[Buddha-l] Sex Scandals

[Piya Tan]

Dear Dave/Aryacitta,

There was a time I gave up Theravada to be with the FWBO. There were bad
times, there were good times then. A bad time was I was told to unlearn all
that Theravada had taught me, and "join in the flow". A good time was the
friendship and open discussions mostly with non-Dharmacaris, even
non-Mitras.

As for Buddhism in the east, we have our (un)fair share of scandals. One of
Singapore's leading monks, Mingyi, is now spending jail time for various
counts misuse of funds, incl unauthorized lending of money to a young male
companion.

In the US scandals (Trungpa etc & Richard Baker etc), we see the affected
communities working together to rise from the ashes. In the east, there is a
tendency to reticence and the the authorities (mainly the law) take it
course. I think, we here still have a lot to learn about healing ourselves.

Generally, the laity here respect, even fear, the cloth, and keep a social
distance conditioned through generations of social interaction with them.

This social distance could disappear as Buddhism here become more
westernized (not that this is bad, but that the social distance gets
thinner) and foreign monks and nuns are often held in high regard by
Buddhists here. (Oh yes, Thich Nhat Hanh is in town, and many were unable to
get tickets for the seats.)

Surely, it boils down to how we view monasticism, whether it is relevant or
possible. To me, both are possible.

Metta and mudita,

Piya Tan

On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 6:40 AM, David Living <aryacitta at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> >Sex Scandals in the USA
>
> I'm from the (ex) FWBO and we have had our sex scandals. From my
> experience - (not that I was ever sexually abused as far as my memory
> holds good though I was a remarkably good looking bloke - in the right
> light)
> - an added complication is that many students see it as social advancement
> to be seduced or to seduce their teacher. This holds good for thrusting
> young ambitious executive management types or yuppies who will sell their
> souls to the highest bidder! Maybe that's another thing you don't get so
> much of
> in the East??
>
> Dave/Aryacitta
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> buddha-l mailing list
> buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/buddha-l
>



-- 
The Minding Centre
Blk 644 Bukit Batok Central #01-68 (2nd flr)
Singapore 650644
hpl: 8211 0879
Meditation courses & therapy: http://themindingcentre.org
Sutta translation: https://dharmafarer.org