Wuhan Buddhist Temple Tried to Give Away Free Vegetables, Accidentally Became a Meme

Two months after the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic opened back up after lockdown, a Buddhist temple provides some much-needed community spirit.

The monks of Wuhan’s Lingquan Temple, which is over 1,300 years old, posted on their Weibo page last week that they had accidentally planted too many vegetables and needed the public’s help in picking some.

However, it seems that they underestimated Wuhan’s enthusiasm for communal activity after 11 weeks of staying inside.

The monks quickly became inundated with applications from excited would-be vegetable-pickers — so much so that they were forced to retract the offer after only three hours.

In an apologetic follow-up Weibo post, they announced that they would be temporarily closing the vegetable garden to the public, and promised to notify people of the next opportunity for vegetable-picking fun.

In another apologetic Weibo post, they “humbly beg everyone” to calm down, “otherwise we will have to buy vegetables next month.”

They also shared this surprisingly apt meme, captioned “seem to have passed on to Nirvana.” The text above reads, “We’re shivering… The vegetables in our garden are not enough.”

Who knew Buddhist monks were so Weibo-savvy? Here’s to hoping three hours of veggie-picking was enough to brighten the city’s day.

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Article Jun 11, 2018