Buddhism getting embroiled in everyday live - A Thai Dilemma
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Should religion get embroiled in everyday lives? A Thai Dilemma
If we look at the health of religions, we would have notice that religion which have a teaching that mandate how one should live one’s daily life and extend and permeates this influences to all strata of society with full authority, including the government, are the ones that grow stronger by the day. These are religions by default of its teaching, has the complete tacit support of its existing government. We see them in such belief as the Islamic Faith in countries that are predominantly Muslims.
On the other hand, religion that do not have existing government support or have people in them who are view as threat, tend to be persecuted and when it persisted long enough, would eventually be annihilated. In time, the vacuum created will be replaced by other faiths. Such could be case of Buddhism in Tibet in years to come. This scenario can also be seen in Myanmar if the dedicate situation are not handle with care by the Sangha there.
The teaching of the Lord Buddha will always be true in the beginning, at the middle and in the end, but the same cannot be said of its rules on discipline.
The Sangha involvement in politic may be a contravention of some of these rules, which was lay down more than 2000 years ago. Some may not be applicable in the current modern context and may need to be amended or reinterpreted to suit current situation so that the religion may not be seen as antiquated and be left behind to die a natural death. Monks who got involved in politics in Thailand may be criticized by the Sangha Council, but if they do not, they risk further marginalization by remaining on the sidelines of Thailand entrenched political conflict. After all, they may be right to say that their role as monks mandates them to fight for truth, justice and against human suffering brought about by misrule. This, even though at the same time they may also be accused of hypocrisy and exploitation, given the clear worldly power agendas of the political parties they get themselves embroiled in. It is a catch 22 situation and a risk they will have to take.
Beside scandals, the diminishing role as educators and conflict resolvers, the involvement in the political situation by the monks in Thailand may serve as a catalyst for future change in main stream Buddhism and its monastic order as well. At the same time, it can also serve as a lesson for Buddhists of other nations to learn from too.
In Thailand, the role of educator can still be made relevant in today’s context by catering to the needs of working mothers; in the establishment of child and early child care centre within the temple compound and by enhancing the role of the Mae Chi as its educators and care providers. The idea is not new and is used by other religious faiths including some Buddhist groups to provide a much needed social service to society. At the same time, it is also used by these organizations to inculcate the young with the religious value, ethics and beliefs of their religion.
For Buddhism to stay relevant in Thai society and Indo-China as a whole, more changes are needed to cater and draw in the younger generations to its fold. The current Indo-China temple design does not seem to serve such purposes as they are designed for limited purposes and capacities catering more for prayers and for special occasions. Future generation of temples may need to take into consideration a wider usage in its design to draw in the crowds to stay longer on its premises and cater to their needs and requirements.
For Buddhism in Thailand and elsewhere in this region to stay relevant, it needs to widen its role in society and not stay aloft for just specific diminishing purposes which would in time lead to its own demise due to its inability to change with time. It would be a sad day indeed should it ever happens.
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As technology has been increasing enjoy by various walks of lives, you may have notice that some teachings have already been delivered in the TV and internet with greater bliss and ease, to serve the interest of future techno savvy generations. We could also witness that temple as a usual form of practice, have actually broaden its scope by merging into virtual techology through internet, telephone etc as an added convenient. Temple in the form of books, VCD, DVD, music are also conveniently available. If a teaching is worth for learning, interested people would naturally go in to explore and read up, it comes and goes without restriction. It is not politically motivated, basically is ripen conditions and affinity. It just so happy knowing beings' loving-kindness having such vast magnitude of eternity
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Certainly all the new technologies available now have provide us with many new medium to disseminate the Dharmas to a wider cross section of the public. But whether a religion will remains relevant to society will eventually depend to a large extend on the proactive outreach of all the organizations associated with it, in reaching out and addressing also to the social needs of its followers besides imparting its teachings. Fate, affinity and destiny may have a part in deciding who will eventually become a Buddhist or otherwise, but I believe, that is only a very small part in the whole process.