bankei

There are plenty of cases involving Buddhists and violence, even involving monks.

See the Mahavamsa about Sri Lankan kings killing Tamils, around 200BC.

Even in modern Sri Lanka there are Buddhist monks that advocate war, and the killing of Tamils - do a search on youtube and you can see various videos with monks openly supporting this.

Thai/Burmese wars over the centuries often involved Buddhist elements. I remember one where the victor stole the Tipitaka from the loser and paraded it around boasting how they were more worthy, had more merit etc. Similar things happened with Laos and Thailand. Many of the Buddha statues were stolen and moved around - eg the Wat Phra Kao one.

Then there is East Asia. Monks at the lengendary Shaolin temple were engaging in war. They had joined various armies at various times for political reasons, then they gradually developed a reputation for martial arts. Various other non-shaolin monks in China also engaged in violence, with many fighting the Japanese early last century.

Korean monks did the same with monks soldiers fighting the Japanese invaders during the Imjin wars, during the 1600s I think. Sometimes today you can even see violent clashes with Korean monks on TV

In Japan there is a long history of monks/priests from different political factions fighting, especially in the Kyoto area in the temples around Mount Hiei.

Many Tibetan monks also were involved in the fighting of Chinese during the invasion, and even now.

Don't really know of any cases where people were forced to convert to Buddhism, but the Soka Gakkai/Nichiren mob were pretty famous, many years ago, for their attempts to force conversion to their sect. All other Buddhisms were wrong according to some of them.

The Thai government also used religion to try to tie in the Hill Tribe people. Monks were sent up the mountains and the people were taught useful things such as how to bow to monks and 'taam bun'.

There is a very good paper on the arguments for and against the reintorduction of Bhikkhuni ordination in Theravada by Bhikkhu Bodhi at:

http://bhikkhunicommittee.googlepages.com/...kni-Final-4.pdf

I ordained a few years ago and the whole thing ended up costing me a fortune. I think it was around 40,000 to 50,000B. There are various things you need to buy for yourself such as bowl, robes, hairbrush etc plus the monks participating expect donations - 2000B is the going rate for the preceptor. Generally people also make gifts to the monks at the ceremony (9 of them I think) - these are those little trays with toothpaste, towels etc and the ordinand's family usually organises the noon meal for a large number of monks too. Many Thai people also hire a band, maybe tent and chairs etc depending how many people are coming for the 'party'.

You will also need some money for the disrobing ceremony - eg. 5 monks with a donation of 200B each, flowers etc.

Bankei

How can a string bring good luck?

Dhamma Chaya Temple

More commonly "Dhammakaya" in Pali or "Thaamakaay" in thai.

ideally monks should not ask for money. But many legitimate monks do. There is no way of telling if a monk is properly ordained by whether they ask for money. Same goes for monks playing with mobile phones - looking at pictures etc. Good monks don't ask for money, but the average monk is not good.

I think one of the main problems with Bodhirak was that he started ordaining monks without being a licenced uppajaya (upatcha = preceptor). The vinaya states a monk needs to be ordained by a quorum of other monks (4 outside of the middle land, including one monk who acts as preceptor). The preceptor must have at least 10 years as a monk. In Thailand there are additional requirements with only monks passing exams and licencing being allowed to be preceptors. Bodhirak was acting as a preceptor when he only had about 8 years as a monk.

This meant that he was breaking the rules for ordinations and that the people he ordained were not properly ordained monks. I think there were also problems with the places of ordaination not being proper (siima boundaries).

This is one reason why he was kicked out of the sangha.

But there were no doubt other factors such as political with Chamlong and his followers being members.

Bodhirak was also making outlandish claims including to be the reincarnation of an arahat disciple of the Buddha (Sariputta I think). This is impossible according to Theravada as arahats are not reborn. He also made claims to being a sotapanno (stream enterer?). It is a serious offence (parajika) for monks to make false claims of their spiritual attainments - but not way of confirming it as incorrect.

Bodhirak also set out to create a third sect which would not come under the authority of the supreme sangha council.

I beleive Bodhirak has never uttered the verses declaring himself disrobed and that he still maintains that he is a monk - even though he may not be able to wear the monks robes as he would risk arrest.

Many of the monks in his group are properly ordained in the Thai sangha and they chose to associate with the group.

Simple question is it ok to eat chicken,duck,goose etc eggs.

Yes.

