A cultural exchange course offers young Africans a tough but rewarding experience at the famousShaolin Temple. Qi Xin in Dengfeng and Han Bingbin in Beijing report.
At 4 am in a hotel in Dengfeng, Henan province, a 32-year-old Nigerian woman, Peace Emezue, wakes tothe cries of "jihe"! ("assemble"). Half an hour later, still sleepy, she shows up in the lobby to join 19 otheryoung Africans, all dressed in gray robes and canvas shoes.
They walk in two lines for 15 minutes to the Shaolin Temple. This is the routine six days a week whileliving the life of a Shaolin monk. Founded in the fifth century, the monastery is long famous for itsassociation with Chinese martial arts and particularly with Shaolin kung fu.
The morning classes start with these "disciples" closely following the monks' moves and listening to themchanting, a chance to observe and hopefully experience for themselves a state of tranquility.
Like her name, Peace Emezue says she has sensed the spiritual moment several times.
"When I came to Shaolin, I was surprised because the life here is peaceful and simple," she says. "But itis also quite tough - the morning exercises, the hard training. We do it every day except Sundays. It is alifestyle I am not used to, but I am getting used to it now."
To strengthen cultural exchanges between China and Africa, the Ministry of Culture launched the"Shaolin Kung Fu Training Class for African Disciples" last month, enrolling 20 students from Tanzania,Ethiopia, Mauritius, Uganda and Nigeria. The course lasts three months.
Emezue is one of only three women in the group. The other two are Chinese-Africans from Mauritius. Asa karate champion, Emezue was chosen by her local government for the program to encourage womenin Nigeria to take up martial arts, especially kung fu.
"Women also love kung fu and Chinese culture, and I will return and teach my ladies how to meditate anddo the moves of kung fu and qigong (breathing exercise)," she says. "Since I came here, the training hasreally made me strong, especially my legs, because we do a lot of running and mountain climbing."
Wang Yumin, dean of the Shaolin Temple's foreign affairs office, says many foreigners are attracted toShaolin because of its reputation for kung fu and its use in Buddhism.
Shi Yanbo, a kung fu master at the temple, says many of the disciples had experience in other martialarts or had learned moves from watching films, but simulating them was not enough. Kung fu is deeplyrooted in the culture, he says.
So students also have to learn meditation and study Buddhist doctrines that guide people's actions. Tohelp them gain greater understanding of Chinese kung fu, the students are also offered Chineselanguage courses.
Zhang Lifei, the group's Mandarin teacher, says because the 20 African disciples do not speak the sameAfrican language, they are divided into two groups, each containing someone who can speak Englishand can help the others.
"I can speak a little French," Emezue says. "By paraphrasing, I help them to understand what the teacheris saying."
When the morning culture and language class is over, the students join the monks for a typical templelunch that begins with a ritual.
One of the monks walks out of the dining hall with a bowl of rice. After gently tapping on a wooden fish,he places a ball of rice on a stone as a tribute to all beings, while the monks and students chant fromscriptures and clap their hands until tapping of the wooden fish again signals the start of the meal.
Then they all eat in silence.
"Life in the Shaolin Temple is unimaginably lovely and peaceful. It's not like the real world where there isso much hustle," Emezue says.
"I have found a lot of peace of mind here and to be at peace with myself. I would like to teach morepeople how to do that."
