Buddhism has a history of thousands of years in China, and the main carrier of Buddhism is the Sangha, that is, the team of monks. But I have to say that the impression of monks among Chinese people is getting worse and worse, especially the impression of monks by people near tem

Buddhism has a history of thousands of years in China, and the main carrier of Buddhism is the Sangha, that is, the team of monks. But I have to say that the impression of monks among Chinese people is getting worse and worse, especially the impression of monks by people near temples. Wherever many monasteries are built, the people's dislike of monks extends wherever they are built.

I used to live in a relatively famous monastery in my country. One day I took a package and took a bus to the post office to mail it. The driver of the bus saw that I was wearing monk clothes and started to sarcastically ask, "Isn't your package filled with money?" You monks are all very rich!

I could only reply to him lightly, this is just an ordinary package, how could it be money?

I know that my explanation is weak, because he already has a very bad impression of the monks of this famous monastery. Another time, I accompanied other monks to the market to buy vegetables. Next to the vegetable stall was a seafood seller. The proprietress of the seafood stall shouted to us, "Monk, come and buy some seafood!" I replied directly to her that we monks do not eat seafood. As a result, the proprietress shouted loudly, "Who said you monks don't eat seafood?" Other monks buy seafood from me!

From her words, I knew she must have a bad impression of the monk!

The reason is that Chinese people generally have a bad impression of monks. The most important thing is that the monks do not follow the Buddhist rules and regulations. Now the monks are in great danger due to corruption, extravagance and waste, and fraud!

On June 8 this year, relevant departments also mentioned: “However, for some time, bad habits such as greed for wealth and extravagance, borrowing money from teaching, extravagance and waste have spread in the religious field, which has corrupted the religious style, damaged the image of religious society, and eroded the healthy inheritance of religion. "

We ordinary people rarely hear that the national anti-corruption department investigates the monks and investigates every monastery to see if there are any bad behaviors such as corruption. But this is implemented in Thailand. Although Thailand is a Buddhist country and local people respect Buddhism very much, the more they respect Buddhism, the more corruption must be eliminated.

On February 18 this year, Thailand’s Headline News Agency said: “Thailand’s Nakhon Nayok police, the National Corruption Suppression Commission, and civil servants from various relevant departments announced the ‘cleanup of temple corruption.’”

Thailand.com also reported: "On February 18, the Thai police launched an operation to crack down on temple corruption."

The corruption of temple monks is like a cancer. The only way to remove the cancer is before it has completely spread throughout the body. The sooner it is removed, the less harmful it will be. But before removing the cancer, you must first realize that it is a cancer. If the cancer is regarded as a sign of health and the cancer is allowed to develop, it will eventually lead to the death of the body.

Xuan Fang, who is currently an associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Renmin University of China and a researcher at the Institute of Buddhist and Religious Theory, gave us a lecture on Buddhism a few years ago. He said that there are many great monks from famous monasteries, who are considered eminent monks by Buddhist believers. During the conversation, these famous monks strayed into heretics while talking. It was precisely because the national religious department saw that some great monks had very poor foundation in Buddhism that they asked the abbots of famous large temples in the country to go to Renmin University of China for training in religious and cultural knowledge, and Xuan Fang was one of the teachers responsible for the training.

When he said this, we couldn't help but sigh. Usually Buddhists admire the abbots and monks of famous temples, but it turns out that they are not necessarily that high.

Many years ago, Master Jie Chuan of Pingxing Temple in Taimu Mountain, when we were receiving the three great ordination, he pointed out in his sermons to us that some of the so-called abbots and eminent monks of big Buddhist temples do not have high morals, high cultivation, or high opinions. Their height is just high blood pressure, high blood lipids, high blood sugar, . They only attend meetings everywhere, and they think they are promoting Buddhism.

Master Jiexuan’s words are indeed telling the truth!

There is indeed a serious corruption problem among Chinese monks, which needs to be solved urgently! This was already quite obvious as early as the Republic of China. Master Yin Guang, one of the four eminent monks during the Republic of China, repeatedly pointed out that the current situation of the monks at that time was: "Most of the monks today are despicable and scoundrels. There are not many people who want to be leisurely and casual, fast and chant the Buddha. How can they carry on their family business and continue their wise life?" "If you have a little confidence and no big ambitions, and want to use the name of a monk, you are just doing nothing. If you don't commit any evil deeds, you will be a ruin of the country. If you break the precepts and create karma, it will bring disgrace to Buddhism. Even if you decide to die and fall into hell, it will be of no benefit to you. If this is the case, how much more can you do if you have many?"

