Wuhan Lingquan Temple seeks kindred spirits to share its bounty of vegetables, but 3 hours later it ends up humbly begging for mercy

During the pandemic, plenty of businesses chose to save themselves by starting side ventures. Kindergartens sold barbecue skewers, cinemas sold popcorn…… and temples were no exception.

@Wuhan Lingquan Temple broke ground and planted vegetables during the pandemic, and unexpectedly planted so much that they could not finish eating it all. Yesterday (the 10th) it posted on Weibo, sincerely inviting local residents to come to the temple for a limited, karmic vegetable-picking visit.

Such “swagger”, clearly the temple underestimated the power of foodies. Just three short hours after the post went up, Lingquan Temple was already “humbly begging for mercy”: everyone calm down a bit…… our garden's vegetables are about to run out…

Image from @Wuhan Lingquan Temple; same below

Wuhan Lingquan Temple is located in the Longquanshan Scenic Area of Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone. It was first built in 749 AD and later destroyed during the Ming and Qing dynasties, making it one of the temples with a long history in Wuhan and even the Central China region. After being rebuilt in December 2001, the current Lingquan Temple is a practice site for monks to study and cultivate, covering more than 140 mu.

According to a report by The Beijing News' We Video, during the pandemic the temple rented a piece of wasteland from nearby villagers and broke ground to plant vegetables as a way to “save itself.”

Staff at Lingquan Temple explained that they planted a total of 20 mu of land, and none of the vegetables used pesticides or chemical fertilizers. In this season the vegetables grew both well and fast.

The official Weibo account is very down-to-earth, sharing farming updates with netizens from time to time, letting everyone experience a round of “cloud vegetable-growing.”

Set to Buddhist music, the scene of monks and villagers drawing water together for irrigation looks perfectly peaceful and serene.

A sutra-chanting machine is also placed in the vegetable plot, giving the vegetables and melons a 24-hour immersion in “vegetable life.”

Vegetables that grew up listening to Buddhist scriptures probably are all very “zen”: whether you eat me or not, I am right here, neither sad nor happy……

The temple had originally intended to eat the vegetables itself, but who knew that with one careless move the cleared area was too large and too many vegetables were planted. Even after donating a round to temples in the city, supply still exceeded demand.

In the end it was truly a case of “few monks, much porridge”: the vegetables could not all be eaten and would rot in the ground, so at noon yesterday (the 10th) Wuhan Lingquan Temple posted on Weibo inviting local residents to come pick fresh vegetables.

Only 10 people per day are accepted by appointment. Eggplant, green peppers, cowpeas, cucumbers…… you may pick 5—10 kg as you wish, with the fee left to your own goodwill as a karmic connection.

Seeing this post, netizens were itching to try one after another: the chance to cultivate “cravings”…… oh no, to cultivate zen has arrived!

Others let their imaginations run wild, thinking that since these vegetables grew up listening to scriptures they must have been “consecrated,” so would eating them not “prolong life” and let one “attain Buddhahood on the spot”?

The lively atmosphere in the comments section instantly gave the feeling of the spider demons in the Web Silk Cave smiling as they watched Tang Sanzang.

Unexpectedly, Lingquan Temple, which had received so much attention, was dumbfounded: within a short time several hundred Wuhan residents had already booked vegetable-picking appointments, and the popularity exceeded expectations.

After just three short hours, the once domineering and swaggering Lingquan Temple switched to a “humble and tiny” tone and posted another Weibo “begging for mercy” from netizens. The temple's monk @Chijie at the Foot of the Mountain even paired it with a lying-flat image of “seeming about to enter parinirvana”:

“Everyone calm down a bit…… otherwise next month we will have to buy vegetables to eat too……”

They could not “hold out” after only 3 hours. Such a dramatic turn made netizens laugh until their hair fell out: Masters, you know nothing about the power of foodies……

Why not send out the next call for devout men and women to come plant vegetables? One person, one mu of field, green mountains turned into grain fields, thereby entering a perpetual-motion cycle mode.

Staff at Lingquan Temple said they had originally wanted to form a small-scale joyful karmic connection with everyone, but did not expect netizens to be so enthusiastic. Now several hundred people have already made appointments. Today (the 11th) the vegetable garden will open for picking, but the staff are somewhat worried that the vegetables and fruits will not be enough to receive everyone, and will make certain adjustments afterward based on the number of appointments.

Netizen: This is simply the Master personally demonstrating “the impermanence of all things”……