二十名來自神秘非洲大陸的少林弟子懷揣著對少林功夫的憧憬，對中國文化的信仰，走進河南省登封少林寺。
早上4點鐘左右，來自尼日利亞的非洲女弟子Peace Emezue就起床了，她要到少林寺的大雄寶殿和少林弟子們一起上早課，感受和體驗神圣的少林文化。隨著一聲“集合”入耳，還有些睡眼朦朧的Peace就同另外的19名非洲弟子站成兩排，從居住的地點步行前往少林寺。
早課的時候，這些黑皮膚的“洋弟子”與少林弟子一同站在大雄寶殿中，聆聽少林弟子們的唱詠，雖然他們對少林弟子口中念道的內容不甚明白，卻依舊很認真地雙手合十，感受著少林寺特有的寧靜與安詳。
為進一步加強中非文化交流與合作，文化部和非洲相關國家駐中國大使館多次溝通，最終啟動“非洲武術學員來華培訓班”——“2013非洲文化聚焦”的重要項目。自9月25日起，來自非洲坦桑尼亞、埃塞俄比亞、毛里求斯、烏干達、尼日利亞5個國家的20名弟子，不遠萬里，來到少林寺開始了他們為期三個月的學習，這些“洋弟子”與少林寺弟子們一同做早課、食齋飯，值得一提的是，他們還會向少林寺的師父們學習少林功夫。
說在少林，食在少林
漢語課是這群非洲弟子每天上午必須要學的科目，由于這五個國家沒有統一的語言，在漢語課上，老師把二十名非洲弟子分為兩組。由于Peace會說些法語，她有時候就會試著講解給周圍的學員，慢慢地，個別學員們開始從原先的表情迷茫，逐漸明白和了解課程安排，跟著老師讀寫漢字，學習拼音。
來自尼日利亞的Obiora神情認真地看著書本，他說道：“我覺得拼音相對容易些，而漢字書寫是比較難的”。
漢語老師張黎飛告訴記者，他們從原先的只會說“你好”、“謝謝”、“再見”這類的詞語，發展為會對試著說出一些師父們常常在訓練時講給他們的詞，如“預備”、“注意”，聽到這些與他們生活息息相關的詞語，他非常高興。
文化課結束后，學員們各自收拾好書本，很有禮貌地走出教室，站成兩排，準備奔赴下一個目的地——齋堂，“洋弟子”要與少林弟子們一起吃午飯。
在少林寺，寺院弟子們吃飯前有一個儀式，20名非洲弟子與少林弟子分坐在齋堂兩邊，飯菜盛好后，一名少林弟子拿出一碗飯從齋堂走出來，用木魚在云板上敲打一下，接著，在門前的石臺上放上一小撮飯，表示供養世間萬物的含義，由于做儀式時他們需念經，“洋弟子”也有模有樣地念著，隨著另一聲木魚敲打云板的聲音入耳，他們開始動筷子吃飯，今天的食物有綠豆粥、饅頭、豆芽炒青菜等，整個吃飯過程，所有人都默不作聲，靜靜地把飯吃完。
Obiora告訴記者，“非洲也有很多中國餐廳，對于我們來說，用筷子吃飯沒有太大的問題，剛開始的時候，很不習慣這里的飯菜，但漸漸發覺還不錯。佛教的禮儀很多，指導著人們哪些需要做，哪些不能做。”很顯然，Obiora目前已經學習和了解到了一些佛家弟子的禮儀，在接受完記者的采訪后，他習慣性地雙手合十，點了點頭。
學功夫圓夢少林
每名非洲弟子的心中都有一個少林夢，這次在近距離感受少林寺的過程中，他們收獲少林功夫的同時也感受著少林文化。
在尼日利亞，Peace是名健身教練，非常擅長空手道，Peace告訴記者，當她最初到少林寺的時候，十分感嘆并驚訝于少林寺平和而簡單的生活，然而，這里的訓練卻比想象中的要嚴格，從周一至周六，密集而艱苦的訓練是她在來之前所未曾想到的，即便如此，通過這段時間的訓練，Peace感覺身體更棒了。
少林寺外聯處主任王育民告訴記者，源于對少林功夫的熱愛，許多外國弟子慕名來到少林寺，在對少林功夫不斷了解的過程中，他們也逐步體會和感受著歷史悠久的少林文化。這批非洲弟子除了學習少林功夫外，同時還會接觸到佛教常識、佛門禮儀文化等課程。
參加本次“非洲武術學員來華培訓班”的非洲弟子大多都有著的運動功底，他們當中有一些是擅長競技運動的運動員。
武術精湛功夫師父釋延波表示，由于這些非洲弟子主要是從電影和晉級比賽中了解的，對真正的少林功夫的認識并不是十分透徹，他指出，武術與文化是密不可分的，少林武術更多是自內而外發出的力量。
Obiora就是功夫巨星李連杰的影迷，在一招一式的學習中，他也感覺到正在逐步實現自己的功夫夢。
Peace在評價本次的少林寺生活時說到，“我非常喜歡這里寧靜的少林氛圍，這是一次很棒的、很讓人難忘體驗，等回國后，我會把這邊所學所感傳遞給更多的人。” |
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