Buddhist monks enjoy debating, and in some monasteries they get very animated about it. The standing monk asks a question, and the seated monk has to answer – they get a virtual slapping if they don’t get it right. I think questions like “when was the Battle of Hastings?” and “what was Chairman Mao’s favourite colour?” are popular.
In case the photos just aren’t capturing the spirit of it, here’s Debating Monks: The Movie…
Related Images:
Quite extraordinary! I can imagine paying to see that at the Barbican theatre!
The monks keep up the debating for 2 hours, so it would definitely make a good performance piece – in fact some of them were struggling not to grin and glancing regularly at us tourists, so I have to wonder to what extent it’s already a show! Thanks for the comment – we appreciate getting ’em.