The Little Novice Monk and the Temple Without Love

The lights in the Chau Asia cinema slowly dimmed. On the wide screen, a small temple nestled timidly among the mountains and forests of Korea, its tiled roof covered in moss, its courtyard blanketed with dry leaves. A novice monk of about ten years old, his innocent eyes carrying a distant sorrow, sat hugging his knees before the temple gate, gazing out at a quiet, deserted path. Not a single birdcall, not a single human figure. The stillness of the scene was heartbreaking.

The film tells the story of a remote temple where only two people live: an old master who came to monastic life late, his heart already weighed down by worldly life, and an orphaned novice named Dong Xuan. The old master lived closed off and cold, shaking his head at everything: "No, you shouldn't," "That's not allowed," "Just give it up." He spoke to no one, asked after no one, and spent his days sitting silently in the meditation hall. The novice grew up in that silence, longing for a warm hand, a word of care, a tender glance. But all of it was emptiness.

One day, a Buddhist laywoman came to the temple to light incense. From a distance, the novice saw her, and his heart suddenly began to race. He ran out and stood before her, his eyes shining as if he had just found something precious. He followed her everywhere around the temple, eagerly helping her with everything, then gently tugged at her sleeve and whispered: "Grandmother, will you stay here with me?" The woman was moved and embraced him. Tears welled up in the novice's eyes, like a child finally held in a mother's love after years of absence. The old master watched from afar, his face expressionless, and coldly turned away.

That night, the novice tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He thought of the laywoman, of the warm embrace that had just touched him. He asked himself: "Why can I never have that inside the temple? Why does my master never hold me, never ask if I am hungry or cold?" He felt like an island in the middle of the vast ocean, with no one passing by. He wept, but only the mountain wind answered.

Then he made his decision. The next morning, he gathered a few belongings, quietly opened the temple gate, and left. He wanted to go out into the world and find a place with love, with people who would embrace him and care for him. He walked on and on, until he came to a small village. But the villagers were strangers, and they looked at him with indifferent eyes. He sat by the roadside, covering his face and sobbing. He suddenly realized: out there, no one loved him either. Inside the temple it was cold, and in the world it was indifferent. He was only an orphaned child, with nowhere to turn.

The film ends with the little novice sitting and weeping by the roadside, while the temple remains silent in the mountains, with no one searching for him. The film, titled "The Little Novice Monk," won first prize at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival. But behind that award lies an aching wound: it portrayed Buddhism as a place devoid of love, where monastics only know how to close their doors and turn away from the world.

The Venerable taught that Buddhism is not like this. The spirit of the Diamond Sutra is that we must liberate all sentient beings and bring love to everyone. If we misunderstand and believe that practice means only sitting still, caring for no one, then we ourselves have turned our backs on the world. And when Buddhism turns its back on the world, the world will turn its back on Buddhism. That is the law of cause and effect (karmic law).

The Venerable recounted: "Once I met a Buddhist layman who said he disliked police officers. I asked him why. He answered: because they don't love us. I asked further: between you and the police officers, who learned of Buddhism first? He said: I did. I said: then you should love them first! You have known the Dharma, so you must go first, you must open your heart first. But you keep waiting for others to love you, when they cannot, because they have not yet known the Dharma!"

The layman fell silent, bowing his head in reflection. He realized he had been blaming others while forgetting that he himself was the one who had to go first, the one who had to bring love into the world. This is also a wake-up call for all of us: do not turn Buddhism into a cold and indifferent place. Let the temple be filled with laughter and love, so that no novice monk ever has to leave in search of warmth elsewhere.

## The Meaning of the Story

Buddhism is not an escape from the world, but a spirit of engagement, bringing love to all sentient beings. Those who practice according to the Diamond Sutra must always be concerned with teaching and transforming others, must open their hearts with love first, must not be selfish, and must not settle into complacency. When we turn our backs on the world, the world turns its back on us. Be the one who goes first, who opens their heart, so that Buddhism may always be warm and close.

Compiled from a dharma talk by the Venerable Thich Chan Quang.