(E21)-01-Duties-of-Sangha-and-Laity

Good evening. So tonight the topic is relationship between Buddhist, Deity and Sangha, the Vinaya perspective. The fact that you all chose this topic, I guess you all have a lot of questions in mind. So tonight when I give this talk, I'm most probably not going to address all your questions. And so you need to ask. questions after my talk. So, the first thing, when we talk about the laity and the sangha, we have to understand the role, the duties of each. As far as the sangha is concerned, the primary duty is to practice the holy life, and this practice of the holy life is concerned with liberation, final goal of the holy life. So for this, a monk has to study the Sutra of Vinaya and meditate. And secondary duty of the Sangha is to teach the Dharma of Vinaya, the teachings of the Buddha. In the original sutras, the teachings of the Buddha is called the Dhammavinaya. Now, this is actually a secondary duty. We find that of the Buddhas, of all the Buddhas, 99.99% of Buddhas are Pacheka Buddhas. They don't teach. teach. Very few Buddhas are samasambuddhas, but even though they don't teach, they occupy a place below the samasambuddha and higher than the Arahant disciple. So, it shows that teaching is not their primary duty. Now, To practice the holy life, as I mentioned just now, the monk has to study the sutras, the Vinaya, and put it into practice, and to meditate, etc. But to do all this, the monk should stay in a secluded place, what the Buddha calls an aranya. Aranya, forest of secluded place. Otherwise, it's almost impossible for the monk to actually practice the holy life. That's why in one sutra, in the Majjhima Nikaya, called the Nagaravindaya Sutra, the Buddha asked the lay people, do you know what type of monk is worthy of respect? What type of monk is not worthy of respect? So they didn't know how to answer the Buddha. Then the Buddha said, a monk who stays in a secluded place, forest or cave or something like that, the Buddha said, such a monk is worthy of respect. Such a monk can be said to have finished his work, become arahant, or he is striving to attain arahanthood. And why are they worthy of respect? Why is the monk worthy of respect if he stays and does it through the faith? Because the Buddha says there are no forms for him to enjoy, no sights, no sounds to enjoy, no smells, taste and touch to enjoy. Whereas if a monk stays in a city, in a town, he has all these distractions. He can watch TV, and he can listen to music, and enjoy good food, etc. So the Buddha actually encouraged monks to stay in forest areas. That's why during the Buddha's time, almost all the monasteries were out of town, what we call forest monasteries. Now what is the role of the laity? The role of the laity is to practice the Dhamma and support the Sangha. To practice the Dhamma, the layperson has to learn the Dhamma first. And either he learnt nowadays and learnt the Dharma from books, but during the Buddha's time, he had to learn the Dharma from monks and nuns. And the other important duty is to support the Sangha, because the Sangha needs all the support from the lay people. Now, later I will go into this in more detail. The Buddha said, that there are four types of persons whom lay people should be very careful in their dealings with, because there are four fields of merit and also four fields of demerit. If you behave well towards these four types of persons, you can obtain a lot of merit or blessings. On the other hand, if you behave wrongly towards these four classes of persons, you can create a lot of demerit. The first one is the Buddha. But since the Buddha has passed to Parinibbana, so you cannot interact with the Buddha. The second one is monks and nuns. The third is your mother. The fourth is your father. That's why in Buddhism, of ethereal piety, towards our parents is very important. So also is respect for monks and nuns. So a lot of people sometimes tend to look at the monks also. But you must remember that a monk is not yet an Arahant, so he is bound to act also, just like lay people. So, different monks have different characters. Even during the Buddha's time, do you know that the arahants also are very different? For example, Mahakasapa is an arahant with very great psychic power, but his character is such that people don't like to come near him because he talks very straight. Sometimes he spoke with his words, very sarcastic. But people like to go near Ananda because he is very gentlemanly, speaks kind words, and pleases a lot of ladies also. So even up on, you find that their characters are different. In fact, sometimes people like to put the Buddha on such a high pedestal, so high that they say that the Buddha has become so perfect that he does not have like human flaws, human characteristics. But it's not true. According to the sutra, the Buddha also has his ways, his behavior, Like for example, sometimes when he speaks Dharma also, they crack a joke. And then, on the other hand, sometimes when he scolds, it also can be very heavy. Like when he criticizes the Brahmins, he likened the Brahmins to dogs. He said Brahmins are worse than dogs. So, each one of us have our own character. So, you have to understand. So, what is important is not exactly the words. It's the heart that is important. Sometimes a person can be very blind, but his heart is in the right place. That's a good heart. So, that is the most important. But if you only like to listen to sweet words, some people can speak very sweet words, but their heart is not good. So, that type of person is your point.

