Remember that famous Buddhist (wink) parable about the wedding in which the invited guests were all busy? So they got desperate and started dragging in people off the street, just to fill the hall?
Well, it so happens that a group of local Buddhist worthies are organizing something called “Chinese Buddhism Summer Camp,” to be taught in English. This is the first year of the program. The original (and apparently forlorn) hope was that a bunch of students in other countries would sign up for it and then fly here. As this has not (at this late date) yet materialized, and the show must go on regardless, that means potential good karma for YOU, grasshopper.
It is a residential camp, to be held in Hsinchu (on the Hsuan-Chuang University premises), with some excursions to other places. The dates are July 3 to July 20. No, you don’t have to be a Buddhist. The program will mix temple visits, academic-style lectures, meditation, dharma talks, and tourist-type excursions. Here’s the link:
“But ah,” cynics will mutter, “how much does it cost?” As I understand it, the answer is…next to nothing. Really. Local Buddhists are subsidizing it.
“So what’s the catch?” you ask. I dunno…having to eat Buddhist vegetarian food a lot? Always looking over your shoulder, wondering which person is Screaming Jesus? I honestly can’t think of a serious downside to this, provided the basic idea appeals to you.
“Ready for questions,” as Edgar Cayce used to say.
Unfortunately, Hsinchu is too far away for me and there’s no way I could take off that much time during the peak of the summer school season. But, if they have any shorter “camps” in Kaohsiung later on, let me know. I’m interested.
I wasn’t aware of that stipulation. I bet anything it’s “negotiable” (away). I’ll ask on Wednesday.
Send me a PM with a brief description of your background if you’re seriously interested. I think it would be harder for the organizers to turn away a real human being, than to just make up rules like this on the fly.
Like the Booder himself says in one of them sutras, “Knock, and the door shall be opened.”
here is another Buddhist ‘camp’?..it’s free…and is run by Dharma Drum Mountain World Center for Buddhist Education…in Jinshan Taipei County…
[i]The event time will last from Aug. 21st to the 29th. For nine days, the participants will have the opportunity to experience monastic daily living, and thereby gain a new perspective on life.
Awakening is more than just an ordinary camp, as apart from providing participants an opportunity to have a short-term experience of monastic life, it hopes to help participants learn to utilize the methods of Chan practice to transform and purify their minds, thereby attaining Dharma Drum Mountain’s goal: “To uplift the character of humanity, to build a Pure Land on earth.”[/i]
