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Young people who are suffering from internal anxiety are actively seeking spiritual self-help.

At Yongfu Temple near Shanghai University,

Professor Cheng Qing’s Buddhist lectures became a huge hit.

Cheng Qing is an associate professor in the History Department of Shanghai University.

His Buddhist audio program soothes the hearts of contemporary frustrated people.

Why are young people keen on going to temples?

How to “let go of attachments”…

Cheng Qing practices meditation with students

On weekends, Beijing Baiyun Temple offers Tai Chi and Ba Duan Jin public welfare classes.

It is completely free, and hundreds of spots are often snapped up in one minute.

The vast majority of applicants are young people.

Zhang Naimin, 25, is a lawyer. She comes to Baiyun Temple every Saturday and Sunday to learn Ba Duan Jin and Tai Chi.

In the Restoration Theater,

Audience members share their stories.

From workplace worries, marriage and love anxiety, to depression,

The actors improvised the story on stage.

Many viewers burst into tears the moment they saw it:

"I feel heard, seen and accepted like never before."

Recreate the troupe's performance scene

In August 2022, a young man participated in meditation at the Nuo Na Pagoda in Lushan

In September 2023, a large number of young people in Longhua Temple in Shanghai were burning incense and praying for "landing"

The following is the account by Cheng Qing, associate professor of the History Department of Shanghai University:

For many years, only middle-aged and elderly people went to the temple. Starting from the Spring Festival last year, some masters I met in the temple posted photos and found that 60%-70% of the pilgrims were young people. I was very surprised.

Many young people are seeking study and career, and some even come to pray after buying lottery tickets. Now everyone feels like they are floating, especially young people who are facing great uncertainty in the future.

The temple, which we used to believe was a space full of metaphysics and mystery, suddenly provided a kind of mysterious comfort that normal society could not provide.

Left: Apple CEO Cook wears an electronic watch and a bracelet at the same time, which is regarded by young people as the official configuration of "double betting on technology and metaphysics". Right: Tarot card divination becomes a trend

As someone who studies the history of Buddhism, I know that this field has been unpopular before. Suddenly, in the past two years, the public has started to pay attention to this area. I myself did not expect that so many people would come to listen to the complex and profound Buddhism.

This shows that the spirit of the times has undergone a very big change.

In the past 40 years, there has been no war, the economy has grown rapidly, and all aspects of society have been positive. We, several generations, have benefited from the dividends of the times. But now, things that seemed reliable in the past are slowly becoming unstable, such as the once popular career of programmers and the ever-increasing housing prices, which have now changed.

On October 11, a new round of Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated

A boy walks through the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City.

Image source: Xinhua News Agency Photographer: Rizek Abduljawad

In fact, every era will encounter a major social turning point. Some people are lucky and the turning point happens in the second half of their lives, while some people are unlucky and encounter it in their twenties.

This is what Buddhism calls "impermanence", which means that everything is in a state of change. Of course, we can think about how to increase the employment rate and change the distribution structure from the perspective of society, politics, and economics, but from the perspective of individual life, you will inevitably face various "uncertainties" in your life.

Paid study rooms in China

Many people take the postgraduate entrance examination and civil service examination three or four times.

How to deal with it? At this time, everyone’s first reaction is to desperately want to hold on to something that seems to be relatively “stable” for the time being, which is what I call the “stampede into the system”.

From a Buddhist perspective, when faced with "impermanence", the first thing to do is to "accept" it. You must take a brave step forward and accept this changeable and crisis-filled life.

Cheng Qing at home

From my own experience, I originally majored in electronic engineering in college and worked in the Telecommunications Bureau. Later, I came to Shanghai and changed my career to become a financial editor. Then I changed track again and studied for a master's and doctoral degree in history. I started by studying the history of modern political thought, and later gradually turned to the less popular history of Buddhism.

It is difficult for a person to jump out of a single situation. When you have these life experiences, you will know that you can live well in different ways and will not be so uneasy.

In recent years, young people have moved to small towns and villages to live.

So I support young people going to Yunnan and Tibet, because they want to break the restrictions of the urban education system and see the real society. Sometimes it will destroy your imagination of literary life, but it is also another kind of learning.

In Buddhism, there are eight sufferings in life, which are birth, aging, sickness, death, failure to obtain what one desires, meeting with enemies and those one hates, separation from loved ones, and the prevalence of the five negative elements. Lying flat is nothing more than a modern version of the suffering of failure to obtain what one desires.

In fact, we can change our mindset and break out of the either-or state of "lying down" or "curling up". Everything has its causes and conditions behind it. We can observe what we can do and what we can achieve under the existing conditions, and then do those things.

The middle-aged unemployed programmer in the TV series "All Is Well"

For a long time, our society has pursued "meritocracy", relying on career and salary to frame a person's value, and then comparing with each other, which is the root source of our anxiety.

