“I don’t want to go to college anymore, mom.”
“Well, you have to make the choice.”
This is probably the most common conversation between my mom and I the summer before my freshmen year at Penn State. The question reoccurred to me every single day and propelled me to make a final decision. Here rises another question, what would I do if I am not going to college? The answer seemed to be clear but challenging.
I spent about a month and a half in the Temple for this summer. I happened to dislocate my knee before the summer, and I became the “baby” of the Temple that everyone was taking care of. Therefore, I got a lot of free time to read and think about what was going to be my next step. Most of the time, when we think about the monks, we relate them towards the stereotype of being old, wise, and untouchable beings that have experienced the world enough for them to get out of its chaos. However, the situation was totally the opposite where I was. In fact, most of the monks in the Temple were college graduate students about the same age as me. Most of them graduated from some of the top colleges in China and decided to choose a different lifestyle as monks. At the time, I was facing the same choices, whether to study at the Temple or going to college.
Now, let’s get into some of the background information on how monks make a living in Chinese Temple. Before officially becoming a monk, you need to find a Temple that is willing to take you and teach you the basic knowledge and rituals you need to know. These rituals include the use of different religious instruments, memorization of the prayers and ceremonies, and life skills to contribute to the Temple’s society. A temple is usually lead by the head monk, then there are four secretary monks that help the head monk with daily affairs. The jobs are specified into eight different categories with assigned leaders. These separated branches include financing, housing, catering, and so on to run the temple as hundreds of visitors. The monks and volunteers then follow the directors within each branch. Besides the daily practices, the monks still have work like a community in the temples. Donations from the believers and the visitors are distributed towards different branches and the monks only receive a few payments for them to purchase personal items.
I considered staying in the temple as a volunteer or more likely to be a student. The decision was so difficult for me. Going to college provides a more gradual transition to the adult world while staying in the temple would have forced me to engage with the adult world sooner. This is a step that I wasn’t prepared for. My experiences in the temple have always been that I was babied because I was young, however, I will need to grow up and take responsibilities like the others.