Chinanews, Guiyang, Oct 31 – The Qianming Temple in Guiyang city, Guizhou, welcomed a special group of people last Sunday. They were not monks, yet they attended religious rituals and ate vegetarian food, just as monks did. They were a group of white collars who came to experience the peaceful life in temples so as to alleviate their mental pressure, the Guizhou Metropolitan News reported.At 11 o'clock, the praying ceremony began. Dozens of monks entered into the Hall of Sakyamuni in the temple to chant Buddhist scriptures. The ten young men and women followed these monks putting their palms together in Buddhist greeting. All of them wore a solemn look.The young people came to the temple one day before the ceremony began in order to get familiar with the temple life. Some were businesspeople and some were college teachers or office workers. They were the so called “white collars”, usually making a relatively large income and yet having a busy work schedule. At first, the temple turned down their request of living inside the temple. However, they finally succeeded in persuading the senior monks into letting them in to experience the temple life for a short period, said Reverend Benkong at the temple.“Before doing the chanting, we asked them to turn off their mobile phones and concentrate on Buddhist affairs,” said Rev. Benkong.The white collars lived and ate in the same way as the real monks in the temple.After the chanting ceremony, the ten young people walked with the other monks into the dining room. The lunch was rather simple: a bowl of rice and a bowl of vegetable food. Everybody ate the same thing. Before the meal began, the ten young people once again put their palms together, closed their eyes and meditated for a while, just like the real monks did.At first, they could not get used to the hard temple life. Despite this, they did everything sincerely.Before they came, many white collars had also called to the temple asking the abbot to allow them to experience the religious life there. However, the abbot turned down their request because of having not enough space and facilities to accommodate them. In future, we will try to provide some basic facilities for those who want to experience the religious life here, said Rev. Benkong.