Chief monk survives ouster attempt

[Ensapa]

Wow, now laypeople can oust a monk from a temple! this is something really sad going on, especially when laypeople think that they have authority over monks who dedicated their lives for Dharma, while they dedicated their lives for their own enjoyment...

   


Home > Asia Pacific > South East Asia > Malaysia

Chief monk survives ouster attempt
by Leven Woon, Free Malaysia Today, December 2, 2012
Ven. K Sri Dhammaratana found support from among the Buddhist temple committee members to defeat resolutions to remove him as the chief monk.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malayssia -- An attempt by several disgruntled members of the Sasana Abhiwurdi Wardhana Society to remove their chief monk failed today after they were defeated in their own extraordinary general meeting.

The disgruntled members had called for the EGM to pass resolutions to remove Ven. K Sri Dhammaratana from being the chief monk of the Buddhist Maha Vihara temple in Brickfields, and to ask him to leave the temple premises within seven days.

The Sasana Abhiwurdi Wardhana Society manages the temple and had obtained a court order to hold the EGM today.

The three-hour meeting however ended with a dramatic twist as 76 of the temple management committee members voted against proceeding with the meeting to discuss the resolutions, with only eight voting in favour.

Dhammaratana has come under fire for wearing a suit – and not his robe – when attending the conferment ceremony of his Datukship title in 2010. Buddhists have the general belief that a monk should never don the layman’s attire unless he resumes a secular life.


 Some members of temple management committees also claimed that Dhammaratana have “misbehaved” in several circumstances and thus should be removed.
As the committee’s constitution does not allow discussions of chief monk’s removal in its annual assembly, the disgruntled members obtained the court order in October to conduct the EGM.

“Should the chief monk continue to stay, the other monks residing in the temple must think it is okay to behave inappropriately in public,” they noted in the statement for the resolutions.

However, other members of the society who supported the chief monk said the group was merely finding faults to remove Dhammaratana who was installed in 2006.

Speaking to reporters after EGM today, the temple management committee president Leslie J Tilak said the committee decided that it was best for them to hold a dialogue instead of voting for the resolutions to remove the chief monk.

He claimed that some members of disgruntled group have changed their mind to support the monk at the eleventh hour.

Meanwhile, Dhammaratana praised the members for using the Buddha teaching to act wisely in the meeting.

He urged everyone to work together after this instead of criticising each other.

[Tenzin K]

That’s rude!

How in the world the lay people think that they are much virtue and knowledgeable than a monk that spend the life to be ordained, learn and teach the dharma. The monk walks the talk and being so successful such as a Chief Monk.

Just because of the wearing a suit the lay people wants to remove him? Sounds like the lay people are more ordained than the monk! Quite sad for the people who has so little loyalty and devotion.
The Chief Monk is the leader and a guru why don’t just go all the way his practices which eventually from the lord Buddha. To question the monk unless we are better and are we?
But anyway feel glad that everything turn out good but just sad with the people mentality. There are up and down in our practices but what important is realization and surrender ourselves to the Guru who knows better. If we are better we would be enlightened and be ordain to show the right path just as lord Buddha

[Klein]

This is an interesting article that shows how lay people are so arrogant that they can even try to remove the Chief Monk of a temple. My question is that if the Chief Monk broke his vow by wearing a suit to a conferment ceremony, why wouldn't the monastery in Sri Lanka where he comes from say something? If it was so bad, would't you think the mother monastery in Sri Lanka  would do something already?

This is just one of the examples that the sangha has to endure when dealing with lay people.  How can lay people ever judge sangha members and  pass judgement on them? Lay people do not know the  monk vows and dharma well enough to ever do that.. So why is it that lay people have this arrogance that they know better?

If lay people know better, then why learn the dharma  from the sangha? Should the sangha be learning from lay people? 

[vajratruth]

I find this quite incredible. We know from learning the Dharma that one of our biggest downfalls is our self  grasping and that includes our obsession with how everything must meet with our approval and how everyone else has an obligation to please our minds.

The Sangha is here to teach us to correct our wrong views but instead of appreciating that and learning the precious lessons which are  none other than the Buddha's teachings, these people are now imposing their views on the Chief Monk wanting him to confirm to their views. They are even prepared to expel a monk from his home!

Having said that, I do not know why the Ven. Chief Monk decided to wear a suit instead of his robes to his conferment  . Quite apart from what a monk's robes symbolizes, to receive and award in his robes would be to honor the vocation that is to walk in the footsteps of the Buddha.

Still what a monk wears should have no bearing of how we should view members of the holy Sangha. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche used to wear suits and fancy outfits and that did nothing to reduce his very high attainments. In fact I imagine it challenged a lot of people to examine and abandon their own projections of how things ought to be.

