Rules and Requirements for Foreign Students

Temple Precepts As Pertaining to Foreign Disciples

We ask you to commit to abide by these rules and requirements for the length of your stay at the temple. Their purpose is to ensure the safety of all, to protect the collective harmony of the place, and to maintain the discipline necessary to pass on the teachings. For the temple to be open to foreign students as residents, official permits are signed with the government, which engage the personal responsibility of the abbot. If anything were to happen to just one student, this would be the end of our teaching programs. Please consider that your behaviour implicates more than yourself while you are residing at the temple. Please consider your stay at the temple as a precious opportunity for intensive training and study, and not as a time to relax away from your own life in society. If you are not willing to put in effort, you are wasting the time of the master and taking the opportunity away from someone else. We will expect you to respect the discipline of the training and study, and to do as instructed. The discipline is the exact frame that will allow you to grow and learn more. The collective dynamic will allow us all to progress further. Before signing up for a course, please sincerely commit to follow these rules and requirements. Any student breaking them might be asked to leave the temple at any point of her stay, without refund of her donation.

Do As Instructed:

  • Wake up in the morning at appointed time
  • Assemble as quickly as possible whenever called to

Attend Class and Be Punctual:

  • The only permissible reason to miss class is illness or injury
  • If you miss too many days of class you will be dismissed
  • If you are consistently late you will be dismissed
  • You may not leave class early
  • If you are sick or injured you still must line up for beginning of class and state your reason for absence
  • No smoking during class
  • No talking during class
  • No talking back to the Master or to the Senior student leading the class

Chores:

  • Finish chores as explained to you by senior students at appointed time, every day or whenever asked to
  • Be proactive about temple duties and chores even when not assigned to it
  • Do not leave your personal things lying around the temple courtyard, make an effort to keep the temple clean and orderly, clean after yourself (bathroom, washing machine, cups, tables, etc)
  • Keep room clean and orderly, make bed daily, follow your room responsibilities as outlined
  • On sunny days, open the windows of your room and put your blankets regularly on the line between 10 am and 4 pm to allow them to dry from humidity

Quiet hours: be considerate of others

  • Late night:  quiet hours after 9:30pm, or whenever sitting meditation starts. Maintain silence from the beginning of the evening sitting meditation until the next morning after breakfast
  • Afternoon: quiet hours after lunch, until afternoon class
  • Morning and Evening Scriptures: no loud noises or voices during Scriptures recitation

No Complaining

  • Do not complain about the food unless you are allergic or experiencing severe difficulty with spices, etc. Be grateful instead. Every grain of rice is hard to obtain. If the diet is not suitable to you then you must buy and haul your own additions up the mountain.
  • Do not complain about the bathrooms
  • Do not complain about the intensity, speed, or content of the training.

Avoid Excess, live in moderation:

  • Food: personal snacks may be shared, please be moderate
  • Movies: no nudity. One movie per week maximum
  • Town: trips to town are not a time for binging
  • Remember that the temple is located on top of a mountain, approximately 1h hike, so bring only a backpack that you can carry yourself (except special health conditions, please contact us beforehand)
  • Use common resources sparingly, for example tea, toilet paper, washing powder, etc.
  • SAVE WATER: use minimum amount to wash your bowl and for daily hygiene, 2 basins maximum per shower once a week, use the washing machine only when you can make a full load (may share with others), otherwise wash by hand

Limit Technology:

  • Do not video tape or photograph others without asking
  • If you brought personal computers, limit movies, music, or games. Computers should be used no more than 7 hours per week
  • Computers and recording devices are not permitted in class unless we mention it
  • During storms and thunders, unplug all electronic devices and turn off the lights

Practice at Mealtime:

