Want China Times, Lai Ting-heng and Staff Reporter 2015-02-05
Meditation is fast becoming a recreational activity for China's business leaders and entrepreneurs, many of whom are even willing to make a trip to Taiwan to attend meditation programs, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
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| People practicing meditation in China, Aug. 10, 2014. (Photo/CNS) |
Meditation is fast becoming a recreational activity for China's business leaders and entrepreneurs, many of whom are even willing to make a trip to Taiwan to attend meditation programs, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.
Meditation
has long been a staple of Taiwan's culture for Buddhists and non-Buddhists. As
with yoga, the trend of secular meditation has only gained momentum in China in
the past few years. Practitioners are mostly white-collar workers and business
leaders between the ages of 25 and 50.
Various
students of Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) classes from
China are choosing to travel to Taiwan for a different experience of
meditation.
In May last
year, members of a CEO class of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in
Beijing came to Taiwan to practice meditation. The group included Zhao Yong,
CEO of FuWah International Group; Wang Zhongjun, chairman of Huayi Brothers
Media Corporation; Jin Zhiguo, chairman of Tsingtao Brewery ;and Zhang Guobiao,
chairman of Forchin Holdings Group. They all sat side-by=side in a meditation
room at Fo Guang Shan, a well-known Buddhist center in southern Taiwan,
presided over by Master Hsing Yun.
Fo Guang
Shan has reportedly been taking appointments for group meditation sessions from
Chinese enterprises, especially EMBA classes. These groups make the Buddhist
center one of their stops when visiting Taiwan. A spokesperson for Fo Guang
Shan said that the first EMBA candidates who came there to meditate may have
found some kind of benefit and passed the word on to other entrepreneurs. Some
business leaders and entrepreneurs have come back several times, sometimes by
themselves.
Fo Guang
Shan has specially designed meditation packages from half a day to three days
for Chinese business leaders. Another spokesperson for the center said that
beginners should not attempt to meditate for too long at first or they might
lose interest.
Meditation
started to become popular over three decades ago, when a Buddhist master from
Dharma Drum Mountain, a Buddhist organization in Taiwan, brought the practice
back from Japan in 1975. Dharma Drum established its first meditation center in
Taipei's Beitou district in 1978 and started programs the same year.
Meditation
classes have also become popular in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
When the Grand Buddha Monastery, a temple in Guangzhou, first proposed
meditation classes two years ago, fewer than 10 people attended. Now each
session they organize attracts over a hundred people.
Meditation
classes in China are often held during on evenings during the week or on
weekends.
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