The Tsz Shan Monastery is a large Buddhist temple that only recently opened to public visitors in April 2015. In order to visit the temple, visitors first have to register online and book an open date, usually at least a month in advance. Although the daily visitor quota is restricted to 400 people, our exchange program was awesome enough to get a group of 20 of us on a tour of the temple for a couple of hours. Like churches in Europe, there was a dress code here (no tank tops or shorts.) Although you are welcome to bring in your own vegetarian food and fruit to eat in the monastery’s designated areas, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, meat, and seafood are not allowed.
Before our tour began, our group was first herded into a spacious theater in the underground level of the monastery where we were surprised with a tub of high tech 3D glasses.
After donning them with somewhat zen-like attitudes, we watched a short and silent, but rather dramatic film about some of the core values of the monastery. The cinematography and effects looked like impressive CGI and the actor was almost too well-manicured. It marked the beginning of the tour of a unique temple.
Our tour guide was relatively new at the monastery, but shared several interesting facts. For example, she told us that the act of burning incense was actually never originally meant to be religious ritual, but was instead used as a method of keeping bugs away. At the Tsz Shan Monastery, they make water offerings instead to the Guan Yin Statue. The Guan Yin Statue (which I can see from my bedroom window back at CUHK) stands 76 meters tall and is coated in white, nearly-blinding paint. Seeing up close, the statue was huge in person and unbelievably beautiful. With the mountains behind her and the Pond of water offerings in front, I felt like I had stepped into an episode of Avatar the Last Airbender (the anime and not the blue people, which my boyfriend and I just binge-watched last year.)
from Avatar the Last Airbender 
At some point, our tour guide had us stand in the courtyard and close our eyes as she led us through a short meditation session. It reminded me of when I went on the ECU Honors College Alternative Break Experience at
Asheville last year and Zach Evans (recent ECU Honors College grad) shared some of his self-healing journey through his program called Reconnecting with Yourself: Finding Fullness. It was a pretty unforgettable experience and something to talk about for years to come.
After our tour, our guide led us to one of the classes built in the underground level of the monastery. Upon her instruction, we proceeded to roll out yoga mats and follow a few basic breathing exercises and stretches. It was all feeling very zen until she told us we had the remaining five minutes to take photos of the monastery before our bus got back. During the tour, she had advised us to keep our phones away and to try to be “more in the present” and to observe through our own eyes. Being the tourist that I am, I sped-walked through the monastery taking as many pictures as I could in five minutes, consequently losing all of my zen from the last two hours.
ABC in HK 