[Ensapa]

It is truly a sign of the times indeed, that laypeople would profess that they have the right to control the ordained. It is sad to see that Buddhism has degenerated to this level in Malaysia where the laity who is supposed to take care of monks who has sacrificed more than them for the sake of learning the Dharma start to try and control the monks. Did the Buddha not teach that we should respect monks and nuns as they are people who have sacrificed their personal comfort for the sake of the Dharma? perhaps these people need to be either reeducated, or they cannot be called Buddhist anymore.

[Galen]

This is how Sangha members are treated in Asia? This is a disgrace to humanity as Sangha members are to be respected as they represent Buddhist teachings. How can also the group on disgruntled members ask the monk to leave when the headquarters of the temple, which is in Sri Lanka, are ok with  the situation and approves of it.

Wearing a suit to a conferment ceremony is not that the monk wants to look good, he wore the attire is to show respect to the king where he is conferred the title. If the members wants to kick out the monk from his temple because of this small reason, why are they studying Buddhism? Maybe they are in the committee not for Buddha's teachings but for their own gains. I wonder what karma they would create for themselves for such inappropriate action?

[Ensapa]

Also I should be amused as the very committee who chose to vote him out was ousted as well in another meeting. People who think that they have absolute control over monks should not even be allowed to hold positions in the temple committees. Being a temple committee to serve the sangha is a privilege, not a burden or yet another position in society or in a company. They should not even be allowed to step back in the temple as they have completely abused their position as the committee because they are supposed to take care of the monks, not control them.

[jessicajameson]

Who are the members of the EGM to define what a monk is to do, and not to do? Do the members hold ordination vows? Do they continuously use their body, speech and mind to serve others? Do they work tirelessly to turn the wheel of Dharma?

They eat, sleep, sht and occasionally wander on the pavements of the temple. Does a lifestyle similar to that of a stray dog in a temple bestow upon them the to right to tell an ordained sangha member how to behave?

As a resident of a Muslim nation, it seemed most respectful for Chief Monk to dress however his mother government deemed appropriate.

Those 8 who voted in favour of the resolution to remove Ven. K Sri Dhammaratana have quite the pig-headed ignorance to think so ill-mindedly of the spiritual head of their temple. Instead, how kind of Ven. Dhammaratana to adjust himself to the situation.

Perhaps the 8 should channel their energies to sending complain letters to... Kalu Rinpoche? Lama Osel? Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche? Or why not send a letter to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche for exposing his chest when he teaches? The pettiness behind what people pick on is mind-blowing.

One thing's for sure, those 8 at the EGM are definitely not reincarnations of Chogyam Trungpa's students!

[Ensapa]

Who are the members of the EGM to define what a monk is to do, and not to do? Do the members hold ordination vows? Do they continuously use their body, speech and mind to serve others? Do they work tirelessly to turn the wheel of Dharma?

They eat, sleep, sht and occasionally wander on the pavements of the temple. Does a lifestyle similar to that of a stray dog in a temple bestow upon them the to right to tell an ordained sangha member how to behave?

As a resident of a Muslim nation, it seemed most respectful for Chief Monk to dress however his mother government deemed appropriate.

Those 8 who voted in favour of the resolution to remove Ven. K Sri Dhammaratana have quite the pig-headed ignorance to think so ill-mindedly of the spiritual head of their temple. Instead, how kind of Ven. Dhammaratana to adjust himself to the situation.

Perhaps the 8 should channel their energies to sending complain letters to... Kalu Rinpoche? Lama Osel? Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche? Or why not send a letter to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche for exposing his chest when he teaches? The pettiness behind what people pick on is mind-blowing.

One thing's for sure, those 8 at the EGM are definitely not reincarnations of Chogyam Trungpa's students!

haha such strong words that you use, jessicajameson. While it is frustrating to hear about that a monk almost got ousted by the committee that has been entrusted to him, lets not forget that a lot of people do not really or actually understand what real spirituality is and they often only practice spirituality only of what they think is spirituality. In this case, it is very clear that they have chosen to actively defied the Buddha's instruction to respect members of the sangha. So if they do that, then are they still buddhists? Since they are not, they should not be allowed to hold any position in the temple, neither should they be allowed to set foot in one.

[jessicajameson]

haha such strong words that you use, jessicajameson. While it is frustrating to hear about that a monk almost got ousted by the committee that has been entrusted to him, lets not forget that a lot of people do not really or actually understand what real spirituality is and they often only practice spirituality only of what they think is spirituality. In this case, it is very clear that they have chosen to actively defied the Buddha's instruction to respect members of the sangha. So if they do that, then are they still buddhists? Since they are not, they should not be allowed to hold any position in the temple, neither should they be allowed to set foot in one.

I agree that a lot of people do not really understand what real spirituality is. I have seen those who not only disrespect sangha, but fellow Dharma brothers and sisters, and even bad-mouth their own Guru! They create such schism, using deceptive speech. I honestly worry for the karmic repercussions. Everything we do, say or think have consequences.

I wonder why this center doesn't just vote out those horrid 8 members! They must be a center who practices compassion. Better a little Dharma in their lives, than none at all.