The unjust treament of Buddists in South Korea

BruceLao · Veteran Member

The unjust treament of Buddists in South Korea

Date: Aug 28, 2008

The government must take care to this case if the Buddist monk unhappy and protesting it may somthing happen in that country, please remind to Burma, Tibet and Afganistan

Date: Aug 28, 2008

It's out of the Bhudism idea, that the monks have to be happy.
their duty is to sacrifying and helping ppl.

Lan_Xang · Guru

I support any activist Buddhists or monks to a point. I believe in peaceful march to make out point but we should not be fighting the riot police, throwing rock and burning car.

Bruce, what sort of reform are you referring to. Please give some examples/cases.

BruceLao · Veteran Member

Lan_Xang wrote:

I support any activist Buddhists or monks to a point. I believe in peaceful march to make out point but we should not be fighting the riot police, throwing rock and burning car.

Bruce, what sort of reform are you referring to. Please give some examples/cases.

Yes, the initiation of reform is needed eventhough the decline in Buddhism practitioners is still in a hypothetical stage of our rational concerns but it does not necessarily mean it won’t happen. The government must pass the law mandating certain numbers of hours for religious study beginning with elementary school all the way to high school. Students should enroll in these prerequisites prior to issuance of a certificate or diploma. I think our Laotian Buddhists practice the Theravada version instead of Mahayana (?) we need to mix social study with religion because of its interrelations and so much beauty in it. The fixation should be about the origin of Buddhism, how it got to Laos, its moderate commandments, the purpose of preserving it, the peaceful philosophical contents, and the encouragement to pass on for posterity.
Another possible reform would be inside the temple itself. Any violations of rules by any of its hierarchy should be punished accordingly and not just low ranking monks. Publication in English should me made available in any temples or places where potential tourists can have access to it upon requests. The inflow and outflow of money should be monitored closely by the assigned persons within each temple and minimum salary should be allowed among disciples of Buddhism. Donations from government or private businesses should be made well-known and highly praised throughout news/ media in Laos. Ok Lan Xang, this is it for now. It’s ok if you may disagree with me.

-- Edited by BruceLao at 20:18, 2008-08-28

-- Edited by BruceLao at 20:23, 2008-08-28

Date: Aug 28, 2008

I believe every person should have the freedom to choose any religion that he wants to patronize. And everyone should respect this choice, then live together harmoniously. It's all about respect.

http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2008/08/splendor-in-isabela-churches-part-1.html

Lan_Xang · Guru

Bruce,

I have to disagree on the salary portion. Monks should not have salary. That is going against what Buddha taught.

BruceLao · Veteran Member

Lan_Xang wrote:

Bruce,

I have to disagree on the salary portion. Monks should not have salary. That is going against what Buddha taught.

Mathematically speaking, it’s a very small number of men from wealthy family would want to be ordained and practiced a religion for years. Based on my own observation, most monks who voluntarily threw themselves in the temple were not from middle-class family, but were all poor farmers tired of hard life. I couldn’t imagine myself being exposed to the sun or the rain in the rice paddy on a daily basis and only returned home after dark. That’s what had happened to many Laotian men in those days. They either joined the temple or joined the army since neither required any education and that was the only way out of rice fields. Therefore, by allowing small salary would be an incentive for them and could very well help their families. Our monks do save their money that they earn through sermonizing public and send home occasionally. Please understand that Lord Buddha was born long before the word salary even exists; as I had said earlier about reforming and adapting to a modern time. You just can’t simply live with the past. I told you religion, tradition, culture have good and bad, weakness and strength. Christians for example, aggressively oppose abortion rights claiming it’s against the Lord’s preaching or the Lord’s law, but no such vocabulary as “Abortion” when Christ was born. Medical science and electricity simply didn’t exist. There is nothing wrong to respect culture and tradition, but doesn’t mean you have to be bound by it. Just like amendment of rules and constitution which also base on current situations not base on generation of 200 years ago.

Lan_Xang · Guru

Bruce,

We just have to disagree on this.

