TONE TONE AND FRIENDS

ToneToneJune 9, 201011min940

Tone Tone and friends have a discussion.

Catholic

Friend: I saw many postings on religious scandals. Many current Catholic Church scandals. Pedophiles priests sexually abuse kids.

Friend: Worse, higher up’s covering up for bad priests for centuries. They pretend to play victims. Far from admitting guilt, high priests counter attack. They accuse the media of “smearing” the Church.

Friend: Wealthy Catholic Church joined with the Emperor and squeezed money from poor serfs by selling “yadayars”/indulgences. Church wanted a larger Basilica. What a shame!

Friend: Also, they cast out any opposition as heretics. They put them on Inquisition. They tortured them or burned them on stakes. How horrible!

Jihadists

Friend: Monks gone wild! Not only Catholics. Bad monks in every religion. Imams invoke jihads. Their naive followers kill innocents in the name of Allah. They “guarantee” each of them 17 virgins and a palace in heaven. They incite them to kill others and themselves.

Lamas

Friend: Fake priests! Some bad lamas. They claim to be Buddhist monks but keep “wisdom consorts”/wives.

Friend: Bad lamas lie to naive women. They created “kinky” Tantric sexual practices. They passed off Tantrism as a form of “pristine” Tibetan Buddhism. They taught these to naive westerners too.

Friend: What a joke! Fake monks with their lies and stories. Some Lamas are known to terrorize lay people with “demonic” stories.

Thai

Friend: Well, some errant Thai monks, too. They go out at night with wigs and uniforms. They party with girlfriends, prostitutes, and drink alcohol. Utter decadence!

Friend: Yes, some Thai monks don’t observe Vinaya monk rules.

Friend: At least, when they are caught, they are defrocked immediately. No coddling as in the RC Church. Not allowed to hurt some other people again.

Friend: However, some lay Thai people let it be. Some immediately take action. Right away, they won’t give alms to bad priests. That will teach the bad monks to behave.

Vinaya

Friend: Yes, every race, every religion. Good thing, Buddha had laid down the monk rules. Even then, there still are some monks who continue to break them.

Protection

Friend: Yes, some naive people still protect these bad monks. They thought it will earn them ku tho.

Friend: Yes, these bad monks got away with it. The naive people are just blinded by the “robe.” They won’t scold them. They got mad with those who expose the bad monks. Sounds like the RC Church. Even some good monks remain quiet.

Friend: Actually, they don’t know. For encouraging the bad monks, they will get “Ah Ku tho.” It’s a Vinaya offense for a good monk to look the other way and not do something about the bad monks.

Bold

Friend: I agree. Like the RC Church, the bad monks become quite bold. They continue with breaking the Vinaya.

Explosion

Friend: Yes, the problems grow and then suddenly explode as in the RC Church. By then, they are too late.

Extravagant

Friend: Yes, for extravagant spending and misdirecting charitable funds, a Singapore Buddhist priest lost his CEO job in a big charitable hospital which he headed.

Forgery

Because of a forged diploma, eight Korean Buddhist groups fight.

Scam

Friend: Sad! Some Korean priests scam their government for huge construction subsidies. Some even sold fake donation receipts.

Dirty old monk

Friend: Worse! A 75 year old Japanese priest sexually abused a middle aged woman. She sued him and the Temple. She got a whopping 1.5 million US dollars.

Lesson:

Friend: What do we learn from them? Any practical application?