A Last Comment On Ming Yi's Trial

Since the trial of Venerable Ming Yi, the Ren Ci Hospital has reported a dramatic drop in the donations it receives. In a sense this is understandable. Who wants the money they have donated to charity being used for other purposes? However, I would ask Singaporean Buddhists to keep in mind that the amount of money that was diverted from its real purpose was $50,000, a rather small percentage of the money donated. I would also ask people to ask themselves, ‘Did I make my donation because I liked Ven. Ming Yi or because I wanted to help the less-privileged to have a chance of getting good medical treatment?’ If you can answer ‘Because I wanted to help the less-privileged’ them you should continue giving Ren Ci your support. Don’t penalize the many for the failings of some. The dedicated staff at Ren Ci Hospital are doing their jobs now just as well as they were before. They too deserve our appreciation and support.

More Reflections On Ming Yi's Trial

The second thing that comes to mind about the Ming Yi affair is what it may tell us about Buddhist monastic life in the 21st century. Several people have already written to the press saying, in effect, ‘See! We told you so! If monks stray even an inch beyond their role as defined in the Vinaya, that’s what will happen’. In the aftermath of Ming Yi’s trial such arguments sound cogent. However, I really think they are the result of the one-dimensional thinking characteristic of Theravada – follow the Vinaya scrupulously and there will be no problems, don’t and there will be nothing but problems. If only it was that simple! There are many ways of being sidetracked from the spiritual life. Ming Yi seems to have been led astray by wealth and adulation. But I know plenty of ‘strict’ monks who never touch money but who are self-advertising, proud, petulant, domineering and self-satisfied – not offences against the law or against the Vinaya, but corruptions nonetheless.
And perhaps more importantly, there have been and still are plenty of monks and nuns who abide by the spirit of the Dhamma without being fastidious about the fine points of each and every Vinaya rule. One who immediately comes to mind is Venerable Fatt Kuan, a bodhisattva-like Singaporean nun who founded and ran the Tai Pei Home until her death in 2002. Ven. Fatt Kuan was one of the kindest, most imperturbable and smiling people I have ever known. She solicited and attracted huge donations and every cent of it went where it was supposed to go – to providing decent accommodation and a homely environment for several hundred poor elderly women and compassionate nursing for them when they became incapacitated. She also founded or ran the Tai Pei Buddhist Centre, the Tai Pei Senior Citizens Drop–in Centre, the Thuja Home and the Tai Pei Child Care Centre. She was widely respected for her dedication to the less fortunate and in 1989 was awarded Singapore’s highest civilian award by the President of the Republic. Despite all this very ‘un-Vinaya’ behaviour she remained modest, accessible, kindly and unaffected. Once, when she came to know that we were reprinting our children’s book, ‘Rahula Leads the Way’ she invited me to come and have tea with her one afternoon. We chatted while she served me tea with a biscuit (something that would put her beyond the pale in the eyes of the fundamentalists) and when I left she gave me an extremely generous donation to help reprint the book. I thanked her for her completely unexpected generosity and said I would make sure her name went in the back of the book as the main donor. In her typical self-effacing way she asked me not to do so and not even to tell anyone she had made a donation. I know for a fact that Ven. Fatt Kuan made many other anonymous donations to poor or struggling individuals and to worthy organizations, often without being asked.
Another truly admirable Buddhist cleric who comes to mind is Venerable Yen Pei who founded and managed the Singapore Buddhist Welfare Services. For the noble work done by this organization see http://www.sbws.org.sg/ All his welfare work did not prevent Ven. Yen Pei from also being a master of the Chinese Tipitaka and a popular and respected Dhamma teacher. One could also think of Venerable Bellanwila Dhammaratna, the Sri Lankan monk who long ago saw the crying need for Buddhist educational resources in Singapore and resolved to do something about it. As a result, the Buddhist community in Singapore has a superb library in English and Chinese, a top-class venue for public meetings, a thriving Sunday School and a program of Buddhist higher education (see www.buddhlib.org.sg/ ). Ven. Dhammaratana also runs the Buddhist Research Society which publishes numerous Dhamma books. None of this just appeared, it was the result of hard work, determination, continual fundraising and, I suspect, quite a few sleepless nights, on the part of Ven. Dhammaratana. And it goes without saying that none of it could have been achieved had he refused to travel in a vehicle (it is a Dukkata offence to do so), refused to received, write out or cash checks (offences against Nissaggiya Pacitiya 18) or if he had spent all his time trying to find sandals with one-layered soles (unless of course he was living in the regions bordering Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India, in which case he could have two or even three layers on his soles, Vin.I,197). Despite not being strictly observant monks or nuns, no aspersions have ever been cast on the integrity of these three clerics, and their services to Buddhism and to the community have been enormous.
So why did Ven. Fatt Kuan, Ven. Yen Pei and Ven. Dhammaratana remain true to the spirit of the Dhamma and Ven. Ming Yi apparently fall by the wayside? It would seem to me that the first three had internalized the Dhamma to the degree that they were/are impervious to greed, fame and worldly success and the fourth had not - not because they followed or didn’t follow a set of arcane rules. As is often the case, the Buddha has something pertinent to say on this matter. ‘Say a bad person is an expert in vinaya and he thinks, “I’m an expert in vinaya but those others aren’t’ and he exalts himself and disparages others. This is the Dhamma of the bad person. But the good person thinks like this, “It is not through being an expert in vinaya that greed, hatred and delusion are destroyed. Even if one is not an expert in vinaya one may still live in full accordance with the Dhamma, may practice correctly, may still live by Dhamma and therefore be one worthy of honour and respect". Thus, having made the Way itself the main thing, he neither exalts himself nor disparages others. This is the Dhamma of the good person’ (M.III,39).
Concluded Tomorrow
The top picture is of Ven. Fatt Kuan’s Tai Pei Buddhist Centre, the second picture is of Ven.Yen Pei and the bottom one is of Ven. Dhammaratana.

