Question about cloistered folk.

[Tao of Buttercup]

What are some basic similarities and differences between Monks and Nuns of Taoism and Buddhism, as compared to Christianity's?

 

Thank you for any replies.

[GrandmasterP]

A Taoist nun speaks

....here....

 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/special/2010-03/513566.html

 

In PR China monks and nuns were made to leave the cloister and join work cadres from the cultural Revolution up to the easing of religious laws.

Hence cloistered religious all but disappeared.

Hermits were left alone though and there have always been Buddhist and Taoist hermits in PR China.

Bill Porter ( Red Pine) wrote a book about those.... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Heaven-Encounters-Chinese-Hermits/dp/0712662154/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406491329&sr=1-1&keywords=bill+porter

Nowadays China is about where we were back in the 60s and 70s.

Full employment, increased leisure and 'own time' and money coming in plus an interest in spirituality.

Some Temples and Abbeys have been or are being rebuilt .

But ( big BUT), everything has to be approved by the state and the state sees temples and abbeys more for the tourism potential.

So you find tourist circuses such as the Shaolin doing really well but smaller operations struggling.

For a temple or abbey to survive, without a rich benefactor or two maybe in Hong Kong it needs a wide base of supporters, not just the local community. OR they need state subsidy and that implies compromise and probably a gift shop for the tourists.

Edited July 27, 2014 by GrandmasterP