Karma and the art of cooling political tensions in Hong Kong
Buddhist philosophy can help ease political problems, including anger over parallel trading
Tuen Mun Town Plaza recently caught the eyes of many as radical protesters against parallel trading clashed with mainland visitors and police in the biggest shopping mall in the northwestern New Territories.
One popular way for local residents or shoppers from across the border to get to the mall is by taking the light railway to Pui To stop.
Many may not know that Pui To is not just the name of a nearby road. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties period, a Buddhist monk named Pui To came to Tuen Mun from India. He is believed to be the first monk to have brought Buddhism here.
I'm no expert on Buddhism and this column is not going to focus on the history of this great religion. It's just that few people realise that Pui To is linked to tycoon Li Ka-shing's decision to finance the construction of the just completed Tsz Shan Monastery in Tai Po.
While the media reported widely on the private bullet-proof safe house and meditation room for Li, visitors to the Tang dynasty-style temple, which opens to the public on Wednesday, will hopefully find tranquility of nature and soul rather than thinking about the various stories surrounding Li and his intentions in donating HK$1.5 billion for the project.
Li initiated the idea more than 10 years ago because he felt there was too much negative sentiment in the city. In the epilogue of a book on the construction of the monastery, Li wrote: "There is a precious pearl deep in everyone's heart. As long as you can find it, your heart will be enlightened. The issue is 'have you found it'?"
Walter Ngai Kai-shu, the monastery's secretary general, explained a new way to worship at the facility. Visitors, he said, would be asked to put a bowl of water into a giant vat rather than burning incense as in many other temples. It is said that what Hong Kong now needs is water to cool down the heat in our midst.
This seems all very Buddhist, but like it or not, this city certainly needs more cool heads to forge greater tolerance and harmony, as political controversy, social inequality and intensifying Hong Kong-mainland tension take hold.
Religion is not supposed to be a cure for everything, but calmness and peace of mind certainly help. Take tourism as an example. Hongkongers started complaining when too many mainland visitors arrived. But over the Easter holidays, when there were fewer mainlanders, the tourism sector bemoaned a loss of business.
The question of how Hong Kong can sustain its attraction to mainland spenders while curbing parallel trading is a complicated issue which needs deep reflection not only by the tourism sector and the government, but also the community as a whole.
When Pui To first came to Hong Kong more than 1,500 years ago, Tuen Mun was a remote area. He could not have imagined what Hong Kong would look like today and what frustrations and difficulties Hongkongers would face. But the Buddhist theory of karma - that there is a relationship of cause and effect in everything - remains inspiring. Hong Kong's tomorrow is in the hands of our actions today.
