Quote Originally Posted by GeneChing View Post
In a press briefing with Chinese journalists this week, Shi talked about the virtues of the information age. He also touched on a few subjects such as video games and TV. According to Shi, video games can be addictive and television shows limit people so both forms of entertainment are completely off limits to the Shaolin monks.
This is just what this reporter reported. So who knows?

I will say that when I was first there in '95, there were a ton of videogame parlors surrounding the temple to cater to that huge population of kids. Now, I'm not a videogamer at all, but some of the other laowai training alongside me convinced me that they were videogamers and noted that the videogames around Shaolin at the time were some of the newest fresh-off-the-boat games from Japan, all in the wrong cabinets. They theorized that these were some sort of out-the-side-door bootlegs being manufactured in PRC and getting leaked. Those videogame parlors are long gone, vanished with the great relocation purge when Yongxin took office.

As for TVs, I took my disciple vows in a private room of a senior monk inside the temple. He had a TV. I made note of it in my book because it had this surreal little TV cozy covering it up. Of course, I took my disciple vows in 96, before Yongxin became abbot.

Meanwhile, check this out:
Moment of Neti-zen: Wi-Fi for Shaolin monks start of bad habit?
Global Times | 2014-4-21 22:43:01
By Global Times

Are you up on what the hundreds of millions of Chinese netizens are talking about? Take a moment and get the rundown of what's hot, what's trending, and what's drawing the most buzz on the Chinese blogosphere.

Wi-Fi for Shaolin monks start of bad habit?

At the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, those seeking inner peace can now search for it online.

Monks can finally connect to wireless Internet on their smartphones after offices at the 1,500-year-old temple were recently equipped with Wi-Fi, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

No signal is available in the monks' chambers, as not to disrupt their regimented lifestyle, said the report.

Shi Yongxin, the abbot of the Shaolin Temple, championed the move for Wi-Fi access, explaining it provides a gateway to preserving and sharing Shaolin culture.

The monks are forbidden from playing online games or watching soap operas.

Shi led a delegation to the Google and Apple headquarters in California in mid March, where he praised the connectivity the Web provides.

Ironically, Net users were quick to type out their dissatisfaction over the idea of Shaolin monks with Wi-Fi, saying Internet access would provide too much of a distraction.

"With Wi-Fi at the temple, how can monks achieve inner peace with all the noise on the Internet?" posted Huangwenzheng.

Others saw the move as progressive.

"Old ways are not always flawless," said Mubairuoying, "During the information age, keeping the temple offline would stop Shaolin and Zen Buddhism from spreading.