But perhaps in the future, most of us will have to face a situation where promotions and salary increases are limited. At this time, what will you rely on to maintain your sense of value?

Therefore, our society today needs a big change in the concept of "self-worth".

The Japanese grandmother who runs a dumpling shop follows her hobby and goes to the nightclub to play DJ at night

For example, my job is to set up a stall and sell some tofu. I provide fresh tofu to my neighbors, and they all like it very much. This is valuable in itself. It is not only an exchange of goods, but also an exchange of emotions behind it.

This is a very important thing in Buddhism, called "altruism". "Altruism" is not cost-effective from the perspective of human nature, but it allows you to establish a mutual aid relationship and emotional connection with others, providing a sense of spiritual significance, and ultimately "self-interest".

Nirvana statues by artist Hu Junjun

Many people nowadays often feel that life is tiring and bitter, but have they actually encountered any major tragedies in life, such as a car accident or family bankruptcy? Generally speaking, no.

Before the Internet appeared, we lived our lives step by step. You walked a distance, then slowly pushed through the fog, saw the next step, and then walked again.

But nowadays, people have already seen other people’s lives on the Internet. Others live such happy lives, while they themselves seem so "humble" in comparison. They turn themselves into a very empty reference object for other people’s lives, which will bring a strong sense of bitterness in life.

In 1982, 27-year-old Steve Jobs entered a deep meditation state at home with a cup of tea in his hand. Photo: Diana Walker

Therefore, in modern society, one way to stay away from the Internet is to use your mobile phone less often. Another way is that when you see this information, you can clearly know that it is a dream and you will not let it get caught up in it. This is also what Buddhism calls "retracting" the body and mind.

Of course, this is difficult and requires cognitive and behavioral training. For example, many Westerners use meditation as a tool to calm their body and mind, and even to generate inspiration. People like Steve Jobs meditate throughout their lives.

Many people think that Buddhism is negative and escapist. This is a big misunderstanding. A person who has settled his body and mind has more space and flexibility in his mind and is bound to be positive.

The core of Buddhist thinking is not to let you give up doing something, but when we deal with various problems, can we not be so painful and troubled emotionally? I know I am trapped in an unfair environment, but can I use a less entangled mentality to deal with these unpredictable things in life?

In Buddhism, it is often said to "let go of attachments", which actually means to do it seriously. Things are over when they are over, no matter whether it is honor or disgrace, good or bad. In this way, your life will be free.

Cai Jiani is a student at the Beijing Dance Academy and takes Tai Chi classes every weekend.

On weekends, young people in cities flock to Taoist temples to learn Tai Chi, which has become a way to calm their bodies and minds.

In Baiyun Temple, there are green pines and cypresses and birds singing. It is hard to imagine that there is such a quiet and peaceful temple in the Second Ring Road of Beijing. After walking in, my mood immediately changed.

Every weekend, the Little Penglai Courtyard is full of students taking Tai Chi and Ba Duan Jin public welfare classes, who are basically Beijing workers, college students, and unemployed young people. They perform the Yin-Yang, Wild Horse Split Mane, and Spreading the Bird's Tail movements in a very formal manner. It looks slow and effortless, but if you try it yourself, you will know that you need to maintain a high degree of concentration.

The public welfare classes are open to everyone and are completely free. They started in 2017 and were suspended for a few years due to the epidemic. When they were officially opened again last year, young people were very enthusiastic to sign up. Often hundreds of places were snapped up within 1 minute. However, because the public welfare classes are held in an outdoor environment and are completely open, those who missed out on a place can also come to learn.

Zhang Naimin, 25, is a lawyer. She comes to Baiyun Temple every Saturday and Sunday to learn Ba Duan Jin and Tai Chi.

One of the teachers of the public welfare class is the 16th generation successor of the Wudang Sanfeng School. He started studying in Wudang Mountain at the age of 11. He came down the mountain two years ago and came to Beijing to teach Wudang martial arts.

"Before the epidemic, the crowd that came to Wudang Mountain to study was mostly middle-aged and elderly people. After the epidemic, more people tended to go young. In fact, many young people have talked to me. When the pressure of work and study is particularly high, their spirit has been worn out. They may regard Wudang Mountain or this kind of exercise as a refueling station, and then go back to maintain a state of enthusiasm. We go to practice when we have no strength in our bodies, and we also go to practice when we have no strength in our hearts."

Deng Jiayi, the 15th generation successor of Wudang Sanfeng School and the 21st generation successor of Quanzhen Huashan School, usually teaches martial arts in Chenyuan

Another teacher, Deng Jiayi, is a disciple of Taoist Priest Li Xinjun, the abbot of Baiyun Temple. "The master felt that Taoist temples have a very good environment, and we disciples just happen to have the skills, so he opened Tai Chi and Ba Duan Jin to the public as public welfare classes, completely free of charge. I believe that in the near future, many Taoist temples may have such classes."