Reflections On The Trial Of Ming Yi

Two things come to mind while contemplating the Ming Yi affair. The first is this. Venerable Ming Yi allegedly misappropriated S$50,000 from the Ren Ci Hospital, which is actually small change compared to the huge amounts of his own money he spent on himself. The question no one has asked so far is, ‘Where did he get all that money from?’ Anyone familiar with Buddhism as practiced in Asia will know the answer. It was given to him by his supporters and admirers. Traditional Buddhism is constructed so that the lay person’s main role, some might even say, only role, is to give things to the Sangha, and the more lavish the better. I have frequently encountered people who happily tell me that they don’t know and don’t want to know any Dhamma and that they just want to ‘give dana’ or to use the Thai term, to ‘make merit’. And if a monk wins more respect and regard than usual, as Ming Yi did, he will literally be buried under an avalanche of goodies. The more finicky monks will refuse to take money and either direct donors to their personal accountant or suggest that the money be ‘converted’ into material luxuries before being offered. A friend of mine recently stayed in what he was led to believe was a ‘forest monastery’ in Thailand. He described it to me as ‘a bhikkhu’s Club Med’ - all mod cons, dozens of servants, expensive furnishing, four cars to take the monks anywhere they might want to go, every meal a banquet, all the ‘kutis’ made out of teak and other rare timbers and fitted with air-conditioners – and everything acquired without actually touching any money.
I have said this before but I will say it again – traditional Buddhism is (unintentionally) constructed to make it much more likely that a monk (nuns aren’t in the running) will be spoilt or corrupted. The adulation monks receive, the ignorance of the Dhamma by the laity, and the understanding of ‘dana’ almost exclusively as generosity to monks, conspire to overwhelm, then tempt and finally to corrupt someone trying to live the holy life. Some resist this, many don’t. This of course does not excuse Ming Yi behaviour, but does go some way to explaining it. So long as Buddhism is ‘monk centred’ rather than ‘Dhamma centred’ these problems will persist.

Continued Tomorrow.

The Trial Of Ven. Ming Yi

The trial of the most well-known and well-liked Buddhist monk in Singapore concluded yesterday. The judges will deliver their verdict on the 7th of October. Venerable Ming Yi and an assistant, Raymond Yeung, were charged with fraud and making false declarations. The problem began several years ago when the discovery of financial irregularities in the National Kidney Foundation, Singapore’s largest and richest charity, led to a more careful scrutiny of other well-endower charities. Soon problems were found in one of several charities run by Ven. Ming Ye, namely the Ren Ci Hospital. The Venerable’s fundraising efforts for this hospital had previously won him a high profile, friendships with celebrities, much praise and many admirers. It had also helped dispel the impression that Buddhism is a passive, out-of-touch religion with no social conscience and nothing relevant to say to the modern world. Ven. Ming Yi had also been elected Secretary General of the Singapore Buddhist Federation. But when his books and management style was more carefully examined problems emerged and eventually he and his assistant were charged with falsifying accounts and misappropriating funds to the amount of $50,000. During the first week of the trial it looked like Ming Yi was guilty of nothing more than sloppy bookkeeping, slapdash management and irregular although not improper use of funds, i.e. that he was running Ren Ci the way most Buddhist undertakings in Asia are run. There was a feeling of sympathy for him among the general public. But as the trial has proceeded and more details have come to light, this sympathy has dissolved. Apart from the charges against him, it has also emerged that Ming Yi had been living an extravagant lifestyle. The Public Prosecutor submitted evidence that he had a A$27,900 membership to an exclusive golf club in Australia, three BMWs, one valued at A$163,500, a race horse with a monthly upkeep of A$1000, and expensive properties in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. Records also showed that he had numerous credit cards which were used to pay for stays in up-market resorts, and visits to tanning clinics and even casinos. Long before the trial reached its sad end it had become painfully clear that a basically good monk who had began with good intentions had been seduced by wealth and adulation. All this has been profoundly disappointing to many people and a major embarrassment for Buddhism in Singapore. Continued Tomorrow.

