This Buddhist monk blessed a Hasselblad camera at the Shaolin Temple – and Chinese social media had a field day with "enlightenment" puns
(Image credit: Weibo: Photographer Pi Zidong)
Here's something you don't see every day: a photographer went to the Shaolin Temple, in China's Henan province, and he asked a monk to bless his Hasselblad camera – apparently becoming the first person to make such a request.
While the Shaolin Temple might be most famous (at least, to fans of old-school chop-socky flicks and the Wu-Tang Clan) as the birthplace of Shaolin Kung-Fu, it is a monastery that is home to Chan Buddhism.
It is fairly common for pilgrims and visitors to ask the monks to bless significant items, such as prayer beads or bracelets. But to ask a monk to imbue an old medium format camera with good fortune and protection was apparently a first!
"I blessed a Hasselblad camera at the Shaolin Temple," wrote Pi Zidong, a Beijing car culture photographer, on Chinese social media site Weibo.
"The master said that I was the first person to do this. Now that the camera has been blessed, I wish that all the people I photograph with this camera in the future will be healthy, happy, safe and blessed!"
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Photographer Pi Zidong, from Beijing, took his Hasselblad (500C?) to the Shaolin Temple(Image credit: Weibo: Photographer Pi Zidong)
"The master said that I was the first person to do this," said Pi(Image credit: Weibo: Photographer Pi Zidong)
As you might imagine, the idea of a film camera (which looks to be a Hasselblad 500C) being "enlightened" by the teachings of Buddha generated some well-natured comments from other users.
"Will the light metering be inaccurate in the future?" asked BBBOOSS, while zb2759 pondered, "Should the first photo be taken at night?"
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User Mayfly World scored points with the game geek in me when they asked, "Will there be camera effects like in Zero: Crimson Butterfly?" referring to the Fatal Frame series of horror videogames (known as Zero in Asia) where a special film camera can exorcize spirits.
However, the trophy for best comment goes to Camera Obsession (who I must thank for drawing my attention to the post) for writing, "Buddha's light blesses me, I will consciously reduce the shutter speed by 1/3 when taking photos in the future."
Maybe I'll stop by my local Buddhist vihara next time I'm in town and see if they'll bless my camera kit…
A Shaolin monk blessing guests from visitors – including Pi's Hasselblad (Image credit: Weibo: Photographer Pi Zidong)
James has 22 years experience as a journalist, serving as editor of Digital Camera World for 6 of them. He started working in the photography industry in 2014, product testing and shooting ad campaigns for Olympus, as well as clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal. An Olympus / OM System, Canon and Hasselblad shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and he loves instant cameras, too.