1 of the 227 rules for Theravada monks to observe: prohibition on consumption of 10 types of meat which are human, elephant, horse, snake, dog, lion, tiger, hyena, bear, leopard, no reason is provided. Many discussions why it must be this specific flesh, some gave the reason that they are big animal, elephant and horse are royal animals, some are about smell, etc. but no conclusion, just possibility of the reason.

Hi Virin

I believe this rule exists, but it is not in the Patimokha, (ie not one of the 227) but from the suttas - maybe Mahavagga.

Bankei

In Buddhism liberation from suffering can only be achieved by giving up desires. Sex is one of the biggest desires. Having sex may satisfy the desire for a short period (24min in my case ), but the desires will keep coming back. So a better way would be to work on ways to prevent the desire from arising in the first place. Eventually the arising of sexual desire may become less and less and eventually stop.

There are various different traditions of Buddhism and the Bhikkhuni lineage has survived in one of these traditions called the Mulasarvastivada. The monks and nuns of Korea, China, Taiwan etc follow this tradition. They are ordained according to this particular vinaya.

Thailand follows Theravada tradition and there are no more Bhikkhuni in this tradition - or there were no more. What some women have done is ordain within a Chinese tradition with Theravada Bhikkhu helping out - nuns must be ordained by both monks and nuns. These new Bhikkhuni have then followed the Theravada traditions, customs and philosophical outlook etc.

The problem is that many Thervada monks do not recognise the validity of non-Theravada monks/nun's ordinations and so they believe these new Bhikkhuni are not properly ordained. This has not stopped the growth of the Bhikkhuni revival in Sri Lanka where there are many hundreds ordained now, but it is holding things back in Thailand where there are only one or 2 Bhikkhuni at the moment.

Marriage is just a legal ritual, nothing to do with morality.

It has nothing to do with Buddhism

I've seen one of these 'monks' in Sukhimvit. He appeared to be an ethnic Chinese from the Mahayana tradition.

Priests in Japan do not follow the Vinaya, they are not monks. They started bypassing vinaya ordinations in Japan just after the time of Saicho (apprx 800 ad), although there were some monks still upholding vinaya ordinations, it gradually died out and/or was corrupted. The priests in Japan can marry, drink alcohol and they certainly handle money - Funerals are a big tax free business for them.

Bankei

Did you previously transfer money into Thailand? If Yes, did you obtain a foreign remittance receipt/letter from your Thai bank?

Hi Kudroz

I did transfer the money into Thailand from overseas, but into someone else's account, a Thai national, and I do not have any foreign remittance letter from the Thai bank. Do you think there would be restrictions on exporting money? There probably may be.

I have found a few people who go to Thailand regularly an one will be bringing back some cash for me shortly.

Thanks for your help, and to everyone else too.

Thanks for the replies. I should have pointed out that this is legitimate money and I have no problem declaring it in Australia as no tax will be payable.

I was going to transfer it from the Thai bank to Aussie bank, but thought there may be a better way to get a better exchange rate with less fees etc.

Thanks

Bankei

I am wishing to take a large amount of money out of Thailand to Australia and am wondering if people could advise the best way to go about it. 3million Baht.

Bankei

There are no Bhikkhu in Japan, unfortunately, but large numbers of married priests. Buddhism is in a sad state there - more of a business than a religion.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this new article or not, but it may be of interest,

Peter Harvey

2007

"Freedom of the Will" in the Light of Theravāda Buddhist Teachings

Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Vol 14

http://www.buddhistethics.org/14/harvey2-article.pdf

I know of someone who lends money out at 20% per month. small sums of about 40,000B. She has about 120,000 out at any one time.

One of her other distant family members lend out for 35% per month and he says he now has 60,000,000B saved up. He has a very nice house so he must be doing alright.

Hi phibunmike

Not sure what you think my interpretation is at odds with the precepts. You are comparing lay people to monastics who are prohibited to have sex with anything - including trees

Lay people are not prohibited from having sex, just sexual misconduct.

Not all rules for the monks can he passed down to laypeople - monks must not urinate standing up for example!

Last week I flew into Bangkok from Japan and when I got home I noticed my bag had been opened too. Had it key locked and combo locked. Nothing stolen as nothing valuable in there.

you wouldn't be stealing the girl unless you kidnapped her. People can decide who to marry.

I like to interpret sexual misconduct of the third precept as being sex that causes suffering - rape, under-age, animals etc.

I don't include anal, threesomes, 4somes (etc) or oral or even homosexual varieties of these. Uniforms are ok too. I would also not include adultery, per se, if it is done with free consent - but then you may fall into telling lies or hurting your loved one so it would be unwise.

This is not Buddhism or what the Buddha taught.