Saintly sinner of Shaolin temple_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Saintly sinner of Shaolin temple

Shaolin is synonymous with martial arts and its history is punctuated with occasional forays into secular dealings. Its warrior monks helped a Tang (618-907) emperor quell a rebellion and, in return, got his majesty's license to kill and eat non-vegetarian food.

In a sense, the temple under CEO Shi's management thrust itself onto the battlefield of wheeling and dealing. It became commercial just as large numbers of people wanted to flee from the rat race of job seeking, stock-price speculation and bottom lines.

Buddhists engage in long spells of meditation; Shaolin monks excel in ass kicking; its commander-in-chief becomes a globetrotting guru determined to turn the temple into a multinational conglomerate. Tranquillity? Yes, it's available - for a price.

Is this sacrilegious? I don't know. I'm not in a position to judge because I'm not a Buddhist.

It appears, Shi has to have two faces: As an abbot he must act serene and dignified, giving only cryptic answers to mundane concerns; but as a manager he has to deal with cost-benefit analysis and expansion plans. He should have hidden the second face behind the first. His sin, if it can be so called, is his inability to switch gears seamlessly.

What can he do in such a dilemma - except resorting to hypocrisy?

I once interviewed a Tibetan entrepreneur who had a hard time convincing his sales people that what they did agreed with their religious beliefs. "When you sell $1 of goods, you're committing 10 cents to the happiness of your afterlife because you earned it ethically. If you make money by evil means, you'll add 10 cents to your record of evil," said Dawa Dunlop. "Doing good and doing well can overlap."