http://www.buddhistfellowship.org/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=19Read the encounter of bogus monks in Guangzhou during the Buddhist Fellowship tour to Louyang.
Bogus Monks Busting
By Angie Monksfield
(Edited by Bro Rich)
Buddhist Fellowship organized a tour to Louyang to visit the Longmen Grottoes, Guang Lin Temple, White Horse Temple and the Shao Lin Monastery. We were on last the leg of our tour, transiting in Guangzhou to return to Singapore.
We stayed overnight at the 5-star Novotel Airport Hotel in Guangzhou. On the morning of our departure, as my room-mate and I entered the restaurant to have breakfast, one of the group members who happens to be our Buddhist Fellowship Treasurer, greeted us and informed us that there were 3 monks in the restaurant seated against the wall in bench seats, claiming to be from "Chew Hua San" in Anhui Province, soliciting donations from her and other guests from the hotel. She highlighted that the name-cards given to her indicated a different address from the monastery they claimed to be from and she suspected they were not real monks.
Three female members of the group and I sat at a table diagonally across from them. Where I sat, I could see two of the monks and the one claiming to be the Abbot (wearing big beads around his neck) had his back to me and he was mostly hidden by the high back of the bench seat.
Their behaviour was not of the usual monk-like demeanour. They were chatting and laughing quite loudly, constantly eyeing newcomers into the restaurant.
Whenever a new guest walked into the restaurant, one of them would walk over to invite him/her to meet the Abbot. On one occasion, it was a member of our group who, after being approached by them and upon returning to his table, started to prepare an ang pow (red packet) by stuffing it with a few hundred Yuan. I walked to up to him and asked him if he thought they were real monks He felt that they were and they told him they were running out of money. I asked him then why were
they then staying in a 5-star hotel. I cautioned him that they could be bogus monks.
I had noticed that their shoes were all different: two of them wore sneakers and the Abbot wore leather shoes. Subsequently, when one of them walked to get more food from the buffet table, I noticed that the pants they wore beneath their outer brown Mahayana robe, were also all different in shades of beige and one was wearing a red T-shirt.
By this time, I decided to confront them. After asking my group members seated with me what was the word for ‘monk’ among other words, I shouted a question in my basic Mandarin across to them “Are you real monks?”. Through translation, I learnt that their response was that they have come from Anhui. I replied, “I know that you are from Anhui but are you real monks?”. Their answer, to our surprise was, “No, we are lay-disciples”. To this, I raised my voice, “Why are you pretending to be monks and soliciting donations? Do you realize how bad your karma is by lying and cheating the kind-hearted? You are also undermining the faith people have in monks. And your friend there, should be ashamed of himself in pretending to be an Abbot - you are all giving Buddhism a bad name.” By thistime, they were rattled. The ‘Abbot‘ removed his beads and they picked up their bags and scurried away!
I am sharing this story because it is important to be aware that not every person with a shaven head and clad in a robe is a real monk. The attire may make them look the part but it is only through observation that we can determine if they are genuine.
Let’s not be gullible and forget the Buddha’s advice “Investigate before believing” and as in the Salutation to the Sangha chant “
Only the monks and nuns who are practicing in the good way, upright way, knowledgeable way and proper way that they are worthy of gifts, hospitality, offerings and reverential salutation”. So, lets combine compassion with wisdom whenever the moment calls for it.
Topic: Bogus Monks Busting (Read 1920 times)