Teacher Deng Jiayi has practiced martial arts since childhood and has learned seven sets of Ba Duan Jin. The Ba Duan Jin of Baiyun Temple was learned from Taoist Master Li Xinjun. "The Ba Duan Jin of Wudang Sanfeng School is softer and more stable, but the Ba Duan Jin of Master is targeted at the sub-healthy people in Beijing and those who do not exercise all year round. The movements are simple, combined with strong force and breathing, which allows the blood to flow quickly, the body to heat up, and the joints to become soft. At this time, people will feel more relaxed and less likely to get sick."

Tai Chi is a more advanced practice. "I have experienced this myself. I switched from martial arts to Tai Chi. I used to learn some fierce movements in competitions, which made me feel very tired physically and mentally. Practicing Tai Chi makes me feel happy and relaxed."

Programmer Hou Shuxiang taking a Tai Chi class

There is a big ginkgo tree in the Xiao Penglai courtyard. The spring sunshine is warm, and from time to time there is the aroma of traditional Chinese medicine from the Taoist temple. Hou Shuxiang, a 26-year-old programmer for an Internet company, is a student of Tai Chi classes. She takes the subway for more than an hour every Saturday to come to Baiyun Temple. She has not exercised all year round. "I get tired after climbing three or four floors. I sit at my workstation for eight or nine hours at work. I am mentally and physically exhausted. My back and waist have collapsed and I can't stand up anymore, but I still have to sit there."

Because of insomnia and the fact that he had taken Ba Duan Jin classes in college, Hou Shuxiang took the Tai Chi class at Baiyun Temple. "After practicing, I feel relaxed and happy. It's easier to fall asleep at night and I don't wake up so early in the morning."

Teacher Deng Jiayi has seen many similar urban white-collar workers. "In fact, many people in Beijing are holding their whole body back because of the pressure of life and mental stress. They can't open up. In the long run, this can lead to stiff shoulders and necks, as well as depression. In the process of long-term practice, people gradually become optimistic because their breath comes out."

Programmer Jiang Bin practices Tai Chi with his girlfriend every weekend

31-year-old programmer Jiang Bin and his girlfriend practice Tai Chi together on weekends. Jiang Bin had an asthma attack last year, and the doctor said it was caused by poor immunity and lack of exercise. He was surprised to find that there were many young people not only in class, but also in the Taoist temple. "Maybe everyone puts more hope on transcendence, and pursues peace of mind."

Teacher Deng Jiayi instructs students, "Many young people do not exercise all year round"

The "hummingbird state" pointed out by Professor Xiang Biao resonated with many people. The hummingbird is a very small bird that must vibrate its wings at a high frequency to keep itself floating in the air.

He said, "Generally speaking, many people in Chinese society are suspended. Everyone is busy working and chasing the future. At the same time, the present is suspended in the air, and has no other meaning except as a tool to point to the future. People work hard not because they like the job, but often to save enough money so that they don't have to do this job anymore in the future.

Everyone is pursuing a better tomorrow. They don’t know what a better tomorrow will look like, but what is certain is that today’s life is not worth living, so they have to deny the present and therefore cannot really intervene in reality. ”

For many young people, practicing Tai Chi and Ba Duan Jin in a Taoist temple is like a resting place for a hummingbird flapping its wings. Today's life is worth living.

Audience member Kiki shared her real experience at the event (left)

Actors and musicians improvise the story (right)

"A group of people performed my story on the stage, which was like opening a God's perspective for me." At the performances of the Restoration Troupe, Kiki often cried and then laughed. From the actors' performances, she saw a side of her own experience that she had never noticed.

In the second half of last year, Kiki, a girl born after 1995, encountered a series of storms in life. After graduating with a master's degree, she was unable to find a job that satisfied her. Not long after, her mother became seriously ill. During the day, Kiki accompanied her mother in the hospital, and at night she took time to work part-time to earn money. She felt like she was "trapped" and had no room to breathe.

It was not until she stepped into the theater that Kiki felt emotionally freed. Under the warm lights, several actors sat side by side, gazing at her tenderly and listening to her story with full concentration, and she gained an unconditional trust.

The actor looks at the audience tenderly on the stage

The audience for each performance is usually around 20 people, and the environment is private and safe.

When she was telling the story, she often had trouble expressing herself due to anxiety, but the actors and musicians were always able to sensitively understand her fragility. Her experience was improvised by several actors in a humorous and lovely way, revealing their sympathy for her in the humor, "It felt like when I was a child, I accidentally fell down and lay in the arms of a bunch of brothers and sisters, being gently coaxed. When I grew up, I rarely had this feeling."

