Last summer Chen Lu-chun (陳律君), a junior at Chinese Culture University, did something her friends could never comprehend. For seven days, she dragged herself out of bed at five in the morning to join 300 others as drowsy as she on a walking trail. Forbidden to talk with each other, this silent procession walked barefoot at a snail's pace in the chilling mountain mist for two hours. Only after sitting through a lecture that followed were they finally allowed to have breakfast at 8:30am.
First daunted by the stringent schedule and physical demands, Chen soon grew to love the Dharma Drum Mountain College Students' Zen Camp (
"The biggest draw was master Sheng Yen," said Chen, who had never studied Zen before attending the camp and only occasionally visited temples with her Buddhist mother.
Most of the other students had no knowledge of Zen practice either. "Very often, the sole reason that they joined the camp was out of curiosity," said master Guo Chun (
With school holidays starting this month, the most recent college student Zen camp began on Friday, with more camps scheduled for the end of next month.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF NUNG CHAN TEMPLE
The camps are expansions of the small-scale seven-day sitting meditation camps (
At that time, the prevalence of suicides on campuses rose to alarming levels, according to Guo Chun. Master Sheng Yen felt an urgent need to pass Zen practice on to more people as a technique to help them rein in their "restless hearts."
The method proved so useful for Chen that she went to the next camp during winter vacation in Sanyi (
After the students arrived at the temple in Yuei Mei Mountain accompanied by their luggage-toting parents, they were soon told that talking would be forbidden for the duration of the camp.
Forach of the seven days after breakfast, these Zen freshmen crossed their legs on small rugs in the tall and spacious temple hall painted a warm yellow and brightly lit. The slight smell of incense wafted through the air. Four characters on the horizontal curtain above the alter read "the light of Buddha shines on every corner of the earth." An imposing statue of a cream-colored Buddha wearing a nonchalant expression looked on as the more than 300 students -- boys on one side and girls on the other -- all savored their first unforgettable experience of sitting meditation -- sore legs.
"It hurt! After 15 minutes, I just couldn't stand it anymore, some people held on for only 10 minutes before they had excruciating pain in their legs," Chen said.
Monks instruct students in yoga and massage to help ease their discomfort between meditation sessions. The length of these increase gradually from 20 minutes up to 50 minutes, but mostly depends on the students' ability. Monks sitting among them oversee this silent crowd and, from time to time, use a bamboo rod to correct their posture or stop them from dosing off. When the lead instructor sees students squirming in discomfort, he will knock on a piece of bamboo to dismiss the session.
Also between sessions are Sheng Yen's lectures on life and wisdom. Every day, students listen two lectures -- ?one in the morning and another in the evening -- which include talks on how to practice Zen and how to apply Zen to dealing with difficulties in daily life.
These lessons came in handy for Chen and her sore legs. "The point is not to lose your aim. You may feel very uncomfortable and want to stretch your legs. ... That's alright. Your heart can be meditating while your legs are moving. Later on, you just don't feel your legs moving anymore," Chen said.
"Zen in the Outdoors" and "Zen in Motion" teach similar principles. In these two popular Buddhist practices, the meditator walks barefoot in slow motion. The person is guided to feel intensely each split second and each millimeter of their body and the surroundings. "So that they are well aware of what they are doing," Guo Chun said.
Knowing what the self is doing is what students are instructed in at the camp. "We found that what led many young people to wrongdoing is their lack of self-knowledge. They are so busy and seldom think about what they are really doing, what they want or who they are. therefore, they are easily misled into doing something very bad," Guo Chun said.
The first step towards knowing oneself, according to Guo Chun, is silence.
"We have a nickname for the event called `a date with oneself.' That's why we want the students to remain silent throughout the camp. When you stop letting other people's words meddle with your thoughts, you'll begin noticing your own feelings and personality. This is the first step toward knowing oneself," Guo Chun said.
Not talking is the biggest challenge for most participants. "At first, it's really annoying to be prohibited from talking. I usually talk a lot, " said the vivacious Chen, who thought otherwise after two days at the camp.
"Then it became so liberating. Every day I cared about what others thought of me and other things. Not hearing them freed me from their thoughts. I only had myself to care about. I could feel peaceful.
"It would be even better if we not only stopped talking with others but also with ourselves. Often, when we have more than one idea we would argue with ourselves, coming to no conclusion. Even good ideas become useless this way," Chen said.
While most students try to adjust to the unfamiliar silence on the first couple of days, some will try to break it. "We usually turn a blind eye to those talking in secret. They were just trying to adjust," said Cuo Chun, who described those few who had no difficulty with remaining silent as having "the roots of goodness."
The prohibition on talking is lifted on the last day of camp, when students are divided into groups of around eight for an experience-sharing session.
Many students who were coaxed by their parents into joining reluctantly thanked them in tears. "Without the disturbances in daily life and the thoughts of others, I could concentrate on myself. From this experience, I learned how to take control of my mind. I have to control myself to be able to live my own life," Chen said.
Whether joining the camp out of pure curiosity or reluctantly, these students learn a precious life lesson.
Although Sheng Yen's busy schedule will prevent him from teaching students in person this year, it hasn't stopped nearly 1,000 students from signing up as early as two months before the event. They will listen to Sheng Yen's words of wisdom on video.
The second Dharma Drum Mountain College Students' Zen Camp will be held from July 17 to July 22.
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