(E21)-02-Supporting-the-Sangha

Now, in the dealings of lay people with monks, so they have to be respectful and also supportive. And this support, usually people always think in terms of material support, but moral support also is very important, because some monks, they find After many years of monkhood, they disrobed. And they disrobed sometimes because they are very hurt by certain lay people. Certain lay people, sometimes lay people, in the beginning they can be very supportive of the monk, put the monk very high. Later when they come, associate closely with the monk, they start to find the monk's faults and all that. And then they reject the monk and sort of make it very obvious to them, so they become so disappointed that they discovered. Several years ago, I know one monk. He had very close supporters, and they won't support any other monk except him. But later when they went overseas, went to India, and then after they came back, they sort of maybe magnified his faults, and then refused to support him. So, he became so disheartened. After sixteen years of monkhood, he probably was thinking, now I'm thirty-something, I'm treated like that. After some time, I'm fifty-something, and then they treat me like that, and then difficult, so he might as well destroy and carry his own makan. So moral support is very important. Kindness, kindness is also very important. So as far as material support is concerned, early people, the Buddha said that it's the duty of gay persons to offer the four requisites. There are necessities for a monk. First is food, and clothes, and a place to stay, and medical care. These are the four basic requirements. So you can offer these things, but you are not allowed to offer money to a monk. because a monk is not allowed to possess money. It's not so much that the monk cannot touch money, it's that the monk cannot possess money. Because in the Vinaya rules, sometimes a monk has to touch money. For example, if in a monastery somebody came to do dhāna and then left the purse behind, to go home, then the monk in the precepts is required to take the purse and keep it in a safe place to return it to the owner later. Or if he goes to a layperson's house, a dāna, and then in the middle of the dāna that layperson has to go away, and then this monk finds a purse or a gold ring or something left in the house which may be stolen, then he also has to take it and put it aside for safekeeping. So it's not that a monk cannot touch money or valuables. It's that he cannot possess. And the Buddha says the reason a monk cannot possess money is if a monk does possess money, then he can use the money in whatever way he likes, so that he can enjoy whatever things he likes. And if he If a monk enjoys the worldly things, then he is not of the nature of a monk, the Buddha faith. A monk is a renunciate, he is supposed to let go of all the pleasures in the world. So, unfortunately, nowadays, because of monks, especially the Chinese monks, Chinese always very money-minded, So Chinese monks tend to own, have money, to sometimes ride and drive the city's benches. So this is very bad for this religion, this sasana, very bad name. So don't give money to monks. A monk cannot possess money, a monk cannot possess property. Although a monastery is called sangha property, but It is not the property of a single monk. Sangha property means it belongs to the sangha of the four directions from now until eternity. So it's not that a single monk is there. Sangha is a whole forever. Now, also, lay people to support the monks if possible. It is good if they come often to the monastery to help upkeep the monastery. During the Buddha's time, there were some lay people who were very devoted, so that some of them used to come every day. And there was one lady, Sukhya, He used to come and see whether the monks needed anything, whether any monk was sick and all that. So there was a time when she came and she found that a certain monk was sick. So he also knew that when a monk is sick, that a monk is allowed to take meat soup, clear meat soup, even at night. So she talked to that monk and asked, how she could help the monk. So the monk said, OK, good night, you can take me some clear meat soup. So she said OK. So she went back and asked the servant or slave to go to the market to buy some meat so that she could cook soup for the monk. But it so happened that on certain days in India, nobody slaughters any animal. And you know, during the Buddha's time, they don't have refrigerator right now. So if there's no slaughter of animals, then nobody has any meat to sell. So the servant came back and told Sufya that time, By any means, I am the market." And she thought to herself, if I have promised this monk already, then I will provide this meat soon. And if I don't provide this clear meat soon, then I have broken my promise. And because she had such faith, must be probably a Sotapanna at least, she asked the servant to bring her knife. Then she asked the servant to accompany her to the room. She cut off a piece of her flesh, her own flesh, probably from her leg, and gave it to the servant and asked the servant to go and cook and bring the meat soup for the monk. So the servant did and brought the meat soup to the monk. Then in the evening when the husband came back, he saw that the wife had come to feed as usual, and so he looked around and found her in the room and asked her what's wrong. And so she had to tell him what happened. But he also had great faith in the Śānta, so instead of getting angry, he was so happy with the wife. He said, wow, to find a wife like this and sacrifice her own flesh. So the next day, the On that evening, the man went to invite the Buddha to his house, Patan. So, the next day, the Buddha came and he cooked the food. Normally, he cooked the food first, and then when the food is ready, then he would go and invite the monk. So, the Buddha came to the house, had his meal, and after the meal, the Buddha asked Supriya's husband, he said, Then the husband said, she's not well, she's in the bedroom. Then the Buddha said, bring her out. And