The performance process of the troupe is not complicated, in simple terms, it is "You speak, I act". The audience first shares a real experience of their own, the navigator (host) then conducts a brief interview with the audience, and finally, the actors and musicians will improvise the story they heard into a drama performance.

The navigator is not only a host, but also a "short story editor".

Responsible for naming each story and choosing the story's interpretation format

The musician needs to lead the development of the story through music

This form of improvisational drama is called "Playback Theatre", which originated in the United States in the 1970s. The mainstream improvisational dramas on the market are improvisational comedies, which are mainly for fun, but "Playback Theatre" pays more attention to the depth and psychological level of the story.

Three years ago, Rachel, a girl born in the 1980s, first came into contact with the Huixin Theater. At that time, she was going through a low point in her life and her emotions had gone through a big change. But as a "mature" professional, she had to keep her emotions stable and show an "invincible" look.

Actor Rachel, she was a member of the audience of the Restoration Troupe three years ago

But that day in the theater, she told her story in one breath. She felt a sense of "permission", and her helplessness, sadness, anger, and pent-up emotions suddenly had an outlet.

She will always remember the ending of the story - the actors picked up the scattered cloths one by one and held them in their arms. She felt a kind of power from it: "It was like I was crushed into many pieces and then put together by someone."

After that, Rachel went to watch the troupe's performances and rehearsals almost every week. The theater gave her the opportunity to "face her emotions honestly." A year later, she became one of the actors in the troupe.

Since 2017, the Huijian Theater has performed more than 70 public performances and performed more than 1,000 real-life stories. Each performance has a theme, ranging from MBTI, shitty jobs, to sexual harassment, and my life as a villain. The audience's experience sharing revolves around these themes, and individual stories always hit the current social mood.

A performance related to the workplace theme: "Who doesn't have troubles at work?"

A performance in the first half of this year, "Whose Work Is Without Troubles", originated from the heated discussion caused by anthropologist David Graeber's book "The Pointless Work" at the beginning of the year.

Tang Bao didn't want the audience to just complain about the workplace, so he designed an opening ceremony where everyone was not allowed to reveal their occupations, but had to use a verb to describe the core of their work, just like "You Draw, I Guess."

That day, a teacher used the word "accompany" instead of "teaching" to describe his job; an insurance practitioner used the word "guardianship", because insurance can cover a person's life when an accident occurs. After the performance, everyone asked themselves again: Is my job really that "shitty"?

The performance "Power of Resistance" combines the theme of sexual harassment with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Tietou teaches the audience the techniques of "receiving and breaking the handle"

In June this year, the theme of sexual harassment was brought to the stage. During the performance, a girl revealed that she was once groped on the chest by a man riding an electric bike, but because of fear, she did not fight back. Afterwards, she could only kick trash cans and bicycles on the street to express her anger. Actor Tietou felt that these experiences should not be hidden, and only by reiterating them again and again can the collective silence behind sexual harassment be broken.

In order to prevent the performance from becoming a pure painful memory, Tietou combined the performance with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. After the performance, she taught the girls on the scene the techniques of "receiving and breaking the grip" in Jiu-Jitsu.

Actors at the performance

Tang Bao still remembers the performance in 2020 on the theme of depression, titled "How Many Forms of Loneliness". The troupe experimentally adopted the form of "sound theater", with only sound and no pictures in the entire performance. After the audience sat down, they were gently blindfolded. The darkness brought people a sense of security. The narrator's concerns disappeared, and he became relaxed and frank. The listeners were also more focused. Tang Bao said: "One sense is deprived, and more feelings are opened up."

Some people compare the One Person One Story Theater to a "tree hole" where one can put their worries to rest, and every worry has a response.

Audiences often shed tears during performances

The troupe even launched a tissue peripheral called "Save Your Crying"

Therefore, tears always come unexpectedly in the theater. When an audience member talks about the pain that they have kept secret for many years, their heart is suddenly gently opened and their voice is choked with sobs; when someone tells a happy story, they burst into tears because they see the beautiful memories of their life being recreated in front of them by the actors.

Through the re-creation of actors and musicians, the audience also gained a new perspective on their own life experiences.

The filming of Yitiao was discussed and approved by the audience in advance, and the relevant privacy is blurred.

Many people often use the word "healing" after watching the show. But Tang Bao thinks that the word "support" is more accurate. If a person is going through an emotional hardship, then actively listening and talking may gently support this person and allow him/her emotions to flow out.

In a recent performance called "My Dream", a girl talked about her experience of being sexually harassed by a doctor during a consultation. In her dreams, she repeatedly returned to that moment, wanting to resist or say something. In the performance, the actors used the time and space transformation on the stage to help her say what she didn't say at the time and do what she didn't do.

"Many times if you don't speak out, you don't know how to face the problem. Speaking out is the beginning of change."