How Long Can Caste Last? II

Despite the Buddha's repudiation of caste, less extreme variations of the system exist in most Buddhist countries. For example, the buraku of Japan (see picture) and the yanban of Korea, were originally denigrated because of pre-Buddhist notions of purity and impurity. But the coming of Buddhism did not help them. Rather, it accepted and even reinforced discrimination against them. Look up burakumin on Wikipedia and see what it says about Jodo Shinshu attitudes to Japan's untouchables. The paya kyun of Burma are the descendants of monastery slaves and will still not be given ordination. As for the ragyapa of Tibet, I have found it quite difficult to get much information about this group. For all the books now available on almost every aspect of Tibetan life and religion (The Tibetan Art of Potty Training), this is one subject that remains in the dark. What I do know is that all the Bodhisattva vows taken by all the rimpoches and 'living Buddhas' never did very much to improve the ragyapa's miserable lives. The accompanying picture shows a ragypa’s dwelling in old Lhasa, made partly of the horns of the animals they slaughtered and for which they were allotted the lowest and most degraded rank in the society.
Last time I was in Nepal, I was the guest of a leading Vajradhara family who treated me with almost embarrassing generosity and kindness. But when I asked to visit their temple I was given a dozen hurriedly invented excuses as to why it would not be convenient right now. Of course I knew that Nepalese Buddhists practiced caste, but until them I had no idea that they would not even allow a monk from outside their own community to enter one of their temples. Caste used to be very strong in Sri Lanka but has lost most of its power nowadays, although more due to education and urbanization than to faithfulness to the Buddha’s high ideals.
Paradoxically, the only Sri Lankan institution where caste is still significant is the Sangha. The country's three monastic sects are still divided sharply along caste lines. A monk of the Siam Nikaya will be delighted to ordain a Westerner but he simply will not ordain a Sri Lankan from a non-goyagama caste. Sri Lanka also has its own outcasts, the rodhiyas, who even in the early 1900’s were not allowed to enter the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. I do not know about their status nowadays, but I suspect that they are still marginalized.

Continued tomorrow.

How Long Can Cast Last? I

Caste (vanna) is the Hindu belief that humans were created by God as four distinct and different types; priests (brahmana), warriors (khattiya), merchants (vessa) and labourers (sudda). According to this belief, the different castes should make their living in different ways, should not mix and should be treated differently. Beyond the four castes are the outcastes (nica kula or vasala), those who have no caste and are considered beyond the pale of ordinary Hindu society. That, at least is the theoretical structure of caste. In reality there are thousands of sub-castes and even hierarchies amongst the untouchables.
The Buddha was an outspoken critic of the caste system and at least a dozen of his discourses are devoted to highlighting its contradictions and cruelties. The Buddha's tribe, the Sakyans, were excessively proud of their high caste status. When a group of them requested to become monks, the Buddha ordained Upali, a low caste barber, first thus giving him a precedence that would require the others to bow to him.
The Buddha criticised the caste system on several grounds. The claim that it was ordained by God is no more than a myth (M.II,148). Caste is not practised everywhere and thus must be a regional custom rather than a universal truth (M.II,149). The claim that different castes have different abilities and personalities is not born out by experience and is thus invalid (M.II,150; Sn.116). Low castes and outcastes may be dirty because they are compelled to do dirty jobs, but if they wash themselves they become as clean as everyone else (M.II,151). The caste system engenders cruelty and suffering and is thus evil. From the Buddhist perspective, how people are treated, the respect they receive, the opportunities they have, even where they are reborn, should depend on their behaviour, not what caste they are born into. The Buddha said: `Without righteousness, all castes can go to purgatory. All castes are pure if they act with righteousness.' (Ja.VI,100).
Continued tomorrow.

That Time Of Year Again

Well, it’s that time of year again. The weeping fig out the back of my place is in fruit and the birds are going berserk. Weeping figs (Ficus benjamina) can be seen all over Singapore, often growing out of the sides of old buildings, and this particular one stands on a small patch of scrap ground between the downstairs restaurant and the next door school. Chinese are sensitive to the almost mystical beauty of these trees and often place small animist shrines at the base of them. This one has a small but substantial shrine next to it full of fierce-looking Chinese deities. There’s a Buddha statue in there also. Sometimes I feel like sneaking down there, rescuing him and putting him in more salubrious surroundings. Anyway, it’s in full fruit and its small, round, purple-colored figs are raining down in their thousands on my upstairs porch. That is, when the birds aren’t gobbling them up. The buildup to the daily racket begins about an hour before sunrise when the fluty call of the resident Drongo announces that this is his tree. By sunrise the mynas have arrived, about 30 of them, and begin gorging themselves and quarrelling with each other. Then the Spotted Doves, Bulbuls, Glossy Starlings, the beautiful gold and black Orioles and a few others I can’t identify, come for the feast. They chirp and chatter, whistle and warble, squeak and squawk all the livelong day. I’ve often wondered what all the fuss is about so yesterday I ate two of the figs to see what they are like. Nothing special. Not sweet at all and rather dry.
Anyway, my feathered friends love them and I get to enjoy them announcing their delight all day.