the husband said, she cannot walk. Then the Buddha said, now might you help her out. So the husband helped her to come out of the bedroom. And when the Buddha looked at Suphya, the cut flesh, healed completely. healed completely so fast that even the hair grew back. So the husband and wife was very pleased with the Buddha, paid respect to the Buddha, and the Buddha gave a short talk. And then after that the Buddha went back to the monastery. So after that the Buddha made a rule that monks should not eat certain meat. One of them is human flesh. There are ten types of meat. that a monk is not allowed to take. If a monk knows that the meat offered is one of the ten, he should not take. First one is human flesh. Second one is elephant, then horse. Why these two? Possibly because the elephant and the horse usually belongs to the king. So if somebody stole the animal, and cut it up to eat. The monk like to share. Maybe he might get implicated in the crime. Then the others are wild animals, like tiger, lion, leopard, bear, snake, or even dog. Why? Because sometimes during the Buddha's time, the monks, they lived in the forest. Then they come out from Armstrong, they go to the temple. the village. When we go on alms round, they collect the food. So if some villager kill the tiger and cook the meat, but the monk happens to go on alms round, they will offer some of the food to the monk. So the monk, not knowing that it is tiger's meat, will take the food back to the forest and eat. And then after eating, he will sit in meditation. But then he starts to sweat. When he starts to sweat, the smell of the tiger comes up from his sweat. So that happens if a tiger, another tiger is around, smell him, will attack him. So if he eats dog meat, he walks on the street, then the dog will chase and bark at him. So that's the reason why it's certainly meat, munching on meat. Other than that, ordinary chicken and ducks and pork and beef and all that is okay for a monk, provided there are three conditions. A monk can only eat meat with three conditions. These three conditions are that he does not see, he does not hear and he does not suspect that the animal was purposely killed for him. killed for him, then it's allowed to eat. So just now I was saying, if a lay person has faith, like this Upia, he will come to the monastery to help, to do any work, to do whatever is needed. So for example, in the monks precepts, a monk is not supposed to cut a tree or cut grass, and not supposed to dig a hole in the ground if the earth has got worms and all that. So if lay people come to the monastery, then they can help do some of these things. Other things lay people can do is like help maintain the building, like paint the building. If there's some roof broken or something, then the monk can repair. The thing is, not all monks are interested in this kind of thing. Actually, nowadays, some monks like to live in meditation center. So, those type of centers are run by lay people, so they don't have to do any work. Whereas, monks who live in forest monasteries, there are very few lay people around, so they have to do a lot of maintenance work. So we become dark, dark skin, or we develop more muscle. Okay. Now when it comes to eating, another thing you should know is that monks are not allowed to eat with lay people from the same dish, from the same bowl. A monk can only eat with another monk. share dishes, share bowl with another monk who follows the same dharma, Vinaya. So we Theravada monks, we follow the Vinaya, we won't eat with the Trayana monks. I mean, we won't sit on the same table and share the same dish and all that. That's why we like to bring our palms bowl so that we can put food into our palms bowl, then we don't have to share eat with lay people, that will be like too friendly, too charming with lay people. Then there is no distance. When a monk associates too much with lay people, then he starts to behave like lay people. During the Buddha's time, there were some monks like that. They like to sit with a girl and joke and enjoy the same cup of tea or something. Play games, play chess and all that. The eight people, all this is not allowed in the Vijaya.

(E21)-03-Other-Supports

Nowadays, in the propagation of the Dharma, we have a lot of facility nowadays. For example, now I give the Dharma talk. It is recorded in a recorder. So when I go back, luckily for me, I have an assistant monk who can put this into the computer. Old folks like me, I don't know how to use computer. A younger man, they know how to use the computer, they can edit the talk, and then make it much clearer, and can burn it into CD, and after that it can be produced. So same with video also. And then some people, they like the talk very much. Some people, they take the trouble to transcribe it, they listen, listen, and then put it down in writing. And one or two lay supporters like that, like Mr. Betong, they were put into writing. That's a lot of work. You have to listen, write down, listen, write down. And then other lay people, they help to translate it, translate it into Chinese. Because like me, I only know English. So they translate it into Chinese and can be put into book. And then, for example, propagation, we need funds also to print books, to burn CDs, etc. So some of this, sometimes, like in our monastery, we only have two monks. So we need the help of other lay people to do some of this work. Another way lay people can support sangha is to provide transport. For example, transport to go on alms round. Because sometimes, like in our place, the temple is not so near. And there in Perak, people are not used to giving food to monks. When I first came back from Thailand in 1987, I went to stay in a cave behind Sipak Polai. I went to Ipoh to look for caves to stay. After some time, I found a dark cave in Simpang Poli, behind Simpang Poli. Then I went to the market on Armstrong. Everybody stared at me as though I was a monkey in a zoo. They don't know how to give food. So I walked around. Nobody gave me food. Keep walking until nobody gives you food. So I saw some stalls selling