Monks Discussing Enlightenment

This is a picture of two monks at the Lingyin Temple discussing the best way to achieve nirvana...or perhaps they are discussing the latest political maneuverings within the Chinese Communist Party...then again, they may be going over the revenue figures from the monastery's booming tourist business.  The Lingyin Temple is a fascinating hybrid of religion, politics and commerce, with real monks engaged in some very unmonklike behavior at times, a fascinating example of the ongoing and complex interaction of the different spheres of social life that makes China so interesting and so complicated.