Not only elderly people, but young people are also going to pagodas nowadays. Elderly people go to learn zen, while young people go to learn dharma (Buddhist doctrine).

At home, Khanh hardly ever had to wash dishes, but here at the pagoda he has to do the wash-up himself.

Khanh’s brother, Viet Anh, is also going to the monastery before he starts a ‘campaign’ of intensive learning to prepare for overseas study. Khanh and Viet Anh have promised to their parents that they will be full of vitality when they return home.

At home, Khanh hardly ever had to wash dishes, but here at the pagoda he has to do the wash-up himself.

Monk Truc Thanh Phuoc calculated that the pagoda has welcomed altogether some 40 children so far this summer. The children come from a variety of backgrounds. Some of them are children of ‘big bosses’, while others are student monks and some have come to the pagoda because of ‘family problems’.

Nguyen Phuong Hong Nhung, a 9th grader from Hanoi, has been at Tay Thien Monastery for one week. She has been coming here regularly to visit her mother, a Buddhist nun here. Nhung’s parents divorced when Nhung was five years old, and then her mother became a nun.

Vu Thi Kieu Oanh, 19, a Hanoi 12th grade student, came here for another reason. Oanh’s parents want her to prepare for university entrance exams in a quiet atmosphere. They brought Oanh to the pagoda in early June, right after her high school final exams.

“It’s very convenient for me here,” she said

Learning living

While staying at pagodas, the children have to ‘say goodbye’ to recreational facilities of the modern time, like mobile phones, music players, laptops and many other ‘modern habits.’ The children only bring a toothbrush, face-cloth, sandals, cakes, milk and medicine. For their clothing, the pagoda issues each child two sets of gray tunics and dark pants.

The biggest challenge for the young people when living at the pagoda is to adapt to a new living environment which is far removed from their normal lives. The children from the city, used to busy, noisy modern life, now have to get used to another way of living, to learn to live more slowly and quietly. They are also learning to get used to the routines of the pagoda and the principles of dharma (Buddhist doctrine).

Nguyen Phuong Hong Nhung

Nhung said that she and other boys and girls here do everything themselves. The monks just make suggestions, they don’t act like teachers back home. I’ve lived without my mom and dad since I was little, so self-reliance isn’t so hard for me.

At the pagoda, children are told that they should practice reducing their reliance on modern conveniences. For example, if the children want to meet a monk, they should go to meet them in person instead of making a phone call. As children ‘loses’ the habit of relying on things like phones, they will feel they are more ‘grown up.’

Monk Truc Thanh Phuoc said in the first days of staying here, the children are like ‘wild buffalos’. However, after staying at the pagoda for a while, their temperament grows milder and they learn how to take care after themselves in the absence of their parents.

Tan Tan-Duc Chinh