Indifference is the danger to our faith

Aik TC SG

Indifference is the danger to our faith

PLOENPOTE ATTHAKOR 24 Sep 2015 Bangkok Post

It's like deja vu. Some self-proclaimed Buddhist protection organisations are complaining loudly about a movie which tells a story about wayward monks. They believe those involved in this movie, which is titled Abat which means monastic misconduct, have an ulterior motive against the country's main religion.

The protesters were spurred on by a monk at Wat Benchamabopit who has criticised Abat, a work by Kanitta Kwanyoo, on his Facebook page. On his page he said he noticed the movie industry often tends to release films with a negative image of monks at times when we are about to celebrate religious "big days", although he was not specific in this case.

The monk also listed other films including Nark Prok and Ong Kulimara to prove his conspiracy theory. He seems to forget that Ong Kulimara is an adaptation of Jataka tales that date back more than 2,500 years.

Those agencies, Buddhist followers or this particular monk's followers, were to lodge a complaint with the Culture Ministry yesterday. Their demand is that the ministry uses its power to force the filmmaker to revise the film content.

Their main argument: Such a movie may destroy people's faith in Buddhism. Another point that makes these people believe there is a conspiracy is the main character who plays a novice is not a Buddhist. It's fortunate that they stop short of saying that the director is a woman.

We have seen this outrage before. Remember that famous, thought-provoking painting by Anupong Chantorn which boldly criticised monks who engage in misconduct. The 2007 work triggered protests among these same groups.

It astounds me how some people, in fact quite a lot, lack the ability to separate fictitious content in films and the real world.

Believing that only movies with positive content about Buddhism are good for our religion shows how they, at best, take things only at face value.

What astounds me even more is to think how these people become indifferent when monks -- real, not fictitious figures -- engage in misconduct.

When pointing to misconduct by monks, examples simply abound. Just read the newspapers: There are reports of drunken monks (believe me, these people would complain if a film featured a monk gulping down booze. At best, they would demand the scene be cut). There are monks in sexual relationships; monks who accumulate vast wealth... the list goes on and on.

Some misconduct is so serious that it could erode Buddhists' faith. Yet, these people -- including fellow men in saffron robes -- still act as if nothing has happened.

A major irony is the case of Wat Kalayanamit which has been locked in legal warfare with the Fine Arts Department and its local community.

The temple made headlines in past years when the abbot ordered the demolition of some heritage buildings in the temple compound, to pave the way for modern structures, and forced the eviction of surrounding community members, nearly 60 households, from the temple land. It's the community's heritage.

Eventually, the legal case with the Fine Arts Department was wrapped up with the temple and the abbot being charged for violating the heritage conservation act; while the department bulldozed two new buildings that were constructed on the abbot's orders.

Apart from the loss of the heritage buildings, my concern was about how the temple abbot treated the community. As the legal wrangle went on, the temple's ties with the community turned sour. Community members no longer make merit at the monastery. It's sad to see how a temple can be so hostile to the people, while the Lord Buddha teaches otherwise.

The latest development is that the temple has started bulldozing houses, starting with the home of the community leader who led the conservation campaign.

All this has happened without those Buddhist protectors questioning such a hostile act by the men in saffron robes. The Sangha Council has watched this saga -- and done nothing. Like the Buddhism protectors, the council is just indifferent.

To me, such indifference is even more dangerous than the Abat film or any other movie, book or work of art.

The Lord Buddha teaches us about the law of impermanence and, of course, that law also applies to Buddhism.

Our religion can only be destroyed when we Buddhists lose our faith.

And that is happening at Wat Kalayanamit.

Aik TC SG

It is precisely that lots of people lack the ability to separate fictitious content in films and the real world, that such movies that portray the negative image of monks should be banned or censored. Allowing such movies to be screened will do nothing but put the whole religion in a very bad light. I do believe ulterior motive against the religion is at play here. Remember, the Sangha community is one of the three pillars of the religion. No right-minded Buddhist will produce a film that will bring down one of these pillars that can cause the total collapse of the religion.

But it does not mean that such wayward monks should allow free rein to do as they wish and eventually destroy the followers’ faith in the religion. They should be brought to task and dealt with firmly by the secular laws in place or the Sangha council.

One starts to wonder as well, what are the members of the Sangha council thinking?

Edmund Burke said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” With all due respect, are these members of the Sangha council an ignorant lot? Ignorant of what is going on in the secular world and the bad hats under their charge? Or have they misinterpreted the Buddha’s teaching of equanimity for indifference?

Apathy and indifference is more dangerous than hatred. Hatred requires effort. An apathetic person will not exert any effort to make a difference in either direction. He sits back and watches events unfold before his very eyes completely indifferent to the world around him. It is such inaction that is allowing these wayward monks from getting away with all their wrongdoings. If the whole religion has being undermined by these wayward monks, it also makes the members of the Sangha council just as responsible for their inaction.

Ivanhi2014 SG

tq for sharing

singfail SG

Namo Amitabha.

I don't know what is in faith.

Faith can only arise because there is ignorance.

Faith can only arise because of conditioning, conditions.

Faith can only arise because there is sense base and sense media.

Faith can only arise because there is contact.

Faith can only arise because there is feeling.

Faith can only arise because there is grasping, perhaps aversion.

Faith can only arise because there is becoming.

Faith can only arise because there is birth [sic: and our fertility rates are very low, which is a good thing for buddhists]

Faith can only arise because there is what lies beyond birth, including aging and sickness, although there ought to be death.

Faith can only arise because with aging, sickness and death, there is suffering.

With all that bout of stress, everything 'better' happens, from tranqulity, rapture, faith yes faith and everything else till the destruction of cankers and the insight into the way the world is.

Thank you more Ivan, for causing me suffering.