kueh, cakes. So I thought now if I walk past them also they are not going to give me. Must make my skin a bit thick, right? So I had to stand in front of the stall. Then in front of the stall also the lady didn't know how to give me. One customer I had to tell her, eh, hoi si koi koi, pay si koi koi. And then only she gave me some koi koi. Then I walked to the next stall, I had to stand there. Then she gave me some koi koi. Then the first lady came back, wanted to give me two ringgit. I closed my arms full. I am not allowed to accept money. I closed my arms full. I said, you don't accept money. He was very surprised if all monks accept money. Then I went to the third stall. I got some kueh. Then I walked back to my cave. I passed the me stall purposely. Walked a bit slower, so he didn't. Passed the right stall. Walked a bit slower, so I cannot get. And went back to the cave, had to eat kokkoi. Second day, I went around. Again had to stand in front of the kokkoi stall. Then I got kokkoi. I ate kokkoi second day. Third day, I thought, we should have some common sense. I don't need to stand there and walk slowly past. And then they gave me kokkoi. So day also I eat coconut, 4th day after coconut, 6th day after coconut. Because sometimes we think that monks are vegetarian or should be vegetarian, right? So National Monk also tak boleh. So 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 days I still eat coconut. Then some people passed the word down to me, that was Sim Bo Xiong, Thai Aristotle. So they thought I was a Thai monk, that I looked like Thai. So they came into my cave and started talking with me. Then I took the opportunity to tell them, we Theravada monks who beg for our food, we are not vegetarians. On the 11th day, I got Nasi Lemak. So you see, people like that in Pera, they seldom see monks on Armstrong. They don't know what to give. Not like Penang. Penang, my father, my grandparents are all from Penang. So my father told me that when he was a small boy, Thai monks used to go on Armstrong. My grandmother, I used to put a kettle of tea outside the house, and if monks would walk by and they see the kettle of tea, they would pour over and drink themselves. So in the North, in Kandahar, in Penang, people are used to monks going to Armstrong. But in the South, we are not used to monks going to Armstrong. We don't know what to give. So, back in our place, the nearest town is Semo. So, actually we haven't started half round, because the people there are non-issuers. We intend to start very soon. So, when we start half round, we also cannot go every day. So, like we go to the mall one day, and then we go to Tapa another day, and then we go to Bijo another day, and then we go to Kappa another day, and then we go to Jentriyam another day. So in this also we need people to support us and drive us in the van to go and collect food and also to follow us so that in case we get too much food they can help us bring back. When I was staying in Penang, Penang Hill, I stayed in a cave on Penang Hill for 7 years And every day I walked down 400 feet, walked down to Ayi Tam. I walked to an old lady's house. But the nine people were very supportive. Every day I go to the old lady's house, a big crowd of people are waiting for me. They give me so much food I cannot bring up to my cave. And one of the young men would take his motorcycle. He'd take the food and go up the hill. give me all the food to choose, and the values you will take it down and distribute. So, you see, for this upstream also we need transport support. And then sometimes like a monk has to go for dharma talks, also we need transport. And sometimes a monk has to go and see the doctor or a dentist. Also we need people around who can provide instant transport. And in our new monastery, because we have a lot of building work, sometimes we have to do certain things ourselves. So we also have to go to the hardware shops to buy certain tools for work. Another thing quite important for monks, because monks we only eat in the morning. At the most we have two meals, breakfast and lunch. At night we have nothing, right? So the Buddha allows certain allowances. For example, honey, a response of sugar, and then butter or cheese. In the Thai tradition it's cheese and butter. And then various types of oil, like corn syrup oil, fish oil, or other types of oil, like olive oil, coconut oil, and then ghee. So these allowances are quite important to accompany. Besides this, we have others, like in the Thai tradition, we have tea and coffee. And so, because we don't have a meal, we don't have dinner, this kind of supports are quite important. So if you realize this, for example, when you invite a monk to your center, then you should provide these things for a monk. Because if you have energy, then it is the Dharma talk. is a core allowance system.

(E21)-04-Ladies-Dealings-with-Monks

And then ladies, in their dealings with monks, should be a bit more careful also. Try to keep a distance from monks, not too friendly. So in my years of monkhood, now in Theravada I'm 22 years. I was 3 years in Mahayana, so about 25 years of monkhood. So, I'm still wearing the robes because I know the dangers. So when it comes to women, when I was a younger monk, I was very careful not to be too friendly with young women. Now I'm a bit older, a bit safer. Not so tacky anymore. But then, still a danger, you know, because a few months ago, I went back to Thailand to see my preceptor, which I have not seen for 12 years. So, when I went to see him, then I asked him about the other old monk who ordained me so long ago. By now, he should be at least 50 something or 70. And I was shocked to find out that he was wrong. And I asked the reason. He got caught by a woman. I am surprised that so old that he got caught by a woman. I asked him, I asked, how old is that woman? Fifty-something years old. So, old monks are so ... can be caught by old women. They still got danger. That's why the Buddha said that a monk should not talk alone with a woman. So whenever any woman approaches the monk, it's best to kill another person.

