Just found this article on the bbc website & I'm curious what people's reactions might be. Obviously from a Theravada perspective there are some vinaya violations here (e.g monks sharing a drink with customers) but I think a more interesting avenue for discussion is appropriate forms of outreach for Buddhist monks. Honestly, I'm not yet sure what I think about this. Tentatively, I'd say that monks ought to behave in consistently positive, disciplined and compassionate ways wherever they are. And so long as they do, then trying something like this as outreach would be an interesting experiment. But if the monks are watering down their behavior or message in doing this, then I'm not so sure.

And on an introspective note, it also occured to me that if this were set in the West, I'd probably immediately see it as a gimmicky kind of thing, but in a Japanese context that wasn't my initial reaction. Anyway, read, ponder and enjoy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7148053.stm

The Vinaya is so different in Japanese sects (monks can marry and handle money, for example) that I doubt these monks are violating it. The article says they have a drink with customers but doesn't actually say it is alcohol.

Given that Buddhism in Japan has been a "funerary religion" for centuries, I think monks should be willing to try almost anything to get people interested in the Dhamma - assuming that is their intention. It's probably no accident that these modern monks are from the Shingon sect, which is less popular than the Pure Land and Nichiren sects.

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