Working for monks

One of the reasons laypersons are attracted to work in monasteries and temples is the sense of tranquility. Photo: Li Hao/GT

What attracts laymen to seek jobs in China's temples and monasteries?

China's Shaolin Temple, a Buddhist monastery made famous by numerous kung fu films, is currently looking for a new communications manager.

Since posting a recruitment notice at the beginning of September, the temple, nestled in the forests of Shaoshi Mountain in Henan Province, has received more than 300 applications.

Competition is fierce. A quarter of the applicants have overseas educations, according to Yang Tong, the editor-in-chief of Sina Weibo-based local Henan news portal Yuji. Among them are a visiting professor from Harvard University, a senior reporter who has worked at the Xinhua News Agency, and a 24-year-old television director surnamed Hu.

"I have a personal affinity towards the Shaolin culture, and I'm attracted to the idea of working somewhere that is so tranquil and serene," Hu told Metropolitan. "I have no problems with a vegetarian diet, and I can adapt to new environments very quickly."

Although not all monasteries who hire laypersons to meet the everyday tasks of running a religious institution require its employees to abide by the same ascetic living principles as its monks, to work in a temple or a monastery usually entails significant changes to one's life.

The days are rigorously structured, and a sense of discipline and religious decorum is expected at all times. There are few holidays, and in some of the monasteries, no weekends. The pay is mostly modest.

So what is that attracts such highly-qualified laypersons to work in a monastery?

The search for enlightenment

For more than three years, until last October, 29-year-old Zhu Bingfan worked as a monastic clerk at the Shaolin Temple.

Each day, he would wake at 6 am, to the boisterous strains of the theme song of Jet Li's popular kung fu movie made in 1982, Shaolin Temple. He would then throw open the windows of his sparse dormitory room, and gaze upon the same dusty courtyards and lush viridian forests as the ones portrayed in countless scenes in the film.

After getting in some early morning reading while drinking a cup of tea, Zhu's busy day would begin.

"Some days I would have to copy out Buddhist scrolls or re-organize books in the library, and on other days, I would have to help tend to visitors or members of the media," said Zhu.

Zhu had met an employee who worked for the temple while doing research for his Master's dissertation on the representation of Shaolin in the West, at the renowned Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong Province. Upon graduation, he began working at the Shaolin Temple himself, turning down a job offer from communications corporation China Telecom.

"The Shaolin Temple is a place flourishing with people with different life experiences," said Zhu, explaining why he committed himself to working at the monastery. "I wanted to meet as many different people as I could, and gain as much knowledge as I could, while I was still young."

After just three days, Zhu was assigned to work as a clerk for the abbot of the monastery, Shi Yongxin. But despite the prestige of the post, Zhu's parents were not pleased.

"Most parents want their children to find a job that will make them wealthy, or one where they will be able to climb up the bureaucratic ranks, and my parents are no exception."

While working at the Shaolin Temple, Zhu was required to follow a strict vegetarian diet, but was not subject to the other rules that monks living at the temple had to abide by.

Nevertheless, he found his early days at the temple difficult.

"At first, I found it difficult to communicate with the monks," said Zhu.

"When you just arrive at the temple, you don't understand that there is an etiquette and a decorum that is expected of you. You don't know that you're not supposed to address the monks by name or make too much noise. Sometimes, you find that you've offended the monks without knowing why."