(E21)-05-Do-Not-Support-Blindly

Okay, the other thing is, although lay persons should support the Sangha, one also has to use the wisdom a bit. There are certain cases I know, even happening now. Some monks, they try to build a hermitage on illegal land, which doesn't belong to them. doesn't belong to him, it's government land. And then he starts collecting funds and building this building there. So, in this particular case I know, after putting so much money into all that building, he got a letter from the land office to locate the land, being asked to chase out from the land. So, It's a waste of lay people's funds to put so much money into this place which does not belong to him or to anybody. Sometimes some lay devotees, because of devotion, they may have an estate, an orchard, then they invite the monk to come and stay, so that they build a small boutique. And then some monks, instead of staying alone there and practicing, they become a bit ambitious. They start building more kutis and then build a hall for people to come and hear the dhamma and build prestigious quarters. They build too much and finally the owner takes back the land. And then all that money also gone to waste. So we have to be a bit careful to support the place, whether they are building all these things in the proper place. If they are not building the proper place, after a few years, all their money is going down the drain. Also, if certain monks are doing the wrong things, bringing monks into bad reputation, so it's not wise to support a place which practices wrong belief to the extent of disgracing the Sangha. But some people are a bit greedy for merit, and they are very choosy of the monks they support. They only support very famous monks. But that also is not right. When I was a new monk, when I was a young monk, I also was a bit hurt by certain people. Being a young monk, they look down on you, and then they only want to support famous monks. But then the Buddha said there are four things that you should not despise just because they are young, just because they are small. First one is prince, crown prince. If when the I'll tell you four things first. Prince, and then fire, then poisonous snake, and then the last one is a monk. So if a crown prince or a prince, when he's young, you antagonize him, you do something wrong to him. One day when he sits on the throne, cut his wings out, So you have to be careful and recognize the grace. Second one is fire. Even if it is a small fire, don't ignite it because it is just a ember, a small ember, you don't bother. But the thing can burst into, if a strong wind comes up, it will burst into flames again. It can even burn down your house. So that's the second thing. The third thing is a small poisonous snake like a cobra. Even though the baby cobra is so small, the poison is the same as the mother cobra. Only thing is smaller quantity. So if you simply kick it, it gives you a bite. Harvest for you. So that's the third. The fourth one is a monk. When the mind is young, don't look down on him, don't behave wrongly towards him. One day he might become an ariya, and then your presence occupies very much. So the Buddha said four things, don't look down on him when they are young. The Buddha said, When you support the virtuous path, your merit is very great. But if you support the Sangha as a whole, your merit is the highest. The Buddha said that even though you support the Buddha or an Arahant, the merit is very, very great. But if you support the Sangha as a whole, it's even greater. And then the Buddha also said, in the future, there will be some monks who are corrupt, who don't keep the precepts well, and they don't practice the holy life, they don't meditate, don't bother to study the sutras and the precepts and all that. Even then, if you offer, make offerings to the monastery as a whole, just to support this hunger, even then, your offering It's greater, the merit is greater than even offering a harahan. So always bear in mind that we support the Sangha as a whole, so that the Sangha can perpetuate, can continue. Because once the Sangha line is broken, then no more Sangha. And then when there is no Sangha, there is no Dharma. Because the Sangha is the bearer of the Dharma, right, from generation to generation. Monks and nuns are committed people, committed to upholding the Dhamma, committed to propagate the Dhamma even at the expense sometimes of our life. That's why in the sutras there was one particular monk who was going to a place to stay and practice and also to teach the Dhamma, and that place I think was called Sunaparana. Still he wanted to go there. And then he went there and then he practiced and he taught the Dhamma. According to the sutras, 500 people attained Dhamma vision, Sutapana, Sriman tree. And he himself also became Arahant. So it is because of actually the work of monks and nuns. That's why 2000 over years of Dhamma has been transmitted. down to earth. That's why the Sangha as a whole is considered one of the Triple Gem. Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are the Triple Gem, worthy of respect, worthy of veneration and offerings.

(E21)-06-Conclusion

