The tranquility of a temple has always been attractive to Shanghainese city folk under greater life and work pressure than their provincial counterparts. In response to this, one well-known temple in Shanghai began offering free meditative sessions to residents earlier this year.

The meditation course, which generously sought to give busy workers a quiet place away from stock market quotes and buzzing electronic devices, was welcomed by locals when it was first introduced in July, during which 500 applications were received in the first four days of its launch.

However, the course, which included free accommodations, food and monk-style hemp clothing, became so popular over the summer following a slew of positive media coverage, that the temple could not keep up with all the applications.

As such, the temple recently started charging its practitioners for the privilege. A 2,000 yuan ($315.08) fee is now required to attend the temple's seven-day course, and even though administrators say that this money will go toward charitable projects across China, complaints have erupted on social media.

Most of the criticism is from netizens of the opinion that the temple has turned a spiritual activity into a business. Others are accusing the monks who run the temple of duping the public into paying by originally offering the sessions for free, which resulted in publicity and positive word-of-mouth.

What's ironic about all the recent controversy, however, is that most of the complaints are coming from white-collar workers who can afford the fee - less than 300 yuan per day for room, board, spiritual counseling and other amenities - forgetting that the Buddhist temple exists to house monks, not trendy urbanites.

Many ancient temples in China never even open their doors to the public. Temples are considered consecrated grounds for monks and the spiritually devout, and any that allow tourists are doing so out of their own good nature despite the interruptions that it causes the monks therein.

Jade Buddha Temple is hardly the country's oldest temple. It was founded in the late 1800s, which is just yesteryear in China's vast 5,000-year history. But over the centuries it has remained one of Shanghai's most respected monuments, and stands in stark contrast to all the modern structures that have been built around it there in Putuo district.

Although the temple arranged symbolic tonsure, initiations and secularization ceremonies for the participants of its meditation course, most of these participants were there only for the novelty of it all; something to show off on their WeChat moments. Look at me! Look how stressful my life in Shanghai is that I have to go to a temple to relax!

But this is where everyone got it wrong, because no temple is intended as "a place to relax," which is how many local workers who attended the course described it on their social media. Temples are, by nature, hallowed grounds and houses of worship. Jade Buddha Temple draws from the traditions of Mahayana Buddhism - that is to say, seeking complete enlightenment by devoting oneself to perfection.

Undeniably, few if any of the urban attendees of this course hold any deep religious beliefs, nor can we reasonably expect any of them to go on to a life devoted to the teachings of Buddha. Their presence, therefore, is one of disrespect to those who do.

The audacity, then, of those who refuse to show respect to the temple and its teachers by paying such a small sum, is the real controversy!

Alternatively, those who may have some short-term curiosity about Buddhism and are willing to make a donation to this temple, which certainly does not operate for free in such prime real estate, is just one way we can help preserve such a treasured landmark.

But really, no outsider, regardless of faith or creed, is in any position to comment on this issue. As an autonomous entity, the temple can charge whatever it wants to laypersons, just as it has the right to completely cancel the meditation sessions should they so choose. In fact, locking out all the naysayers would be the real zen thing to do.