SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:

Walking in the warm rain at Lingyin Chan (Zen) Buddhist Temple was the highlight of my trip to China.

The temple is in a scenic area near Hangzhou and it features Buddhist rock carvings, streams, pagodas, sculpture halls and the largest wooden Buddha in China.

Local people, Chinese tourists and Californians all mingle at this thriving religious center.

The Rev. Carol Aguilar and I found ourselves sitting in the pews of the Beijing Kuanjie Christian Church, where during the Olympics President Bush called for more religious freedom in China. Those of underground, “house” or independent churches in the Catholic as well as Protestant traditions continue to experience persecution.

Carol and I ducked into an obscure Confucian Temple in Suzhou, a steadfast reminder that Confucian values are the foundation of Chinese culture.

Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun reported last month that the Catholic Church in Hong Kong has developed a dialogue with those followers of Confucianism who are preserving “the precious heritage of Chinese wisdom.”

Being part of a tour group was a new experience for me. Our Bus J2 tribe consisted of folks ranging in age from 43 to 87. We were from different faith backgrounds, including some who were unaffiliated.

We were diverse in ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation and presidential politics.

We needed to help one another with the uncertainties of travel, and that became an important part of the travel experience.

A tourist cannot miss the construction, modernization and commerce boom in China. It is harder to see the other face of China, the spiritual values and traditional culture of ordinary people and, like everywhere in the world, the suffering of those who are struggling for food and shelter. Our visits to religious sites, our meal with a family in a hutong (“ancient alley”), our extensive interactions with our Chinese guides and our own travel group all contributed to an expansion of my appreciation of global community.

DEBORAH BARRETT is a minister and teacher at the Zen Center of Orange County in Costa Mesa.