A Response

The following is my response to Christian’s comments in the last post. I think he brings up some very good points.  I’m curious to hear other people’s response.

“...the Buddha gave signs of decline of the doctrine, amongst which the attachment to rituals.”

Isn’t the Vajrayana a huge part of the problem then with all its rituals? Actually, I would argue that the presence of rituals in a tradition does not mean there is attachment to empty rituals.  You seem to be suggesting that the use of ritual in the Korean and other traditions is empty.

“..but I thought that Mahayana, as opposed (rhetorically) to Theravada, was the bodhisattva way, so monks should encourage laity to practise the praj~na too, right?

I can’t speak for every tradition around the world, but I’ve never met a monastic who told the laity, “We do the mediation, so you just give us money.” However, in any society where Buddhism has become the dominant religion, most people don’t meditate, even in meditation traditions.  That’s their choice and it’s not the monks fault.  In fact, the Korean traditions do offer meditation training for lay people and retreats on various practices.  I know a Korean nun here, for example, who for more than 15 years as a lay person participated in such retreats right along side the monastics, though she didn’t do the three-month retreat offered twice a year in the Jogye order because she couldn't.

“Keep in mind too that rituals in

Korea

are most probably the main source of income for the monasteries in

Korea

, so they are a double-edged sword for the monastics...”

That’s absolutely the same for the Tibetans and probably every other form of Buddhism on the planet, except for some of the Zen traditions in the West now that rely on selling spaces in meditation retreats.  Without that support, however, the institutions of the Dharma would not survive and the institutions are necessary to carry the tradition on to the next generation.

“I don't like the idea of monks living in the mountains and relying on the credulity (prayers to deities as if they really existed, or prayers to spirit of the mountains, so the kid passes his exams) and laziness (no meditation at all, little knowledge of ethics --- you'll see buddhists eating animals alive here, or asking for fishes and seefood to be killed for them) of the laity.”

Again, the Tibetans equally rely on performing rituals in return for offerings for a laity that largely doesn’t do much beyond chant some mantras. You seem to be pointing a finger at the monastic sangha in

Korea

without recognizing the same situation in other traditions.  That seems a bit disingenuous to me.  Don’t even get me started about “lamas” who sleep with their students (I don’t buy that nonsense about “crazy wisdom” when it crosses the line of the root precepts, but that’s another subject). There’s also one Tibetan lama (not monastic) in charge of a rather large lay community here in the West who eats up about one third of this organizations annual budget on his “household expenses” according to the organizations own published annual budget. But even if you saw a lot of bad behavior in

Korea

and even if there is equally bad behavior in the Tibetan sangha and other traditions, that doesn’t mean all monastics or even the majority are bad or that the monastic path is invalid.  Frankly, I'd say more laypeople need to step up to the plate when it comes to formal practice.

It seems that a lot of Western laypeople have this “us against them” attitude when it comes to the ordained sangha. It shouldn’t be like that.  The Buddha said that in order for the Dharma to be present in a land there must be monks, nuns, lay men and lay women.  We’re all in it together.  Of course, Christian didn’t express this opinion directly, but I wanted to take the opportunity to address the issue.

Comments

[m]

can I add your blog to my fav.list?

[Christian]

I agree with your comments, Gyatso.

My criticism is not targeted to Korean monastics only, but since I am more familiar with Korean monasteries, I focused on this example.

I don't think that rituals are empty, devoided of meaning or efficiency, and they certainly have their usefulness for those taking part to them with the proper state of mind. But this is mainly (I insist on this), mainly what is offered to the laity and it is tacitly understood (I insist on tacitly) by the laity that rituals are what they pay for. There is a lot of feel-good superstition going on on one part and easy business on the other part. (All this is about what I know a little, just a little, that is, Korea.)

I am aware of the retreat programs opened to the laity in Korea, but my point was that the monks should incite the people to practice meditation on a regular basis. (By the way, the Temple Stay program started only in 2002, as part of the Soccer World Cup and I believe that most of the attendee nowadays are foreigners, not Koreans. But you refer to other retreats, I am sure.)

Don't get me wrong, I have the higest esteem for monastics and I do believe they are necessary for the doctrine to flourish, but at the same time they are a weak point. Note how where the monasteries are destroyed, the dharma disappears. Is this good?

I cannot wait to read about your experience in Korea as an insider...