One of China's holy Buddhist mountains, Hengshan has been attracting an increasing number of tourists and Buddhist disciples to its vast monasteries every year.

Though some feel a little uneasy about the changes, most monks and nuns on Hengshan welcome their new life.

"Buddhists in China have three excellent traditions which include religious meditation and farming, academic research, and exchanges with the outside world," said Master Shi Weizheng, who runs the Buddhist Zhusheng ("saint blessing" in Chinese) Monastery on Hengshan.

In China, monks and nuns used to make a simple living from disciples' alms and agricultural cultivation.

"We Buddhists still have to keep up this fine tradition," said Master Shi.

However, he also said monks and nuns should regard tourism as a new means to achieve self-reliance under new circumstances.

Monasteries on Hengshan began offering meals and accommodation to visitors and lay Buddhists in recent years as increasing number of people asked to stay over to experience the life led by monks and nuns.

With support from local religious management and tourism departments, Zhusheng Monastery invited dozens of tourists from across the country from April 21 to serve as temporary monks and nuns in the monastery on Hengshan.

Some people fear that the new business approach will disturb the tranquility of the sacred Buddhist sites, saying that monks and nuns would be led astray by worldly trifles.

But Master Shi Weizheng said the unique buildings, Buddhist statues, paintings and music are the common wealth of mankind, which would certainly lure large number of tourists.

"Such activities will carry forward Buddhist culture," he insisted.

(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2003)