Tuesday, 03/18/2025
Specific Items of Consult
Reverence to Monks
Update: 02/06/2017
Answer:
The sutra mentioned that Buddhists should not tell the mistakes of monks because it would diminish good fortune, causing bad karma. According to Buddha’s teaching, Buddha, patriarchs and monks all gave prominence to precepts and practiced the right Dharma seriously to help Sangha stronger and to save ourselves and save other people from getting out of the misery. However, as a human being, no one in this life had a complete perfection, except saints who achieved a complete liberation. Consequently, setting high requirement at flawlessness level for monks and nuns who were in cultivation was inappropriate and sometimes caused criticism for monks who had violated precepts. Moreover, if someone made mistake, it was their own business. We had nothing to do with it. It was good if we could help to show people’s mistakes with a good mind. Conversely, the mind of criticism, contempt just caused more afflictions and crime. The sutra also mentioned that as we saw people’s mistake, our mistake was next to theirs. So, if we couldn’t help them, it was better to show sympathy and wished them a chance to transfer.
In a family, there were obedient children and rebellious ones; in a school, there were also hard working students with good academic record and lazy students studying badly. Therefore, the Buddhists should understand clearly and avoid mistake. At the same time, we should find good masters cultivating the true Dharma to follow.
Translated into English by Huynh Vo Cao Tri
Thich Minh Thanh