So lastly, I conclude here by saying that lay people should know a bit about the Vijnaya. If you look into my book, the book I wrote about the monk's precepts, the guide for lay people, I mention there that in the Vijnaya, the Buddha said that monks should not try all the precepts in front of lay people. So probably because during the Buddha's time, they chanted the precepts of the local language. So probably the Buddha thought that lay people should not know too much about the Vinaya. Because if they know too much, then they will become over-critical of monks. But then they forget that out of the 227 precepts that a monk is supposed to uphold, Only about 50 over precepts, if a monk breaks, actually he creates bad karma. But about 160 something precepts, if a monk breaks, he does not really create bad karma. Why? Because, you must understand, precepts fall into two classes, the monk's precepts. The Buddha, to uphold the name of the Sangha, he was very, you could say, very fussy. For example, a monk is not allowed to keep food overnight. But actually, the first person who broke this precept was an Arahant. This Arahant was staying up the hill, very high. When he goes to the park, he has to walk a long distance to the kampong, to the village to get his food and walk up again. So it took a lot of time and energy to walk down and walk up again. So he decided that he would walk down on half-staff, collect his food, go back, eat. And the balance of the food, he would dry it in the sun. Dry it in the sun so that he can keep for a few days. And then the next day, he would eat the dried rice. And the day after that also he will eat the dried rice. And the day after that, if there is still some more, he will eat the dried rice so that he doesn't have to come down on Armstrong every day. That's good, isn't it? But then the Buddha said, no. The Buddha wanted him to go on Armstrong every day, maybe to give a chance for lay people to create blessings by offering food to the Sangha. So this kind of precept is a very finer precept. Originally the Buddha did not bother to make this precept, only later the Buddha decided. So there are other precepts, like for example, a monk is not allowed to eat food, secondary food, from noon until the next dawn. In Malaysia it's like from 1 p.m. until the next morning. 7 a.m., a monk is not allowed to eat food. But this kind of deception, actually, originally the Buddha did not make. So in the beginning, some monks could even go around at night and collect food and eat. But later the Buddha decided to become more and more strict because there were too many corrupt monks. So the Buddha did need more and more precepts. But the Buddha realized that some of his precepts may not be practical in the future. So when the Buddha was about to pass into Parinibbana, without being asked, the Buddha told Ananda, in the future if the Sangha wants to abolish the minor precepts, they may do so. But the Buddha did not specify which minor precept. So he purposely did that so that as the occasion demanded, then the monks have to use their wisdom. For example, ten years, eleven years ago, I went to Australia for six months. Then I stayed with various monks. The longest I stayed was with H.H. Brahms on the street about four and a half months, and after that I moved from city to city, and I stayed with certain monks, and I found that certain Australian monks, they stay in a shophouse like this, they people offer, and then they go themselves. This cooking is not allowed in the denial for a monk, except during a famine. During times of famine, monks are allowed to cook. So, you have to see the place, and you have to see the time, the situation. Like in Australia, because the people don't know how to offer food. To cook the food is a very minor thing. But in Thailand, if a monk cooks his food, people, everybody will look down on him. Not a monk at all. Because in Thailand, if you go anywhere, you can get food for a monk. But the people are poor. I used to go live in Thailand. Sometimes we go to poor areas. You beg the whole morning, what you get? White rice and one hard-boiled egg. No more. Nothing else. Sometimes he takes white rice and once more he comes back, one fried fish from the belly hill, small fried fish. So you cannot choose the food. So actually going on alms round is very, very good practice. Firstly, it teaches the monk to be humble. Secondly, it teaches the monk not to be juicy. You know, I have gone to certain places in Thailand where the food is so horrible. And eating is actually quite difficult. I went to this Mukdahan, North East Island. I stayed three weeks in this place. Every day we go and ask some, you know, what we get. Snail, snail. And then fried beetle. And then rat. And that frog, not hinkai, not hinkai, ordinary frog, with a very rough skin, toe and toe. And then sometimes they, you know we go and ask now, they wrap these things for us in a plastic bag. And the people are so poor, they are happy to share our food. So they drive us back to the hill in the van. So when we come back, they open all these plastic packages and put the same curry in the same bowl. So then they come and offer us. Sometimes you look at the dish, one big eye there, you don't know what it is. And then sometimes the bull, with the frog on the tongue, like floating on the ... so hard to eat. I thought to myself, I come so far, if I don't try one with my tongue, lose my eyes, lose my eyes, may swallow one. And then you eat the snail like, crack, crack, crack, very hard. But the middle, not so bad, like Vietnam. So it's quite out of here. So when you eat this type of food, eating is an ordeal every day. By the time I'm thinking of vegetarian food, I still don't have. I'm thinking of the bananas. The only type of fruit they give us is the small banana. I eat a ton. So the food was so bad, So bad, they act like, you know what I dream? I dream of chocolate. Longing for chocolate. You are so lucky, you can eat chocolate anytime you want, you don't think of chocolate. When you get starved of chocolate that time, definitely you think of chocolate. So I see, interesting. You go to places like that. OK. The other thing is if you find certain monk is not behaving properly, it's good to ask, ask the monk why he behaves in a certain way. Or he doesn't want to tell anyone, then you consult another monk whether that behavior is proper. But Instead of bad-mouthing him, some people, they don't like a particular monk, they can spread, spread. Now, this spreading, talking bad about somebody, ruining somebody's reputation, is very bad, because once you start talking, then If you tell 5 people, very soon it goes to 50. Very soon it goes to 500. So, this bad karma is multiplied. That's why when it comes to monks and nuns, you have to be very careful. So, I think I'll stop here and give you a chance to ask questions.