  • Remain quiet while sitting at a meal
  • Only Chinese is spoken during meal times
  • Recite the Food Mantra before every meal
  • Wait until offerings have been made from the kitchen before serving yourself with food
  • Share every dish with other students, do not consider your own likes and dislikes over others, every dish should be equally shared between people eating at the same table. Wait for everyone sitting in a table to finish before you change tables to eat more when there are leftovers.
  • Meals are to be finished within 20 minutes from the time of reciting of the food mantra.
  • Do not speak of quality of food, nor be selective while eating
  • Do not pick from one dish more than three times in a row
  • Finish every grain of rice
  • At the end of each meal, pour hot water into your bowl and drink it to wipe it clean from any left over
  • At the end of each meal, give a hand to clean up the tables
  • No meat is allowed within the temple
  • Do not feed the temple’s dogs and cats during mealtimes
  • Drink only water that has been boiled and is stored in the hot water bottles
  • Do not drink tab water
  • Do not eat wild fruits, nuts, or mushrooms that you may not know for sure to be safely eatable
  • Serve yourself with the

Wear Moderate Clothing and Maintain Hygiene:

  • Men: Must be wearing shirt and shoes within the temple, no shorts above the knees.
  • Women: No thin strap tank tops, no cleavage, no bare shoulders or stomach, no shorts above the knees. During outside training may wear thick-strapped tank tops.
  • Within the altars: wear Daoist clothes, if you don’t have any, wear long sleeves and long pants, wear proper shoes (no flip-flops).
  • Keep bodily hygiene (shower at least once every 7 days)
  • Keep clothing and shoes clean in courtesy to others
  • Do not walk barefoot in the temple

Respect the temple:

  • REMEMBER THAT THE TEMPLE IS A TEMPLE
  • Pay attention to the language you use: no swearwords or inappropriate language and conversation content
  • No smoking inside the temple or in front of the temple, only smoke in designated areas
  • Refrain from engaging in romantic and sexual relationships during your stay at the temple, and focus on your own training instead. Do not flirt inside the temple nor in front of the temple. If necessary, wait until the end of the courses, once you will be away from the temple.
  • Do not sit in front of temple doors or statues, nor on them
  • Do not step or sit on shoulder of doorway
  • Do not lie down inside the altars
  • Do not wear revealing clothing
  • Offer incense whenever you are practicing inside the altars
  • Dirty things cannot enter the altars
  • Be compassionate and forgiving with tourists and worshippers, be kind to them even if you find them annoying
  • Women during their menstruation should not enter the altars

Maintain collective harmony and dynamic:

  • Do not disrupt the peace in other’s lives, relations, and tasks
  • Try to support and help each other wherever you can
  • Do not pit people against each other, try to unite them instead
  • Do not speak back to teachers nor make excuses whenever you are being corrected
  • Do not eavesdrop on others’ conversations
  • When receiving teachings, do not make loud noises of any kind, sneezing, coughing, blowing nose, etc.
  • Do not speak while teacher is speaking
  • Do not speak badly of others, criticizing them. Do not boast of others either.

How to Respect a Master:

  • Do not interrupt
  • Do not talk back nor make excuses when being corrected in class
  • Do not place feet on couch or table
  • Do not slouch nor lie down during class
  • Do not ask him to run errands for you no matter how convenient you may think it is
  • Do as he tells you
  • Listen to what he tells you; if an answer seems unsatisfactory to you at first, do not insist but try to ponder about it instead

How to Respect Senior Instructors/ Translators:

  • Know your question before you ask it
  • Do not interrupt translations, don’t talk during translations, keep in mind it is a demanding task that requires concentration
  • No questions during break time
  • Do not ask senior instructors to run errands for you
  • Attempt to do your tasks in town for yourself, including ordering food, buying items, carrying out tasks
  • If the master is not in class, the senior instructors are in charge
  • Give senior instructor his/her space in off time
  • Do as being told

In Town:

  • Do not go alone when in the city: students who do not speak Chinese need to stay together with a student who speaks Chinese and has a mobile-phone reachable at all times.
  • No partying at night, no walking around at night. Do not drink alcohol, do not go to nightclubs or massage salons at night, do not hire the services of prostitutes.
  • If there is an accident, do not crowd around
  • Do not speak badly of the Communist body
  • Do not break Chinese law
  • Carry your passport with you when going to town
  • Be responsible for your visa situation: know the dates your visa expires and let us know as soon as possible if you will need an extension

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