastic or something, very determined with clear energy, strong, sharp, amazing to see.
I asked myself what is to become of China Buddhism? What is to become of the Dharma in China? Where are the people in all of this? They do what they know that as been passed down from whoever they came across in their life. They do what they know, put money in the donation box, burn incense, bow to all four directions, recite sutras maybe, spin the prayer wheel, roll the recitation beads, take the younger generations and show them what they've been shown.
Afterwards I had a local dish called Mao Tsai for lunch. It was vegetables cooked in hot chili soup. It was too salty and chili oily for me.
I came back and did laundry, I learned the machine didn't rinse my soapy clothes well, and it didn't drain well either. I had to wring my clothes. By having to wring my clothes, my very sensitive hands had a reaction to the detergent. It hurt, itched, cracked right away. The weather for the day was thick clouds and strong humidity.