(E21)-07-Questions-and-Answers

So, we know that in Ayurveda, we say that the mind does not accept money. So, but in Himalaya, we used to give a lot of money because of our power. So, can we just put it that way? Is it acceptable, or how do we handle it properly? No matter keeping money, what you call it now about karma, is allowable. Firstly, in the Vinaya, there is no such thing as nāvākamma. I created later. And the understanding of this word nāvākamma is that nāvā is new, new works. In other words, If a monastery is building something, a new project, then you give money. But then what is allowed in the Vinaya is that there is such a thing called mendaka allowance. I tell you the background first. At one time, the Buddha was walking with 1,250 Arahant disciples. And because the Buddha and his disciples, their reputation was quite good, so a lot of people were rushing to offer food, dāna, to the monks, so that the Buddha and his 1,250 arahants, they were booked for many days. So there was this rich man called Mandapa. He wanted to make an offering But he found that all the days were booked and he could not make an offering. So he asked the Buddha for permission to give money for the use of the monk. And the Buddha allowed. So it's called a mendaka allowance. But the money should not go to the monk. The money should go to what is called a kapya karaka. Kapya is allowable. Karaka is one who makes So Kapiya Karaka is one who makes allowable. So this, for short, we call Kapiya. This Kapiya can accept the money on behalf of the monk. But the money does not belong to the monk. The money still belongs to the person who donated the money, only to be used when the monk needs. So the Buddha says, if the monk needs something, for example medicine or rope or something, he can inform the Kapila and the Kapila will use the money to buy for him. So it's best that the monk should not hold the money, should not have his own bank account. That is not allowed. So, it's also better that a monk should have a registered organization, like we have a Sangha foundation. So when there is a bank account, it is under the name of the foundation. So lay people, we choose a few reliable lay persons to look after the fund. It depends on The monk, if the monk is strict with the Vinaya, if you offer the requisite, he will tell you not to offer the angpao. The angpao should go to the person looking after the monks. In our monastery, we have a set of regulations. And one of the regulations is that the lay people should not give money to a monk or to the novice monk. It's not allowed. The lay people should only give money to the foundation. The thing is, this kind of practice where you are not supposed to touch the food after offering, different Buddhist countries have different practice. So it is with the Thai tradition. In Thailand, once you offer a food, you are not allowed to touch it. If you touch it, it's like you have taken it back. You have to re-offer again. So you have to be careful. or what tradition you are dealing with. Sri Lankans, they like the lay people to offer, but not the Thai tradition. So each monastery is different, so when you go to a monastery, it's good to ask. Those who follow strictly the Thai tradition, women also cannot offer into the hands of the monks. The monk will put a cloth, the monk will hold the cloth and then the women offer the food onto the cloth. When you offer food also, if it's a monk of the Thai tradition, I mean very strict on this practice, then he will put a cloth and you offer on the cloth. So sometimes you are not sure, you ask the monk. Okay, just now I mentioned that you should not give money to a monk. So, it doesn't matter whether he is a bogus monk or a real monk, don't give money. Just give food. So, if you just give food, after a while he is a bogus monk, nobody offers him money, he won't do his act anymore. Actually, since we don't have a library here, I told Brother Albert that I will give you, when you come here tomorrow, three copies of my book, The Buddhist Monk's Precepts, which was written for monks. So it's quite detailed. So there you will see that Mahayana and Theravada monks have the same monk precepts, basically the same. Theravada has 227 precepts. Mahayana has 250, even more. Only problem is some of them, they choose not to follow the precepts. They say, Hong Pien. Actually, it's Hoi Pien. This question, how about a monk who smokes? Actually, in the Vinaya, there is no precept against smoking, but there is a precept against using money. So if a monk uses money to buy cigarettes, that is breaking the precept. But if a monk smokes because some lay person offers him a cigarette, that's not a broken precept. Actually, in Thailand, because many years ago, you have great meditators like Achan Man, he also smoked. But the cigarette he smoked is the cheapest, the BD. He used that thing, they roll it, roll it, smoke. The only thing is nowadays, cigarettes become very expensive, so people are offended seeing. But then, strict monasteries, Like our monastery, we don't allow a monk to smoke. We don't even allow an eight preceptor to smoke. Different culture, different view. Just like we Chinese are so used to monks taking vegetarian food. Some Chinese think all monks must be vegetarian, otherwise they are not pure. Otherwise they are not compassionate. It's a wrong thinking. Right? Buddha himself was not a vegetarian, so we have to be very careful about mixing our own personal views. For example, in Thailand and in Sri Lanka, monks drink tea, drink coffee, but in Burma it's not allowed. But then I think the Burmese monks, they eat something in the evening, I don't know what it is, they eat something like, not little nuts, something else, I don't know, like seafood, like that. That probably is not allowed in Thailand. So we have to find out what is allowable in a particular tradition, what is not allowable. Even before they got slaughtered, I was asked a question and I said that in the monk's Vinaya, it is not proper for a monk to engage in worldly affairs. So because if a monk engages in worldly affairs, especially in politics, then it puts the whole Sangha in danger. Many years ago, in Bangkok, there was curfew. Because of some political problem, there was curfew. And lay persons were not allowed to come out on the streets for certain hours. But in the morning, there were soldiers standing, holding guns at the roadside. The monks were walking on Pindabat. Nobody stopped them. Because island, they know that the monks Generally, don't champo politics, don't mix up, don't get mixed up with politics, so they are not a threat. So the monks could go on