monk ettiquette

[brothernumber9]

when greeting or running into an actual buddhist monk at shaolin or in any other chan temples does a lay person follow any particular ettiquette? for example in cambodia and thailand a lay person would kneel and supea 3 times, or at the very least bend to be lower than the monk and there is a particular way in which to speak to a monk. Are there such particulars for interacting with a chan monk be it at shaolin or else where?

[Tak]

I thought monks were supposed to be humble.

[GeneChing]

As for bowing to monks, most Shaolin monks will respond to a simple bow with the words "amitoufo". Save your prostrations for a really senior monk, like a temple Abbot. If you really want to make prostrations, you can, but I think most of the monks might be a little embarassed.

For Zen monks in general, they will often stop for a moment and give a slight bow when passing each other - usually nothing is said - at least it is so in many Japanese traditions.

Don't make so much a deal about the formalities of the bow. Just make sure that your intentions are right, and the formalities will follow.

[Xdr4g0nx]

wuzaaaa
and then high five them

[brothernumber9]

does anyone know if any of the non martial monks have ever started a temple or place of practice outside of shaolin? I'm just curious to know how much akin chan buddhism is to other south east asian buddhist sects particularly those out of thailand, cambodia, laos and related areas. Do the monks hold services for lay people of surrounding villages or is basically that entire part of the mountain catered to kung fu schools and the temple itself so that services for the dead, 100 day services, other services are held only among the monks themselves?

[GeneChing]

The fully indoctrinated monks are pretty much like monks from any Buddhist temple, except a lot of them do study martial arts too. They do hold observances, both high profile stuff where top ranking dignataries show up and stuff that's more oriented towards the common folk. Many of the heshang also travel - doing pilgrimages to other significant Buddhist temples. In fact, the current abbot has studied at many different temples beyond Shaolin. Check out our Shaolin Special 2003 cover story (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=397) for more about him and some of the non-martial aspects of Shaolin.