Kungfu is well known among China's Buddhist monks. The
Shaolin Temple, situated in central China's Henan Province, has
even long been regarded as birthplace of Chinese Kungfu
for over 1,000 years.
But unlike Shaolin, monks in the Huayan Temple, one of the most
famous Buddhist temples in west China's Chongqing Municipality, like soccer more than
Kungfu.
A Buddhist monk soccer team of the Huayan Temple played an
international match on Friday against a team made up of foreign
teachers and students from nearby universities.
The monks, in red T-shirt and monks' pants, lost the match 5-1
in a soccer ground of Chongqing Foerign Languages School.
Monk Dehui, a team member of the monk team, said after the match
that they like the game and they can play better if they have more
time of training.
"Our team was formed on April 18, 2006, and we don't train
much," he said. "But we like soccer. We are improving and I believe
we can play better. In fact, this is the sixth match we have played
with the foreigners."
Huayan Temple's chief monk Daojian said that soccer can help the
monks get strong mentally and physically. "We need exercises to
keep us strong and fit. The exercises can be either traditional or
modern, like Kungfu or soccer. Soccer can enlarge our
social scope and can also promote Buddhism."
Bruce Bremeise, a photographer of the international team, said:
"It is very nice to play soccer games with Buddhist monks, who are
very polite. Buddhistm is a peaceful religion."
Bremeise, who comes from the United States, said he would post
pictures of the game on his Blog in order to let more people better
understand those monks and their soccer team.
(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2007)
