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Con Artists Dressed as Buddhist Monks
ThePensum
Explorer
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/con-artists-dressed-as-buddhist-monks-dupe-people-out-of-cash-in-sydney-20140108-30gt0.html
:-(
not just Sydney, but Perth as well.
:-(
not just Sydney, but Perth as well.
0
Comments
At the end of the day I was not impressed by this, so much mystical crap, buying food and stuff for your loved ones who are dead, and then sitting there wishing for good luck in the new year whilst a monk says things you do not understand.. This is in a very high ranked town in Thailand and in the main temple of this town as well. owel, @Vinyln knows how it is around here, I was not angry or disrespectful, I just did not go along with it, yet paid my 100 baht for the cause.
This may be wayyyyy off topic but I have not started my own thread lol, sorry OP.
Robes are easy to get. You can make your own our buy them online and no one will ask to see your Super-Secret Vajra Decoder Ring With Vinaya Clusters.
Forest Tradition monks still go on alms rounds, don't they? Monks asking for support isn't exactly unusual and I'm certain bogus monks have been going around fleecing unsuspecting tourists for centuries.
Maybe we should pass laws making monk impersonation a crime and punish them severely for offending our delicate sensibilities.
What I was getting at was not the con of money, just the way Buddhism is viewed and 'practiced' here. I must have looked like a wet weekend sat there listening to him chant away whilst the other 3 were praying. Buying food for your dead loved ones? getting blessed water thrown on you for good luck in the new year? Mystics everywhere lol
Whether you choose to participate, is up to you.
I always remember what a monk told me -- "Everything you see here (in the temple, including the temple, including the statues of Buddha) is not Buddhism." But, it may help the individual focus on Buddhism.
8 years ago I was in New York. Really struggling with my wife to get our 2 year old and baby somewhere that was peaceful and silent (no chance). I was having one of those living-hell moments, with both kids crying, nappy needed changing, it was lunch time, wife moaning because we were lost, and cross words were passing my lips. I just happened to glance across the street to see 5 buddhists sitting and doing some kind of practice on the kerb ). I didn't really have time to take it all in, but there was a calmness and serenity about them that calmed my mind, and within minutes I regained control, hailed a cab bundled my wife and kids into a cab and got back to the hotel.
They didn't ask for anything but gave me peace of mind. In my mind they were bodhisattvas. Whether they were really there or not I don't know - it just seemed odd that 5 people would sit randomly in the middle of all that hustle and bustle emanating peace and stillness just at the time I needed it.
I would question any buddhist monk who asked for anything other than just offering their empty bowel. If I saw one doing that I would fill it to overflowing!
There's an old man near where I shop who sits in a wheelchair at a busy intersection with a cardboard sign many days, rain or shine, summer or winter. I've seen the man wheeling himself home in the chair in the evening.
A clerk in a nearby store once told me he knows the man could actually walk because he's seen him get up and free the stuck wheelchair once. Don't know if it's true or not, but I still drop some change into the man's lap once in a while. A man doesn't have to be a cripple to earn my charity. He doesn't have to be honest, either. A man reduced to pretending he's crippled to live also deserves my compassion. A man reduced to pretending he's a monk to live may deserve compassion, also. Something to think about.
I've never agreed with the belief that giving to monks carries some special merit. If you give something with metta to a needy neighbor, it's the exact same merit as if you gave a meal to Buddha himself. A monk is just a man in a robe.
I will try not to harbor any ill will toward the next cash-asking monk I see. For they either need the money, or they are monks, who need the money. As far as merit goes, I don't think it matters whether they are actual monks or not, or actually homeless etc. The act of giving is your karma, your good intentions..
Bhikkhu may be literally translated as "beggar" or more broadly as "one who lives by alms". It is philologically analysed in the Pāli commentary of Buddhaghosa as "the person who sees danger (in samsara or cycle of rebirth)" (Pāli: Bhayaṃ ikkhatīti: bhikkhu). He therefore seeks ordination to release from it.[3] The Dhammapada states:[4]
“ [266-267] He is not a monk just because he lives on others' alms. Not by adopting outward form does one become a true monk. Whoever here (in the Dispensation) lives a holy life, transcending both merit and demerit, and walks with understanding in this world — he is truly called a monk.
so technically all monks are beggars, the ones who follow the vinaya can't use money or ASK for anything though(like in the article where they approach people for donations).
I highly suggest a great book called " Blistered feet, Blissful Mind" about monastics who go on Thudong(wandering) through england. There is a lot in there about how they cannot ask for stuff and the funny and inspiring experiences they had with regular people who were generous.
http://www.amazon.com/Blistered-Feet-Blissful-Mind-Price/dp/190608517X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389276225&sr=8-1&keywords=blistered+feet+blissful+mind
dodgy.
Some other tourists not so knowledgeable about Theravadan monasticism did actually give him some small money and bowed to him. The "monk" bowed back, placing the money in a pocket sewn into the robes...
Sigh.
I do not really have any ceremonies because I was never brought into a religion growing up, I chose to follow the teachings of the Buddha before I came to Thailand and when I did I had a shock, it is all magic, luck and spirits for the most part.
a) Why are people desperate enough to do that?
b) Why do some people have too much and others too little?
c) If the system rewards you for your wealth and not for your virtue, isn't it hypocritical to expect people to be virtuous?
And so on.......