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Do you think fake Buddhist monks are becoming a problem?

hermitwinhermitwin Veteran
edited March 2011 in General Banter
Some people use religion to make money.
Buddhism is no exception. I have met 'monks' who are only interested
in collecting donations.

Comments

  • hermitwinhermitwin Veteran
    Religious organisations do not pay taxes, so its perfect for fraudsters.
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    Where have you run into this, hermit? US? Europe? Asia? Can you tell us a little more?
  • NomaDBuddhaNomaDBuddha Scalpel wielder :) Bucharest Veteran
    edited March 2011
    Some people use religion to make money.
    Buddhism is no exception. I have met 'monks' who are only interested
    in collecting donations.
    Old thing. Well, I guess you know the zen story of the "Silent master" ( I don't remember it's real name) ... even a scammer can prove to be a good teacher at some point, adding the condition that the so called teacher really knows something about 'X' , in our case, buddhism.
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    Yeah, 'cause if you have one and it breaks, the real Buddhists won't honor the warranty...
  • RogerRoger
    edited March 2011
    I think it's like PC and Mac viruses. You get more infections if you write software to infect PCs. Buddhist frauds? Not much money in that. Better to get yourself on TV proselytizing from a [insert major religion here] affiliation while constantly asking for money.

    Would be very interesting to see a (fake?) Buddhist monk with houses, yachts and cars. Hey! THAT might make a great TV sitcom! :D
  • StaticToyboxStaticToybox Veteran
    I'm sure there's some fraudsters posing as Buddhists out there, but I can't imagine it's all that many.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited March 2011
    "Do you think fake monks are becoming a problem?" Read the thread on "Girlfriend got naked per instructions from lama", and decide.
  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    ''I think it's like PC and Mac viruses. You get more infections if you write software to infect PCs. Buddhist frauds? Not much money in that. Better to get yourself on TV proselytizing from a [insert major religion here] affiliation while constantly asking for money.''

    Here in Thailand on an island called koh chang, there is a temple at the top of a mountain and you would not believe how much money gets donated to the monks there. Here in thailand most of the 'buddhists' who are born buddhist see it as a something that brings good luck. Good luck if you make a donation, good luck if you burn incense and pray, good luck if you have a specific mala.
    There was a monk sat at the top of this mountain that I spoke of and there was a huge glass box full of bank notes where thai people and tourists would come and donate money whilst the monk merely sat there.

    I have seen a monk with an ATM card, and I have seen many monks who smoke. Of course there is corruption everywhere and in everything, but you can do nothing to prevent it really, so let it be :)
  • hermitwinhermitwin Veteran
    Money & religion should not mix.
  • hermitwinhermitwin Veteran
    IMO, Sex & religion shd not mix either.
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