This year's gaming world has a new trend - going to the temple to put incense on it.
In March, the weather is getting better, and more and more people are planning their own outings. Young people are still the majority of travelers, and more young people are choosing to go to temples in this year's outing plan. The recent explosion of the Lama Temple in Beijing is the best proof of this.
According to the official website of the Lama Temple, 60,000 people are currently booked every day, and advance tickets will be released 9 days in advance. Judging from the number of remaining tickets from March 9 to 17, the daily passenger flow of the Lama Temple during this period is at least about 40,000. The popularity of the Lama Temple is not unique, and judging by the posts on social platforms, temples across the country are very popular.
1. Young people frantically poured into the temple
The Lama Temple can be said to be one of the important spiritual totems of Beijingers. People go to the Lama Temple to put on incense, usually on the first and fifteenth day of the first month and important Buddhist festivals, and basically the tourists who go are also some older believers.
But this year's scene is completely different, since the Spring Festival, the Lama Temple has not had a moment of leisure time, whether it is the first or second day of the first year, there is always an endless stream of tourists who come to put on incense. Even on weekdays, you can see many people coming to Lama Temple in groups to worship incense.
What is even more incredible is that the groups of tourists who come to the Lama Temple are no longer those old believers, but more the faces of some young people. Netizen Xiaojing is a post-95 generation, she said that these days in Beijing, she often goes to the Lama Temple, and the reason why she came here is also because of the posts posted by everyone on the Internet.
Of course, not only the Lama Temple in Beijing, but also temples in other parts of the country are also very popular. From the perspective of search popularity, in addition to the Lama Temple, the temple scenic spots with high attention in recent years include Lingyin Temple, Putuoshan Scenic Area, Hanshan Temple, Foguang Temple, White Horse Temple, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Jiming Temple, Shaolin Temple, Potala Palace and so on.
In terms of play, in addition to a short pilgrimage and incense, some young people choose to meditate for a longer period of time.
There was a very popular post on a social platform recently, the content is that Emeishan 7 days and 6 nights light fasting meditation, detoxification, meditation, oxygen inhalation and natural healing have also become publicity gimmicks.
The audience for this meditation class is also mainly some young consumers, because their marketing captures two pain points for young people: weight loss and sleep.
In the meditation class, visitors eat light food and vegetarian dishes, and the adjustment of the schedule can provide more sleep time. And in the era of excess information, away from mobile phones surrounded by green mountains like temples, it is natural to calm down, which also plays a role in healing.
As early as 2001, the pagoda in Lushan, Jiangxi Province, became the first to become an "Internet celebrity" among young people, and meditation camps began to be held here. Two years ago, a travel blogger posted his meditation experience on Xiaohongshu, which set fire here, and people continue to spontaneously check in, record and share it.
In addition, Hangzhou Lingyin Temple, Huangshan Zilu Temple, Beijing Chaoyang Temple, Chongqing Wuling Temple, and many temples across the country offer meditation experience activities for the general public.
2. Why do young people start walking into temples?
To be honest, it doesn't matter where young people travel, what matters is the kind of atmosphere that the destination brings. And in the temple, it can keep more young people away from their own anxieties.
Contemporary young people have all kinds of anxiety, such as money anxiety, health anxiety, love anxiety, etc., which are common phenomena in this generation of young people. There are many reasons for this, it may be the fast pace of the big city, it may be the overload of information browsing, it may be the pressure of the interpersonal relationships around you, either way, it is from the heart.
And in the temple, the most changeable thing is the heart.
Although the reasons for young people to meditate on the mountain are different, in addition to pragmatic improvement of sleep and weight loss, they can be roughly divided into the following categories: first, they are tired of "rolling" in an impetuous society and want to find an opportunity to "lie down" for a few days; The second is that there are a lot of things in the heart, there are many distractions that cannot be digested, and I want to find a place to calm down; The third is to feel that life is confused, cannot find their own direction, and hopes to seek the meaning of life.
People who regularly go to meditation describe that when they first enter the perimeter of the temple, they can smell a faint smell of the sea, which may be the smell of moss and stones wet with dew; In the Zen room, you can hear clear frog chirping at night; I woke up very early in the morning, and I had already washed up and finished eating at six o'clock; Sitting in front of the temple hall, quietly listening to the master's chanting, the sound of wooden fish with frequency is in the ears, accompanied by a quiet environment, and the heart has long been calm if it is not calm.
Such a temple meditation journey, which contemporary young person can resist?
However, the main driver of a place's popularity is the network environment. During the new crown epidemic, the temple was deserted, and the abbot of Puzhao Zen Temple in Yongkang City, Zhejiang Province, a former photographer, was given a short video platform by his disciple Amway, which began to publish content related to Buddhism and sinology. As a result, the video with a unique personal style made him quickly popular, and the plain and warm copy also made fans stay.
In addition to short video platforms, some famous temples have long been stationed on WeChat public accounts, one is to facilitate pilgrims and tourists to understand the scenic spots, and the other is to popularize Buddhist knowledge.
On the Little Red Book, among the trends of "pure desire", "Y2K" and "European and American style", the most threshold character is "Buddha Yuan". It's hard to define what kind of style "Buddhist ladies" really are, but these "good men and women" who often pose on the side of scriptures and teacups have single-handedly turned temples and vegetarian restaurants into Internet celebrity check-in places.
Young people who are willing to challenge new things naturally begin to blindly follow the crowd in this information and start their own "temple journey".
epilogue
The popularity of temple travel has also been accompanied by the popularity of many similar industries.
Young people will also choose to ask for a string of bracelets after incense and wear them on their bodies to calm down and relieve anxiety; What's more interesting is the birth of the electronic wooden fish, which allows many users who cannot go to the temple to choose to knock the wooden fish on their mobile phones to chant, although this method may seem puzzling, but it is still a favorite of young people for Zen Buddhism.
Whether the sudden explosion of the temple is people's spiritual awakening or going with the flow is unknown, but the end of "metaphysics" is recognized by everyone!
Finally, I hope that capital and tourists will protect the temple facilities and Buddhist culture, and this kind of tourism that can build national self-confidence and spread traditional culture should be the mainstream of the market, and I hope that tourists will not fade in a short time.