Students go to temples to learn calligraphy

Over the years a persisting outlook has been established, that temple is a spiritual place which is only reserved for the elderly. However, more and more young people nowadays try to come to the place, where they believe they can learn to feel the full meaning of life.

At 8 am of every Saturday, young people gather at the Nhan My Pagoda in Tu Liem district in Hanoi to attend the Han script class, to learn to write calligraphy and to listen to preaching. The important thing of the class is that students can study free of charge.

Le Trung Kien, a specialist of the Buddhism Department, who has been teaching here for four years, said that the students attending the class will be listening to the lecturers about the lessons in Confucius book.

The classes have been attracting the attention of a lot of young people, 70 percent of whom are university students. Nguyen Dinh Hung, a second year student of the Vietnamese studies faculty of the Hanoi University of Education, is one of the students.

Hung began learning Han script when he was a ninth grader, which means that he has been familiar to the art of calligraphy for five years. As for Hung and many other young people, it is very difficult to understand the meaning of every character, and it is even more difficult to write the character. He said that it took him one week to try to write a simple character with just two features.

"You need to have patience and the faith. If you do not have the two factors, you will feel discouraged one day," said Pham Thi Thanh Tam, a student of the Chinese faculty of the Hanoi University.

The young people here said that they come to the pagoda not only to learn and listen to preaching, but also to find a peaceful place for their souls.

Hung said he had to travel a long distance to reach the temple. He has to catch a bus in Hoang Mai district to go to the My Dinh national stadium, from which he walks one more kilometer to the class. Tran Hoai Thu, a beautiful girl, said that she ignored the criticism by her friends to attend the calligraphy class – the art which people think is reserved only for old people.

In fact, Han script and calligraphy classes have become more and more popular. If someone visits the Nhan My, Tao Sach or Cot temples, he would see a lot of learners who are young people.

Nguyen Anh Nam, a fourth year student of the Hanoi University of Education, is one of the three young people who have been chosen to board at the Nhan My temple.

Nam has been chosen after he "passed" at the interview round, "defeating" 10 other young people. Nam and his other two friends can stay at the pagoda for free and receive food (rice, vegetables, and fruits). In order to express their gratitude for the food and free accommodations, they clean and take care of the vegetable garden.

When asked why Nam decided to stay at the pagoda, he said that he felt comfortable living here, where the monks create most favorable conditions for his life and studies.

Nam goes to school every day, and then returns to the pagoda to live in harmony with nature, surrounded by plants and ponder the true value of life.

Temples become schools for students

Source: VietNamNet Bridge