(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-17 16:25

Chengde -- Each Wednesday at 5 am at the Puning Monastery, the largest of its kind in north China and home to the world's largest gold-lacquered woodcutting Kwan-yin (Buddha) figure, the lamas start their day when the bell tolls 108 times.

"To toll the bell for 108 times helps to release us from the 108 kinds of sub-celestial woes," said Losang Shiqung, a 45-year-old lama with bright, smiling eyes in a red cassock and black Mongolian boots. "Sutra (Buddha's doctrine) says, on hearing the bell, woes vanish, wisdom blooms and bodhi grows."

After his breakfast of Tibetan milk tea and steamed bread, he serves tribute to the Buddha figures. Behind him, young monks are seated still and their chanting voices echo in a classroom of the monastery.

Puning is one of 12 temples and monasteries around the famed Imperial Mountain Resort. It was constructed between 1713 and 1780 by emperors of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in Chengde City of the northern Hebei Province, about 200 kilometers from Beijing. The temples and lamaseries were built in the hopes of improving ethnic solidarity as Lamaism was a major religion during the Qing Dynasty.

The monastery has been filled with the sound of chanting voices for more than two centuries now.

At present, 80 lamas live in the monastery, most of whom are Mongols. There is also five Tibetans and two of the Tu nationality. All speak fluent Tibetan and Mongolian languages.

Overlooked by a figure of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, the lamas chant sutras in the grand monastery, which bears the name "worldwide peace".

"We pray for prosperity for the country, peace for the people, and benefits for everyone." said Losang Shiqung.

He came to the Puning Monastery after his master, Zhaxi Radain, from the Taer (Gumbum) Monastery in the southeastern Qinghai Province and has stayed there for nearly 20 years. While his master has since passed away, Losang Shiqung himself has become a master for teaching sutras for the past 13 years.

"I was surprised when I first saw the monks in their red cassocks in the Taer Monastery. I found that they were highly respected by the local people and I wished to become respectable too."

At 16, he started studying Lamaism.

"However, I soon found studying Lamaism was actually a labor so I locked myself in the monastery for three years and only recited the sutras."

While his friends of the same age have already become grandfathers surrounded by their offspring's children, Losang Shiqung has no regret about the life he chose.

"The truth I learned from the sutras and the wisdom I gained provides me great happiness, which cannot be felt by others," he said.

To share such happiness, in 1997, Losang Shiqung began to spread the word of Lamaism in his local area. So far, more than 500 local residents have converted to Lamaism and Buddhism. Two years ago, he started to devote all his time to teaching the sutras to local people.

Now he has 30 students of Lamaism and more than 100 Buddhism students.

To better teach the local people who speak Mandarin, Losang Shiqung has spent more of his time learning Chinese sutras in the afternoons.

After his lunch made by a Mongolian cook, he goes back to his apartment that consists of a living room and a worshipping hall. He opens a book in the Chinese language. "The book shows the ways to become a Buddha," he said.

Losang Shiqung's reading is then interrupted by a visitor, Zhang Yanjun, 42, a local Buddhist.

"I often turn to Master Losang Shiqung whenever I'm bothered. A simple talk with him would open my mind. Besides me, all my family and friends love to ask him for help."

The time for Losang Shiqung's self-study in the afternoon is often interrupted. He always feels a lack of time for learning, though he has been a devout student for 30 years.

"I enjoy helping them. It's also my responsibility to offer my help after being fed by Chengde's people for decades."