Research On Mobile Phone Usage Of Young Monks In Labrang Monastery

The monks of Tibetan Buddhism are mysterious to most people.The public's perception of them stops at the "red cassock" and "roving rosary" and the solemn pictures of them sitting in the main hall of the buddhist temple,praying and reciting the sutras,But once upon a time,we found that they have one more thing on their hands--mobile phone.Daily mobile phone operations such as sending and receiving voice messages and checking friends' circles are frequently seen on monks nowadays.Especially for young monks who are willing to accept new knowledge,mobile phone is no longer a simple means of communication in their hands.It became a window for them to explore new knowledge,a link for them to pray for the people,and an assistant for them to serve the temple.Extending its tentacles into all aspects of the lives of young monks and maintaining their connections with the real world from different perspectives,then,in this process,how do young monks balance the contradiction between the essential requirements of Tibetan Buddhism's ring keeping and the open nature of electronic products by using mobile phones?With such doubts,this paper selects The Labrang temple one of the six monasteries of Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism,as the research site,through in-depth interview and participatory observation,according to the different characteristics of young monks in the temple,the author divided them into learning monks,professional monk and administrative monks,and found that the differences were caused by the different living contexts.They show different tendencies in mobile phone use,particular,the mobile phone,as a means of communication,reshapes time and space.It liberates young monks from fixed space and time environment and deepens the separation between their body and spirit.Their "present" sense of gain is gradually lost,but the "absent" functionality is compensated,At the same time,the immediacy and time-shifting of mobile phone reconstructs the time of young monks,who gain more time power,expand the time in private space,and compress the time experience in public space.