stripping the gurus - Brahma Kumaris Info

248 STRIPPING THE GURUS
[O]ver 90% of those who wear the robes [in India, and elsewhere]
are “frauds” in the sense the questioners would connote
by “fraud.” The idea that the monk is more perfect than
the non-monk is inveterate, and it is kindled by the monks
themselves. If perfection is to mean greater dedication to the
search for spiritual emancipation, then there is undoubtedly
more of it among the monks. But in terms of human morality
and of human intellect, monks are nowhere more perfect
than lay people (Bharati, 1980; italics added).
Far too many men become Buddhist monks, because it’s a
good life and they have devotion. The Dalai Lama has publicly
stated that only ten out of one hundred monks are true
candidates (Mackenzie, 1999).
Likewise for Japanese Zen:
It seemed to me that most of the monks [at Suienji] were
proud of their position, lazy, stupid, greedy, angry, confused,
or some combination. Mainly they were the sons of temple
priests putting in their obligatory training time so that they
could follow in daddy’s footsteps. They listened to radios,
drank at night and had pinups on the wall.
What they were really into, though, was power trips. It’s
what got them off.... The senior monks were always pushing
around the junior monks, who in turn were pushing around
the ones that came after them (in Chadwick, 1994).
The observations of a Thai Buddhist monk, in Ward (1998), at
a monastery run by Ajahn Chah, are no more flattering:
The farang [Westerners] at this wat [monastery] who call
themselves monks are nothing but a bunch of social rejects
who have found a place where they can get free food, free
shelter and free respect. They are complacent and their only
concern is their perks at the top end of the hierarchy.
For more of the “inside story” on Tibetan Buddhism, consult
Trimondi and Trimondi’s (2003) The Shadow of the Dalai Lama:
Sexuality, Magic and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism.
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