It also could well be that they were Daoist monks (often pretty similarly dressed - and equally as responsibly for misrepresenting their stated “beliefs”.

@CLB: My wife, Chinese, says the same thing about getting in the middle of domestic disputes. It still makes my stomach turn.

good to hear your considered responses.

based on what i saw, and years of immersion whilst living here, the scene was not really surprising, and very mundane. there is room for a wider social critique on the subject of benevolence and acts of charity in this country, but that would take some serious research.

just read on Danwei.org that a new Bodhisattva Guanyin will be built as a cynical tourist trap, at a cost of 30 million yuan. it goes to prove that it’s not the religion that’s sick, it’s the misinterpretation and misuse of it that’s a dis-service to the people.

Instead of our quickness to complain, we should be more active ourselves in the virtue we do to others. As Gandhi said, “Be the Change you want to see in the world.”

One thing, your letter started in talking about people’s uninterest in assisting those in need, and then it switched to religion all of a sudden. You should both focus more on why both monk and people don’t help out, what is keeping them from acting benevolently.

About the religious. Buddhism emphasizes self awareness, wisdom, selfless compassion towards others, perfection, knowing logic and debate, etc. It is not based on worshipping any god or creator. Now in China, it seems like it has deteriorated much, the Chinese have even made Tibet look like Disney land. Buddhism is not out give you what you want, it’s designed to help you to have enough clarification to figure out what steps are best to take, in relation to your surroundings, and who exactly is doing all this anyway.

Whatever happens, don’t blame the buddhist teachings, they do make sense, just blame the person who cheats. The teachings have give a step by step lifestyle, and if you don’t have assumptions about what they mean, then perhaps you’ll be able to understand them.

Yes, but what about the two hour arguments that ALWAYS ensue whenever there is a car wreck? I have always thought those were a substitute for the fact that nothing is going to happen within the legal system.

I think so. I’ve had the impression that enforcement of laws (whether in terms of legal laws or morals/values/etc.) is to be carried out by authority, ie, government, whereas in America, it is less cut and dry.

When somebody cut me off when I’m trying to cross the road, I gave a knee-jerk reaction of yelling at him. No big deal, right? But a friend of man, Chinese, asked me why I thought I had a right to chew him out, since I wasn’t a cop. (I technically had the right of way, TECHNICALLY, but that wasn’t sufficient). When I explained the concept of “citizen’s arrest” in america, he was flabbergasted. Leave law to lawyers and police is the impression I get here.

Might the government will do it be a factor in China as well?

to get to the point, i guess i was thinking that monks would be above all this, and would therefore rise above social constraints and reach out a hand. but, alas, not…!

China doesn’t have particularly worse private litigation laws than a good number of other places with sketchy legal structures, yet you don’t see this same sort of thing. And for men of a religion that generally subscribes to good nature to all humanity, and the karmatic value of things, I don’t think the monks could hide behind “but I might be sued” if they were in deed real men of the (yellow) cloth.

There’s a canyon-sized gap of a difference between minding your own business and reaching out to someone in need.

I think this come a lot more down to what is emphasized by our different cultures on how we “should” act. The truth is, very little emphasis is put on helping others (outside the familial unit) in Chinese culture … the media (operating in this culture as well), of course supports these ideals - why wouldn’t it.