# Ancient Chan Forest Path

A ten-li mountain path leads to the upper monastery for practice. **Important practice area, temporarily closed to visitors**


## Upper Monastery, Deep in the Mountains and Centered on “Cultivation”: 
Usually located in high mountains and deep forests, the upper monastery is quiet and far from worldly noise. It is the “spiritual core” of the entire monastery, where senior practitioners, the abbot in retirement, and monks who wish to enter retreat, specialize in practice, or study scriptures reside. There is not much reception of lay visitors here, making it most suitable for “gathering in the six sense faculties” and accumulating the wisdom of self-nature.
Its function is to deeply enter the sutra treasury, practice retreat and meditation, and cultivate people capable of propagating the Dharma. The upper monastery does not receive ordinary tourists and maintains absolute quiet. The task of monks in the upper monastery is to “see through,” thoroughly understanding the principles of the universe and life.

## Lower Monastery, at the Foot of the Mountain or in Town and Centered on “Engagement”: 
Usually located at the foot of the mountain, along transportation routes, or in busy towns and villages, the lower monastery is the upper monastery’s “window to society” and “admissions office.” Every day it faces men and women, old and young, in the world of dust, receiving and sending off visitors.
**Economic support, or logistics: **In ancient times, monasteries held large amounts of “temple land.” The collection and management of rent from these lands, together with daily donations from devotees at the lower monastery, formed the economic pillar of the whole monastery. Only when the lower monastery managed money and grain well could supplies be continuously sent up the mountain to the upper monastery, allowing senior practitioners on the mountain to practice in peace.
**Ritual services and guidance, or teaching in practice: **When local people needed rites, deliverance ceremonies, blessings, or when beginners in Buddhism wanted to hear basic teachings on cause and effect, all of this was done at the lower monastery.


## Difference in Personnel Movement: The Examination Ground for Using the Provisional to Cultivate the True
Many people think that staying in the quiet upper monastery is enjoyment, while going to the busy lower monastery is suffering. In fact, the lower monastery is often the best examination ground for testing a practitioner’s concentration.
**Training the mind through circumstances: **In ancient times, a young novice or newly ordained monk often first had to perform service labor at the lower monastery, such as serving meals, receiving visitors, farming, or managing accounts. The master said: if you deal every day with devotees of all kinds of temperaments and social levels, can you still avoid anger? Can you still maintain purity? This is the most solid form of training.
**Circulation between upper and lower: **When monks were tempered enough in the lower monastery and their minds became steady, they would be sent to the upper monastery to follow great virtuous teachers in specialized study of scriptures and doctrine, allowing practice to give rise to understanding. After teachers from the upper monastery completed their study, out of compassion for beings, they would then actively prepare to come down the mountain, giving lectures at the lower monastery and benefiting the public, allowing understanding to guide practice.