Esperanto video: Interview with a Buddhist monk and tour of monastery / Budhista monaĥa intervjuo

Welcome to Xi’an!
This city is famous for being nearby the Terracotta Army,
but while I was here I also went north along the Silk road to a monastery to meet the monk, Miaohui.
He explained the history of Buddhism to me, and then I interviewed him, all in Esperanto! Have a look!
This monastery belongs to Han Buddhism
... Buddhism which is popular in the Han region of China
The others are popular in the southern part of China
And Tibetan Buddhism is popular in Tibet and Mongolia
All types of Buddhism have their main features
First, I’ll be speaking to you about Han Buddhism
This is the first hall of Han Buddhism
This is the hall of Bitua, a Buddhist general
His main task is to protect Buddhism
In fact, he is the Mil Buddha in the time after Shakyamuni
Maitreya was the next Buddha after Shakyamuni
He laughs at everything, with a large belly, and can tolerate every non-tolerable thing in the world
This is the main hall. Hall of Shakyamuni, the creator of Buddhism.
Shakyamuni was a real person. He was born over 2,500 years ago, in what’s currently Nepal.
He was born in a royal family, but he didn’t want to become a king himself.
So he became a monk to find ways to help living beings become free.
After a few years, he meditated and got illuminated and became a Buddha.
For the rest of the days of his life, he travelled to various places to spread Buddhism, which he founded
This is the statue of Avalokiteshvara, Guanyin Pusa in Chinese.
Actually, he was a very much liked Bodhisattva in China. In the Buddhist world, he is a man,
but in China we represent him as a woman.
When Buddhism arrived in China, China was very traditional thinking.
Women had a lower position and were not allowed to be seen outside
Bodhisattva is often shown as a woman, to help and educate them about Buddhism
And that’s why the Chinese represent Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva as a woman
He travelled to our country with his dog, and you can see him sitting on it
Both sides of the hall have namecard blessings
I’m sorry that the street is so dirty
Ah, it doesn’t matter! It’s the true Silk Road
I’m very curious about Buddhism. You’ve told me the history of it
But I have other questions, for example, one of the most famous parts
of Buddhism is rebirth or reincarnation
Could you explain to us how this works exactly?
Yes, of course. In fact, reincarnation is quite an ordinary phenomenon in China
In our village, my father’s friend and old classmate
remembers in his youth that he was a pig in two previous lives
Is it normal that you remember your previous life?
Yes, for some people it’s quite normal.
I also got in touch with some special people, who know about their next life!
So, here you have Han Buddhism? What are the differences
between Han Buddhism and, say, Tibetan Buddhism?
Since you said that you are experienced in Tibetan Buddhism
Yes of course.
When Buddhism arrived in China, Han Buddhism was most popular
Later, the Tibetan King took a Tang Dynasty princess as his wife.
Then, the new wife brought Han Buddhism to Tibet. He took another princess in Nepal.
Nepal Buddhism also came to Tibet
After some time, they brought Buddhism directly from India.
Later, they created the Tibetan language U-sanskrit, especially to translate Buddhist teachings
This is the path of Tibetan Buddhism
Currently, with the application of new regional political policies in China
More and more, Buddhism is getting popular in various schools, and Tibetan Buddhism is moving into the Han region.
So in the Han region, there are many Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries
Could you tell us about your typical day?
Yes, So I’m a monk..
Usually, monks spend most of their time practicing Buddhism
Here we get up at 4AM, and we recite sutra for about an hour
After that, we have breakfast, and after breakfast we practice alone.
Some recite Sutra, some learn about Buddhism, some do other things
This lasts until lunch, and of course dinner
After dinner, we gather together to receite sutra
Afterwards, they go to sleep
During the day, apart from practicing Buddhism, monks do various jobs
Some are mainly busy cooking, some are cleaning, some are cultivating the land and so on.
I’m a little different myself! My responsibilities include helping depressed people
And teaching Buddhism and Esperanto online
So in my free time, I’m mostly on the computer!
While I was initially learning things on my own, I didn’t feel happy
I always had various goals, but after reaching the goal, I didn’t find that
reaching this goal made me happy enough
Afterwards, I found that reason was my own greed
I coveted becoming a different person
But my greed could not be fully satisfied, and that’s why I was feeling sad
So I wanted to stop doing everything related to my greed
So what to do? Well, I thought that becoming a monk was a great way to get around the problem
Since in China, I imagined that monks don’t have to worry about anything!
Yes, well it seems to me that you are now quite a happy person!
Yes of course, I’m quite happy! But I also have many responsibilities.
I often get in touch with the depressed, including those who have lost hope to continue living.
But I feel that I am very happy in helping them.
Very interesting interview! Thanks for your time!
Thanks for showing me your monastery. I really enjoyed the experience!
You’re welcome!
OK, bye!