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EDITORIAL: The mess some monks create


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What a disgusting display.

Lord Buddha would be most pissed off,  to see this type of thing if he was alive today.

It's even Phallic as well,   what are they thinking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah,  therein lies the problem.   Business as usual, rubber stampped by all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

MoneyTrees.thumb.JPG.12ba52daf5f23cd907f5e246c744a7d0.JPG

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11 minutes ago, stanleycoin said:

What a disgusting display.

Lord Buddha would be most pissed off,  to see this type of thing if he was alive today.

It's even Phallic as well,   what are they thinking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah,  therein lies the problem.   Business as usual, rubber stampped by all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

MoneyTrees.thumb.JPG.12ba52daf5f23cd907f5e246c744a7d0.JPG

But that is because it isn't Buddhism as such but an astonishing mix of Animism,Hinduism and Theravada Buddhism-with a bit of Confucius tossed into the powerful brew as well.

 

You see the same sort of naked display of wealth at Hindu temples and ceremonies..as for phallic..

 

The local women's shrine in my village..

 

Having said all that I must "confess" that the most tasteless and horrible display of wealth I saw was the Cathedral in Toledo,Spain.It took no imagination at all to figure out that all the gold and silver had been extorted from the native populations of Central and South America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSCN0968.JPG

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7 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

But that is because it isn't Buddhism as such but an astonishing mix of Animism,Hinduism and Theravada Buddhism-with a bit of Confucius tossed into the powerful brew as well.

 

You see the same sort of naked display of wealth at Hindu temples and ceremonies..as for phallic..

 

The local women's shrine in my village..

 

Having said all that I must "confess" that the most tasteless and horrible display of wealth I saw was the Cathedral in Toledo,Spain.It took no imagination at all to figure out that all the gold and silver had been extorted from the native populations of Central and South America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSCN0968.JPG

Hope they use lube !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

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On 4/25/2018 at 4:57 PM, colinneil said:

Sad thing is nearly all the men who now become monks only do it to make money.

The people running temples are screwing every bit of money out of the scams they are running as they can.

Slowly very slowly the gullible folk are waking up to what is going on.

5 years ago my wife would be up early preparing/ cooking food for the monks, slowly she stopped doing it, because of the scams at our local temple, now she does not do it, she stopped about a year ago.

It's very fortunate that you are a professional psychologist and personal adviser to so many senior monks, and so can properly advise as to their motivations for entering the monk-hood and the details of their lives, without the need to ever visit a temple yourself. Must be nice...

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On ‎26‎/‎4‎/‎2561 at 7:43 AM, connda said:

Actually, it has more to do with the role of money and wealth and money's impact on the fabric of the community of monks.  Wealth?  Yeah, unfortunately.

The Sangha, and by extension the Dhamma, is starting to unravel.  The days of forest monks and meditation masters barely subsisting on the handouts of rural farmers whose destinies and fortunes were tied to the eccentricity of weather and crops has been replaced by a debt-fueled society that is flush with cash, consumer toys, and bling.  And unfortunately, that pseudo-wealth is impacting not only the laity, but also the life's of the average monks.  How often do you see monks at malls and department stores?  How many monks do not have smart phones, computers, and personal electronics?  Most city and village monks that I know have personal electronics and spend a lot of time using them.  The average monk nowadays is more absorbed by the electronic minutiae of applications running on iOS or Android then by sila, samadhi, and panna; more absorbed by Angry Birds and Line Chat then by morality, meditation, and wisdom!
And how many Buddhist temples in Thailand are now charging money in order to visit the temples, or to stay at the temples, or to ordain at the temples as opposed to accepting the freely given contributions of the laity?  Many!  The Sangha has moved from living off of the generosity of the laity by accepting freely given contributions (dana), to that of a business model where actually charging for services is becoming the norm. 
This is completely counter to the tenets of Buddhism.  It's a corruption.  The corruption of money has moved from subtle to simply in-your-face in the decade plus that I've lived within the country.

The Sangha, and by extension the Dharma, are in peril. 

 

MoneyTrees.thumb.JPG.12ba52daf5f23cd907f5e246c744a7d0.JPG

Money trees made of 20 THB bills - Chiang Mai province, Thailand

That's true. Before the new Sangha Law of the dictator Sarit Thanarat in 1962 which did bind the Sate and Buddhism very closely together most temples were ruled by the village communities in a rather democratic way. They took care of each other. Monks were teachers, doctors and advisers in general. You could splash water over a monk during Songkran. Monks walked around in forests and villagers and did not hide in temples. Good old times. 

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21 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

But that is because it isn't Buddhism as such but an astonishing mix of Animism,Hinduism and Theravada Buddhism-with a bit of Confucius tossed into the powerful brew as well.

 

You see the same sort of naked display of wealth at Hindu temples and ceremonies..as for phallic

Reminds me of seeing a goat sacrificed in the Kali temple in Calcutta 

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