Go to the temple, don't ask for anything!

Until now, I am still not over the shock after going to the temple on the 15th day of the first lunar month. One shock after another, shock from the entrance to the temple, shock from the beginning to the end of the session. Yet many people still go to the temple regularly all year round, I don't know if it's because their nerves are strong or I'm too fragile?

First, before even stepping through the gate, what immediately caught the eyes of visitors was a very "mundane" scene: two women claiming to be parking attendants holding tickets in one hand, and holding small change in the other, quoting prices "Car 20 thousand, motorbike 10 thousand". The scene of "cash on delivery" calmly right at the entrance to the sacred place, not to mention the vehicles and people jostling each other in and out made me pause for a long time to make sure I was going to a temple and not to a fair. Mild shock episode one.

But that’s not all, escaping the “traffic jam” at the gate, entering the yard, the space is not much easier to breathe because of the incense smoke. Instead of lighting one or three incense sticks in each place, many people decided to “go big once to see if the gods and Buddhas are impressed”, lighting a bundle in each place. Each person held a bundle of incense that was smoking like a torch, no one was willing to lose, making me feel like I had just jumped into a fire. Lighting incense in the censer and bowl was not enough, many people went to stick incense at the roots of trees, pillars, walls… like filling in the blanks. I wonder if they were afraid that if they lit too many incense sticks in the censer, the gods and Buddhas would miss them, so they had to go through the side door with the higher-ups like that? Shocked episode two.

By the third episode, my shock could no longer be contained, and I had to let out a wail of grief when I discovered that the shoes I had just taken off to enter the temple to perform the ritual had vanished when I returned. But compared to the woman performing the ritual next to me, I was still lucky, because right after I turned around to look for her shoes, I heard her screaming inside because someone had cut open her bag and stolen her wallet and phone. At least the robber had the kindness to leave me a pair of ugly, dirty flip-flops to wear, but the other woman seemed to have lost everything. It was also her fault that she wrote such a long petition that it took her forever to finish reading, thus creating an opportunity for petty thieves, right? I suspect that even she couldn't remember what she had prayed for after reading it, let alone the gods and Buddhas. If someone recorded all the wishes of temple-goers, I'm sure it would be a big data problem that even Facebook or Youtube would have to give up on.

It may be considered disrespectful, but honestly, after going to the temple, I feel completely bored. Of course, not all temples are like that, but just thinking about some sacred places being distorted into places of jostling for favors from above makes me sad. If you really exist, I think you are not blind enough to let us, the mortals, deceive you with a bunch of incense and a few pieces of paper. How can an evil person ask for peace? How can a thief ask for wealth that will last for generations? Worshiping without cultivating oneself is like a tree without roots, how can one ask for sweet fruit? Not daring to admit that I have cultivated myself to the fullest, I do not ask for anything, just light a stick of incense and wish you a happy new year!