Breaking the vows of Vinaya

Wayward monks a sign of changing times?
An unlikely ringtone within his maroon robes
An elder monk at the Dechenphu monastery peers at his digital camera screen, trying to capture the monastery’s sloping roofs, the rust-colored trees and the gentle flapping of the prayer flags. But he is surrounded by a gaggle of admiring monks, and soon the younger ones in the group are vying to get in the picture. They pose holding up their middle and index fingers, not really knowing whether it means peace or victory.
“I’m going to make an American tourist give me one of my own,” says one of the novices, pointing to the digital camera. “So I can go to Thimphu and take pictures of the beautiful girls.”
Seconds later the monk who makes the shocking remark has to excuse himself to take a call. The mobile phone hidden somewhere in the folds of his robes suddenly bursts into an Akon hip-hop song, an unlikely ringtone for an ordained monk. Almost immediately, another young monk whispers to his friend: “He’s planning on a snooker game this evening.”
Modern Bhutanese monks, it seems, are not simply techno-savvy but also regulars at snooker bars and gambling dens.
The pleasing of those not pleased
Except for those who are cloistered in meditation or retreat, a monk’s life generally provides many occasions for contact with lay-people. This fact gave the Buddha himself cause to lay down a large number of training rules which, if infringed, would constitute serious offences for a guilty monk.
“So long, O bhikkhus, as you appoint no new rules, and abolish not the existing ones, but proceed according to the training rules as laid down, so long will bhikkhus be expected to prosper, not to decline,” the Buddha once said.
The Buddha had in mind, for instance, “being in sympathy with householder”, “the pleasing of those not pleased and the increase of those pleased”, along with other exhortations to the monks to work for the benefit and happiness of other people.
What the Buddha never had in mind, perhaps, was that a monastic might one day extend the “pleasing of others” to mean seeking pleasures of his own.
Breaking the vows of discipline
Monk Yeshi of the Shri Diwakar Buddhist Institute in Kalimpong says the new generation of Bhutanese monks is breaking several aspects of the Vinaya, the regulatory framework of Buddhist monastic community.
For instance, the shaking of hands in the western form is not considered appropriate for monks. But this has now become common practice, Yeshi says.
Even worse are the known and proven cases of extra-marital affairs where a monk has been named the other man.
“My neighbor had an affair with a monk from a Shedra,” said Sangay Wangmo, a Thimphu resident.” “This is totally disgusting”.
A former monk who wishes to remain anonymous says sexual liaison is not uncommon in the clergy.
The Vinaya says all monks should stay away from places of “wrong resort” for monks. These include places of entertainment like theaters, concert halls, cinemas, stadiums, sporting arenas, exhibitions, fairs, casinos, nightclubs, brothels, army parades, and even battlefields.
The tune of the changing times
“A lot of monks come to play snooker here. They bet with laymen and in most cases win from them,” said a snooker bar owner in the Zangtogpelri Shopping Complex. Monk Yeshi said it wasn’t wrong if the monks visited such places simply for the fun of the game. It was an entirely different matter, he said, when money was at stake.
In that case, chalk this up as another vow broken.
There are monks who openly frequent the gambling houses in Thimphu, playing for very high stakes against veteran gamblers. “The monk who plays with us always carries a lot of dollars with him,” a local gambler said. “Once he lost an amount close to Nu 78,000 in a few hours but still came back the following day.”
Police reports of smuggling and drug use by monks are also not entirely unknown.
And, unlike Thailand, it’s not uncommon to see monks driving in Bhutan. From ordinary cars to the latest SUVs, groups of monks are often seen driving around town.
These are all signs of the changing times, several monks that BT spoke to said.
Ugyen Tashi, a monk at the Tango University of Buddhist Studies says not all monks are spoiled by modernization. He estimates that only about 30% of the monks can truly be said to have broken vows. “Only those monks who have had initial modern education are the ones who have developed a materialistic bent of mind,” he said.
To this, monk Yeshi responds it’s unfair to generalize.
“The actions of monks will vary from individual to individual,” he says.