It is precisely because of the large number of bad elements in the ranks of monks. Therefore, the eminent monk Master Yinguang of the Republic of China did not persuade others to become monks. He believes that most people will become lazy and lazy people after becoming monks, which is considered a good thing. As for the bad ones, they eat meat, drink alcohol, and do all kinds of evil deeds. It is precisely because of this that he never ordains or accepts disciples in his life.

This is mentioned in the "Fu Fengchen Lay Book" written by the eminent monk Yinguang Master: "In the fifty-five years since he became a monk, Guang never taught anyone a word about becoming a monk. Nowadays, when people become a monk, they all become lazy and lazy. This is Those who are above will violate the precepts and do anything. Therefore, I vow not to accept disciples or persuade others to become monks." Master Yin Guang believes that the bad luck of Buddhism is due to the decline of the quality of the Sangha. However, many great monks during the Republic of China seemed to be in a dream, unaware of the coming misfortune of Buddhism. They were just greedy for fame and fortune and liked to ordain disciples. It was precisely because of the existence of these great monks that they accelerated the decline of Buddhism. The eminent monk Yin Guang was deeply saddened by this. He also said in "The Book of Buddhist Reunion": "The doom of Buddhism has come now, until it is no longer possible. A group of dreamy monks only know fame and wealth, love their families, and do not talk about true practice. They only care about recruiting too many disciples, teaching too many precepts, and too many people. The disciples use this to expand the momentum of their own Taoism, which leads to today's situation. "

The only thing that pleased Master Yinguang was that there were still some enthusiastic lay people who were maintaining Buddhism. If it weren't for the maintenance of these lay people, Buddhism would have been destroyed long ago. Master Yinguang believes in "The Book of the Layman Boqiu Fuzhou": "People in Buddhism all dream, regardless of the general situation, and just want to do what they want, so that the Dharma is declining day by day, and the outside world is insulting the people. Fortunately, there is a group of laymen who protect it, and it has not yet disappeared. Otherwise, the name of Buddhism has long been unknown in today's world. Recently, the badness of people's hearts has become extremely bad, and there are Practitioners have a lot of feelings, but they can still be maintained for a while, otherwise they will be annihilated. "

Many people may think that monks are better at lay people than monks, but this is only a one-sided understanding of many people. In what Buddhists call the Dharma-Ending Period, it is often more lay people who have real confidence in learning, while monks do not really practice learning. Just as it is said in "The Lotus Face Sutra": "In the future, many lay people in white clothes will be reborn in heaven, and many monks will fall into hell as hungry ghosts and beasts."

Therefore, if Buddhists want to improve the image of monks among the people, they must clean up the original source of the monks, remove the cancer, and improve the bad behavior of the monks. Only then can there be a way out. And it is definitely not just singing praises and whitewashing peace!

is like a dynasty, which has serious problems and internal corruption.If a group of treacherous officials still blindly treat deer as horses and flatter them, the more they do this, the more they will accelerate internal corruption. At this moment, someone should stand up and tell the truth. Only if more and more Buddhist believers recognize the problem and want to solve it, can the Buddhist problem be solved! If no one recognizes

, how can we solve it? Every man is responsible for the rise and fall of a country. Every monk and every layman has a responsibility for the rise and fall of the monks. Instead of being a fan of peace and flattery, what we want is to state the problem directly and face it squarely!

Master Zibai said that he has been wandering around the world for more than thirty years, and his footprints are all over the world. Wherever he goes, whenever he sees monks and Taoist priests , most of them are full and addicted to sleep, and the words he talks are exaggerated, untrue, and have no basis. Moreover, they committed all kinds of scandals and tarnished Buddhism and Taoism, because these monks and Taoists lost the confidence of others to learn Buddhism and Taoism. The words of the eminent monk: " I have been wandering around the world for more than 30 years, and my footprints are all over the world. Everywhere I see the flowing yellow crown, I often sleep with too much food, talk without roots, be ugly and do nothing, tainting the Buddha and old people's confidence. "

The eminent monk's attitude of daring to speak out about the problems of the Sangha is really worth learning!