I was intrigued by watching Ted Burger’s documentary “Amongst White Clouds” about Buddhist hermits living in China’s mountains. The cinematography of the film was beautiful, and I greatly admired the hermits’ personal dedication and devotion to becoming enlightened. It was also nice to have the opportunity to ask questions of the filmmaker.
The hermits’ way of life struck me as compelling and, in some ways, confusing. At one point during the film, Burger and others talk about how the hermits are an important aspect of the “communities” of which they are part. Even though they live alone, they stem from and represent a larger tradition of monastic communities.
What struck me most, however, was the idea expressed in the video that the monks are actively serving the community in some way. I found this intriguing. According to my (admittedly limited) understanding of Buddhism, the primary purpose of Buddhist practice is to seek a state of Enlightenment for oneself. It seems that a hermit practices in solitude all day in order to overcome desire and reach a state of ideal understanding.
Granted, a hermit can train others to reach this enlightened state. However, this seems a very narrow and limited way of reaching out to the community. At base, it seems that the hermit practices almost entirely as a means of self-improvement and attaining personal understanding.
Hermits are (or at least were) a well-established part of Christian tradition, as well. In Christian monastic traditions, I assume that hermits spend their days in solitary prayer, and that much of it is petitionary prayer on behalf of the members of their community. It seems that the Christian hermit practices partially as a means to self-discipline and self-perfection and to bring blessings to himself, but also to bring prayed-for blessings to the members of the community.
What do people think about this? I certainly don’t mean to imply any lack of charitable motive on the part of Buddhist hermits. However, I wonder exactly how the Buddhist monks’ concept of sacrifice and charity relates to the larger community.
– Alida Liberman
