a shrine to buddhism...and also, consumerism

“Waiting with patience means actively accepting the current circumstances and giving up the illusion that you can control the world. Actually, patience is a practice. The best way to cultivate it is to remind yourself constantly that every moment is the only place your life is occurring. The point is to train yourself to live completely in the present, in peace, even if you’re sitting in the middle of a traffic jam.”

[Geoffrey Arnold, Buddhist monk]

This quotation, which has adorned my notebooks and walls and now my desk in China, is my omnipresent reminder to live in the present. Not easy for me, but I’m getting there. At the very least, I’ve got the “remind yourself constantly” part down cold—it’s just actual peacefulness part that still eludes me.

On that note, my roommate and I set off the other day to Yuantong Temple, a Buddhist temple in Kunming which is roughly 1,200 years old. We entered the temple through a path of cypress trees and a sign welcoming you, in Chinese, to the “yuantong wonderland.” An early morning fog hung over the gardens and ponds, as if you could inhale the palpable peacefulness or feel its coolness upon your skin. The temples themselves were ornate, overflowing with colorful cushions and banners and flowers. And the Buddha(s?): these enormous gold statues shining from within. Silently, and one by one, worshippers would come forward to kneel and say a brief prayer. I felt much like an intruder, with my fast-talking and photo-taking and inability to ascend stairs without falling. But I’ve been a proponent of Buddhism, however much a novice, for a little over a year now, and this was my first visit to a real place of practice.  The grounds truly emanated this sense of calm; I wanted to lie down in the shallow, sunny water with one of the hundreds of turtles and snooze for awhile, or maybe more.  

 But, being an avid practitioner of a different form of religion—namely, capitalism—my roommate and I eventually left and met some other friends at the Kunming second-hand market.  The second-hand market is, quite frankly, like Goodwill done Chinese style: mountains upon mountains of cheap clothes, heaps of used undergarments (uh, gross!), racks of furs and shoes and dresses, all of it radiating some sort of synthetic stench. Even so, we had fun combing through the various goods and haggling with the vendors….and by haggling, I mean making sad-puppy dog eyes and asking “Duō shǎo qián?” (how much?) over and over until they lowered the price. [Sidenote: my Chinese is so terrible that sometimes I find it amusing to speak with a different accent--usually some sort of British/Scottish/drunken-slur-sounding hybrid. Somehow this is less embarrassing? And why I find myself wiggling my eyebrows excessively when attempting to order food or drinks from kindly waitresses, I do not know. Apparently I’m well on my way to becoming some sort of faux alcoholic British/Chinese womanizer?…]  I ended up with four cardigans (I’m in grad school in New England, cut me a break!) and a funky 70-ish rainbow-stripe dress that I may never wear but was fun to buy. Exhausted from our day, we headed back to the flat, where we were confronted with more strenuous decision making: to watch Precious or The Blindside…or, ok, ok, I’ll admit it:  maybe just more bootleg copies of Ugly Betty. Tough life. 

sidenote: i can't post pictures on this blog b/c the internet is far too slow. if you want to see pics, check out my album on facebook called "china y'all"...and if we're not friends already, add me!