4 ms·

I visited Yaqing/Yachen mentioned at the bottom of the article about a month ago. The experience was surreal. In the middle of nowhere, 4 hours from the nearest

by oi5zkc 10y ago

I visited Yaqing/Yachen mentioned at the bottom of the article about a month ago. The experience was surreal. In the middle of nowhere, 4 hours from the nearest city, the monastery is a sprawling complex of huts around the bend in a river in the tibetan tundra. Here are some pictures: http://imgur.com/a/v4gYI http://imgur.com/a/v4gYI The hygienic conditions are very poor - people doing their business squatting on the streets, no toilets, rubbish everywhere. I am surprised that was not an argument being made by the government for the demolition. There is some concern about foreign - especially American and British - influence on Tibetan Buddhists in the government. I am not sure this move will serve to diminish this influence. Ps: on another note, a surprising number of these ascetic monks had an iPhone 6s+ or Samsung S7 in their pockets!

kweks 10y ago
Larung Gar is quite clean. Whilst the living conditions are basic, it's certainly not a slum. The surrounding towns definitely have a lower standard of living. As you noted, I spent time hanging out in teahouses with monks passing their afternoons on their iphones w/ flawless 4G / LTE connections :)
tim333 10y ago
>iPhone 6s It's a funny thing with monks. Quite a few are former businessman who want to try something more spiritual for a change but still are wealthy. I walked a bit with a young monk on the way to Tengboche Monastery and his main interest as we talked seemed to be designer sunglasses and which brand would be good to get.
- coldtea 10y ago
  >It's a funny thing with monks. Quite a few are former businessman who want to try something more spiritual for a change but still are wealthy. So mostly phonies being tourists in spiritual-land?
  - nsomaru 10y ago
    Renunciation is defined with reference to your mental attitude towards possessions, not the presence or absence thereof. See, for example the 'Royal Sage' (Raja Rshi).
    - coldtea 10y ago
      Hypocrisy though is defined by "the presence or absence thereof".
      - cscurmudgeon 10y ago
        That is a Western view of things where spiritual and material realms are different. Dharmic religions consider the spiritual realm to be a superset of the material, not separate from it.
        fnordsensei 10y ago
        You meant to write "the spiritual realm to be a superset…", I'm sure.
        cscurmudgeon 10y ago
        Gah!
        deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
      - christophilus 10y ago
        Not really. Detachment from love of material possessions doesn't imply having no material possessions. It implies a lack of a disordered love for them. The true test of hypocrisy would be to see how one of those monks responds when his phone gets stolen.
      - davesque 10y ago
        Attachment also applies to doctrine and ideas.
mfgrimm 10y ago
I visited the region (eastern Sichuan, Tibetan plateau) in 2006, and played counterstrike and diablo 2 against monks at the local internet cafe. Very surreal, getting shot in the head by a monk.
- girvo 10y ago
  Heh I used to play CS 1.6 with my Catholic priest. He was very very good too, though his favourite game was Wolfenstein. Apparently shooting Nazis and their monsters was cathartic

by oi5zkc 10y ago

kweks 10y ago

Larung Gar is quite clean. Whilst the living conditions are basic, it's certainly not a slum. The surrounding towns definitely have a lower standard of living. As you noted, I spent time hanging out in teahouses with monks passing their afternoons on their iphones w/ flawless 4G / LTE connections :)

tim333 10y ago

>iPhone 6s It's a funny thing with monks. Quite a few are former businessman who want to try something more spiritual for a change but still are wealthy. I walked a bit with a young monk on the way to Tengboche Monastery and his main interest as we talked seemed to be designer sunglasses and which brand would be good to get.

coldtea 10y ago
>It's a funny thing with monks. Quite a few are former businessman who want to try something more spiritual for a change but still are wealthy. So mostly phonies being tourists in spiritual-land?
- nsomaru 10y ago
  Renunciation is defined with reference to your mental attitude towards possessions, not the presence or absence thereof. See, for example the 'Royal Sage' (Raja Rshi).
  - coldtea 10y ago
    Hypocrisy though is defined by "the presence or absence thereof".
    - cscurmudgeon 10y ago
      That is a Western view of things where spiritual and material realms are different. Dharmic religions consider the spiritual realm to be a superset of the material, not separate from it.
      - fnordsensei 10y ago
        You meant to write "the spiritual realm to be a superset…", I'm sure.
        cscurmudgeon 10y ago
        Gah!
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
    - christophilus 10y ago
      Not really. Detachment from love of material possessions doesn't imply having no material possessions. It implies a lack of a disordered love for them. The true test of hypocrisy would be to see how one of those monks responds when his phone gets stolen.
    - davesque 10y ago
      Attachment also applies to doctrine and ideas.

mfgrimm 10y ago

I visited the region (eastern Sichuan, Tibetan plateau) in 2006, and played counterstrike and diablo 2 against monks at the local internet cafe. Very surreal, getting shot in the head by a monk.

girvo 10y ago
Heh I used to play CS 1.6 with my Catholic priest. He was very very good too, though his favourite game was Wolfenstein. Apparently shooting Nazis and their monsters was cathartic