Buddhistdoor International BD Dipananda 2014-12-03
A group of Chinese nuns traverse the highways of China every year after the Mid-Autumn Festival on a two-week long pilgrimage called angya. They can be seen walking along the road in a disciplined manner, carrying their belongings and eating only once a day. The nuns belong to Daoyuan Temple in Haicheng, Liaoning Province.
Daoyuan Temple is a tranquil nunnery run according to strict discipline. It follows the practice of Dabei Temple, also located in Haicheng, and belongs to the Guiyang school of Chan Buddhism. Monastics at both these temples strictly follow the ascetic way of life. They eat only once, at noon, and sleep only four hours a day. Abiding by the precepts, they do not accept or even touch money, and meditate for the time it takes to burn five sticks of incense.
Angya means “to go on foot,” and in Chan Buddhism refers to the traditional pilgrimage of monastics from monastery to monastery. The term also applies to the Buddhist practice in Japan of an unsui (novice monk) undertaking a journey to seek admittance to a monastery for the first time. Since 2000, the nuns of Daoyuan Temple have also devotedly perpetuated this practice.
During the pilgrimage, this group of nuns do not stay in hotels, people’s homes, or even temples, but shelter in caves and tents. They obtain their sustenance by begging alms.
Out of compassion, the nuns pick up and bury the bodies of animals run over by vehicles, and devotees bring them creatures saved from butchering. The nuns then perform ceremonies to release them. Commenting on their practice, a netizen said, “In today’s society, to have such deep faith is rare and commendable!”
“This is the faith that present-day Chinese people lack! What is faith? Faith is the inner force that cannot be expressed or replaced by material, it is not superstition, it is the nourishment for one’s spirit,” commented another netizen. Kip Mckay, a Facebook fan of Anandajoti Bhikkhu, said, “Awe inspiring! Unlike its reputation and usual practice in the US (thanks to '50s ‘Beats’ I think), real Zen [Chan] is actually the most austere and physically demanding of the traditional Buddhist schools.”
Neither Daoyuan nor Dabei temple has a donation box. A netizen said, “I finally found out China has a temple that exists for the practice of Buddhism!” And a temple visitor commented, “In the past I didn’t take notice, now I know it is real because I am from Haicheng. I know that this temple really doesn’t have a donation box, anyone can come to the temple to live and fast. They don’t charge any money and if you have difficulties the temple will help you. I experienced this firsthand, when I tried to donate money they will reject it. Later I bought vegetable oil and noodles, they even asked that the noodles not be made from eggs.”
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Devout Chinese Ascetic Nuns Live a Peripatetic Life of Hardship