During the latest festival for driving off evil spirits in Tibet, lama Ngawang of the Samye Temple tied slips of paper printed with Buddhist scripture to hydrogen balloons to sell to the never-ending stream of tourists from home and abroad.
Sales of balloons and other trinkets to earn money is not rare in today's Tibetan temples. In fact, most lamaseries are now fully commercialized.
Not only lay peddlers do business there, the temples themselves have opened shops for extra income.
Mgchuling Temple, located in Lhoka Prefecture, invested over 10, 000 yuan (about US$ 1,200) to open a souvenir shop, which now brings in 1,600 yuan per day -- a sizable sum for the landlocked temple.
Zhaxilhunbo Temple, the home of the Panchen Lama, opened its own company as early as ten years ago. Its total assets now stand at tens of millions of yuan.
Samye Temple has also set up its own businesses offering land transport and ferrying.
Nowadays, it is fashionable in Tibet for living Buddhas to become managers and lamas are keen to be tour guides.
The disciples of Tibetan Buddhism have already accepted electricity. They put their TV in as important a position as the niche for Buddha.
The offerings to Buddha include not only the traditional butter lamp and "holy water", but also fruits and flowers which are a modern convention.
Since 1992, electronic Tibetan scriptures and classics have appeared on the local market. Compared with the traditional block printed scriptures, the electronic ones are portable and easy to read. A Xinhua reporter once heard the late 10th Panchen Lama's voice in a remote temple, he was shocked and rushed in to find out what was happening only to discover two young lamas attentively listening to a cassette recorder. They told the reporter that today the 10th Panchen's recitations on cassette costs only three yuan and can be bought at any local market.
In Lhasa's commercial area, it is common to see lamas who wear purple kasaya bargaining and shopping in fashion stores.
Although some disciples who live in Tibet's remote areas still retain the custom of asking lamas to recite scriptures when they get ill, most people now believe in modern medicine and prefer to see the doctor if they feel bad.
Zhaxilhunbo temple opened a hospital in 1966. Lamas, wearing white gowns, use Tibetan and Western medicine to treat disciples as well as local citizens.
Other modern sciences are also widely applied in a disciple's life. Cannonballs are launched to dispel hail in summer and insecticides are used to prevent plant diseases and insect pests so that a good harvest is always guaranteed.
More and more disciples accept the fact that modern civilization makes their lives more convenient and efficient, and enriches their religious careers as well.
Today's lamas are used to wearing watches. They go to the temple to recite scriptures at set times every day. Some have even bought mobile phones so that they can contact the outside world at any time.
(Xinhua News Agency December 17, 2001)