Joining the temple and becoming a Buddhist monk is not an escape from poverty. Matter of fact it is a journey into more poverty and suffering. You are worst off becoming monk. You don't have money, you can't have luxury items, you can't grow your own food, can't kill to feed yourself. You are at a mercy of the lay community. You dependent of them. Lord Buddha was a prince. He gave that up to become a hermit. So becoming is not an escape from poverty or everyday suffering. It should never be that. Becoming monk is a way to understand why there is poverty and suffering.

Having salary is like a job. Being a monk is not a job and it shouldn't never be that. It doesn't matter if there was salary or not back in Lord Buddha time but there was currency of golds and silvers. Buddha spoke of it. I am not saying monks should not have money. I am saying monk should not have salary. Monk should only have whatever people offer to them. Even during Lord Buddha time his monk does not carry money. Monks have an assign person that take care of that for them. He spoke of that as well.

On Abortion--yes that word did not exist until recent time. English language didn't even exist. But what does Abortion/Aborting mean? it basically mean to kill to get rid of. Lord Jesus said we should not kill, when you abort a baby is not the same as killing?

BruceLao · Veteran Member

Lan_Xang wrote:

Bruce,

We just have to disagree on this.

Joining the temple and becoming a Buddhist monk is not an escape from poverty. Matter of fact it is a journey into more poverty and suffering. You are worst off becoming monk. You don't have money, you can't have luxury items, you can't grow your own food, can't kill to feed yourself. You are at a mercy of the lay community. You dependent of them. Lord Buddha was a prince. He gave that up to become a hermit. So becoming is not an escape from poverty or everyday suffering. It should never be that. Becoming monk is a way to understand why there is poverty and suffering.

Having salary is like a job. Being a monk is not a job and it shouldn't never be that. It doesn't matter if there was salary or not back in Lord Buddha time but there was currency of golds and silvers. Buddha spoke of it. I am not saying monks should not have money. I am saying monk should not have salary. Monk should only have whatever people offer to them. Even during Lord Buddha time his monk does not carry money. Monks have an assign person that take care of that for them. He spoke of that as well.

On Abortion--yes that word did not exist until recent time. English language didn't even exist. But what does Abortion/Aborting mean? it basically mean to kill to get rid of. Lord Jesus said we should not kill, when you abort a baby is not the same as killing?

Sadly, in the 70s, 80s majority of Laotians did not have a way to escape from poverty even becoming a soldier still facing poverty with a minimal salary; trust me, I know it too well. So, it’s not really an escape from poverty, but as I mentioned in my post, many voluntarily departed families and joined the temple to escape from rice paddy which many view as physical suffering. Poverty does not necessary mean physical suffering, but being a poor farmer is 1000% believe it or not. You expose yourself to the sun, the rain all day bending over in the rice field. I had witnessed in my very own eyes. In Thakhek for example, there was a school for monks called “Seuk sa song” at Vatnabo and those disciples were all from a countryside. Becoming a monk was the only choice if they wanted to attend the school. I knew them through bones based on my numerous interactions with them. They are just human like you and me. They liked country music from Thailand, they liked to glance at pretty women; it’s a fact of life.Lord Buddha might be the exception, who left a wealthy family mainly for the purpose of region, but again to me, this is only mystical in nature; none of us would have known for sure. Catholic priests, Protestant ministers for example, earn a decent living and they all have salaries. I am not so caught up with any religion, but I respect the beauty of it. You know very well Buddha was born in the tropical nation between the border of Nepal and India. If he would have been born in Alaska during a winter season, I just don’t think he could be out there meditating at night since it was too damn cold with the Fahrenheit below frozen level .LolCatholics are whole bunch of hypocrites and I am tired of feeding them. Their Pope keeps condemning any forms of contraception; they don’t believe in pregnancy prevention let alone abortion. The more kids they have the better for Vatican because the members are on the rise. Millions of Latin from Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and the list go on, are all Catholics with so many kids because they are bound by their religions, they don’t believe in any forms of contraception and they are so damn poor coming to U.S living off Welfare. It’s no wonder why Catholics are now numbered above 1.1 billion. The same as Muslim men still practice polygamy having so many wives is quite acceptable per their Prophet Mohamed and more kids. As of 2008, the members are in number 1.2 billion first time in history that they are greater than Catholics. Amen! cry

-- Edited by BruceLao at 08:17, 2008-08-29

-- Edited by BruceLao at 08:17, 2008-08-29