Armstrong, walk safely, you know, being stopped. On the other hand, you see what happened in Burma? Just killed for nothing. But if a monk actually practices the holy life, and he meditates, has no time to be involved in politics. His mind is thinking of politics, his mind is not in the here and now. In the sūtas you find that actually it is very good to study the sūtas because there are a lot of practical things in the sūta. And unless you study the sutras again and again, some of these important things you miss. For example, there is one sutra that the Buddha said that it is silly for a monk to sing or to chant in a singing high and low tone. And the Buddha said one of the reasons he discourages that is because It can break a monk's concentration. Because sati people translate as mindfulness. It is not actually mindfulness. It is recollection. Why? Because we are mindful all the time. 24 hours a day we are mindful. Even when we are dreaming we are also mindful. Why? When you are dreaming you are mindful of your dream. Right? If you are having stray thoughts, you are mindful of your stray thoughts, right? But that is not Sati. Sati has to do with remembering. Because Sati comes from the word S-M-R-E-I, which means to remember. And why to remember? It means to remember your object of meditation. For example, if you are doing the breath meditation, you are supposed to be mindful of your breath all the time. So if your mind runs away, you bring it back to your breath. or if you are doing the meditation on the 32 parts of the body and then you target hair, body hair, nails, teeth, skin, flesh, sinew, bone, bone, marrow, kidney, heart. So you are supposed to meditate on that and put your mind there, contemplate there. If your mind goes to some other thing, you bring it back to that particular thing. So sakhi has to do with remembering the object of meditation, right? So if a monk starts to sing, He forgot his object of concentration already. So you lose his concentration. So similarly, if a monk starts to be concerned about political affairs, then his mind goes to political things. It's not in the right place. Forgot his object of meditation. The Buddha's disciples, they put their mind on their object of meditation all the time. and only one object of meditation all the time. A lot of people, they don't know how to practice Dali Padana is given in the Samyutta Nikaya. The Buddha gave a simile about the most beautiful girl of the country came out and then the men saw the most beautiful country girl come out and they clapped their hands and shouted that the most beautiful girl in the country. and then more men came out and clapped their hands and then they shouted for her to sing and dance. So she started to sing and dance and a lot of people came out and shouted and clapped seeing this beautiful girl singing and dancing. Then the Buddha said an ordinary man came along and he was caught by the soldiers. He was forced to carry a bowl of oil filled to the top, filled to the brim. Then he was asked to walk with the bowl of oil holding the bowl of oil, and a soldier was walking behind him and told him, if you spill this oil, even one drop you spill, I will chop off your head. So he has to walk among the crowd of people watching this girl singing and dancing. He has to look at the bowl of oil all the time, and his attention is so fixed, the Buddha asked, can he look right? Can he look left? and you look at the beautiful girl, they are not, right? So he has to walk only looking at the bowl of oil without being distracted at all. So actually this simile is telling us how to practice satipatthana. That is why all arahants are mindful, you can say mindful or recollected 24 hours a day. In the Vinaya books if you accuse an arahant any offence, it's not possible. Because his mind is 24 hours collected, all mindful. So, even when Arahant sleeps, if he happens to dream also, he knows he is dreaming. Not that he doesn't know. He is master of his mind, absolute master of his mind. Cannot fall asleep without knowing. So for a person to attain Arhatshood, to come to that state where he is collected 24 hours a day, he has to train himself to that state where he doesn't sleep. That's why in the Vinaya books, there were some new monks. They were in the dharma hall listening to some dharma talk of some senior monk. After that, the talk finished. Then the senior monk went back to the kuti, and these young monks were sitting there, and then they were tired, they fell asleep. In the middle of the night, Buddha came and called them to wake up. Buddha said, you should not be sleeping unmindfully. So you have a teacher like that, you cannot sleep peacefully. If you fall asleep only, the Buddha knows from his psychic power. That's why when our Mahamoggalana was practicing so hard, within seven days he attained Arahanthood. Like the Buddha said in the Satipatthana Sutta, if you practice Satipatthana within seven days, you can attain Arahanthood liberation, provided you don't sleep. So our Mahamoggalana was so tired from practicing that he was nodding his head in the middle of the night, falling asleep and nodding his head. Then the Buddha used his psychic power from the top of his head, one golden The lightness of the Buddha came out and went to Mahagopalana and talked to him. He said, sit up, Gopalana, don't be full of thoughts and talker. Then he got a shock. So he continued to practice without sleeping seven days in Arhat Moon. So actually, meditation is a fight against sleep. Because every time we sleep, we allow the mind to run, and this is the asavas. The flow of the mind is called the asavas. That's why a lot of people don't know enlightenment, the definition of enlightenment is destruction of the asavas, which brings this tendency of the mind to flow. So the mind only flows when we allow it to flow, and it's worse when you fall asleep. When you fall asleep, now it flows. My parents used to say, pang toa kia, the big vehicle, traveling here, traveling there. So, if we don't sleep, we don't allow the mind to run. Or even if we sleep less, instead of sleeping 8 hours a day, you are able to sleep 4 hours a day, and then you meditate the next day, you find different. You can meditate much better. The Buddha said, if you offer to the Sangha, then merit is the highest. But if you have greed, it lessens the blessings, the merit. But still it is very great. But if you offer to a beggar, it happens to be a rascal, a rogue, then your merit is not very great. Just like if you offer to a dog. Dog is also got life. So the merit, even out of compassion we offer to a hungry stray dog, blessings, the merit is not very great.