Buddhist choir from China visits the Gate City for choral festival
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POCATELLO – At the end of the Idaho International Choral Festival in Pocatello, there were children and young teenagers playing games together. Some of these young people have bald heads and wear light blue robes. They are part of the Tiantai Temple Buddhism Conservatory Dawn Choir — the first monk choir in Buddhist history.
In the cross cultural exchange that is the choral festival, the Dawn Choir came to spread their message of peace to the community. Shi Wule, the conductor of the Dawn Choir, said they intend to share that message with the whole world.
“My orchestra and choir — we have a mission. We want to promote the friendship of the world and the peace between the world and the friendship of the people,” Wule said.
Speaking through a translator, Wule spoke to EastIdahoNews.com about the choir and their experience coming to the Gate City. Wule said choir members have enjoyed their visit because they’ve spent time “around mountains and (nature) and very nice people.”
“The people here are very, very friendly. Their hospitality has really moved us,” Wule said.
But before the Dawn Choir came to Idaho, it started in the Tiantai Temple in Hong-an County of China’s Hubei Province. Wule said that because Buddhism is about mercy, the temple took in homeless children and orphans over the past decade.
“We spent years just trying to teach them music and practice music, and after that we accumulated enough people and then we founded the choir,” Wule said
Wule said the life of a Buddhist monk is “very busy everyday.”
In the morning, the monks will get up early to begin their worship. They practice playing their instruments, singing and dancing. Then they run the temple by cleaning, taking care of the plants and vegetables around it and doing administrative work.
In a letter Wule sent to Idaho State University, which puts on the choral festival, he explains that he faced legal challenges in China because the government rules that “people cannot have religious beliefs under the age of 18.”
In 2019, Wule decided to leave and take the monks to Madagascar, where they now preach Dharma. Dharma is defined as the nature of reality regarded as a universal truth taught by Buddha. They went to Madagascar because a person that Wule knew, who isn’t buddhist but supports the religion, invited them.
Even while they worked to build a temple in Madagascar, the choir never stopped rehearsing. Wule said they were honored to come to Idaho for the choral festival.
Scott Anderson, the Director of Choral Activities at ISU, said the Dawn Choir made “a really special addition” to the festival.
“They made us feel like this was truly an international event, and then it we found out the rarity of that. They’re probably the only choir of its kind in the world. It really made us feel that we were making history here,” Anderson said.
In their three weeks in Pocatello, the Dawn Choir met with local and international choirs. They also held concerts, where they were able to spread their message of peace and friendship.
On July 17, Wule and the rest of the choir had an early flight out of Salt Lake City to return to Madagascar. On July 16 — the last day of the choral festival — Wule felt like he already missed the Gate City.
“It’s like a garden — God’s garden city,” Wule said.