The Begining of Woodenfish

I am currently participating in the Woodenfish Buddhism in China program, which is exploring Han Buddhism in the Shanghai area. It's two weeks long with about two dozen students and seven staff (mostly professors, a monk, and a nun.)

The daily flow is eating at around 7:30-8:30 in the morning, getting on a tour bus, and exploring two to three temples and/or sights a day. There's a constant information being thrown at us while we attempt to overcome cultural barriers. In the evenings we typically have free time after five to go find food and occasionally the old street or night market.

Making Candy at a shop on the Old Street

We have been staying in temples and hotels, so far about a 50/50 mix. We ride the same bus everyday with the same chain smoking crazy driver. Our first guide was Johnny, I don't know his chinese name, but he was hired by Woodenfish to show us around. Every morning he would start us with a bad joke then tell us about the temple or town we were going to that day. Our second guide repeats every other word twice. She can be hard to listen to but has incredible stories, for example she was in the Red Guard.

At every temple we visit we sit down with the abbot and have a one to two hour Q&A. Since it's usually after lunch, and in an airconditioned room (a break from the 90-105F weather,) I usually fall asleep. Seriousl, I try so hard to stay awake, but it's the same story with the bus, my body just wants to recover. The heat is intense, espeacially when it's humid, it has been (luckily?) the largest problem for the group. Luckily I have been getting better at stay awake the whole day, and these interviews are really interesting. I get to ask the abbots personal questions about how they managed to get through the cultural revolution, how they meditate, what made them want to become monks... it's awesome.