The Value of the Buddhist Priesthood
From TheBuddhism.Net
The Value of the Buddhist Priesthood
Once our Great Buddha said, “The priesthood is like a bird who carries only the weight of its wings.”
This shows us how free and independent Buddhist priests are.
A lay person carries a huge burden of responsibilities from birth to death. Tasks they have to carry out such as studying as a child, having a higher education, career, marriage, having children and bringing them up, looking after the old parents, etc., have no end. Among all these, one has to make a lot of effort to earn money for a living. What is left at the end of all this? Most of the time only remorse. How many have saved for their world after death, or their spiritual development?
But, none of these exist in the ascetic life. A priest has only to work for his spiritual development to end suffering and attain Nirvana. He could gather alms in the morning for his meals and use the rest of the day to learn Dhamma and do meditation. Therefore, a priest never has any attachment to anything. Just like the weight of the wings of a bird, a priest has only the limited weight of his few essentials such as the alms bowl, set of saffron robes, palmyra fan and the umbrella.
The priests live happily and have an agreeable nature because they do not dwell in the past or dream about the future; but live in the present.
From the Pali sentence, “Sabba Dukkha Nissarana nibbana sachchikaranthaya iman kasawan gahethwa pabbajetha man bhanthe anukampan upadaya” the novice monk asks his teacher for priesthood.
It means, “reverend sir, please take these saffron robes and give me with compassion, the noble priesthood to enter the path, to end all the suffering and attain the blissful Nirvana”.
After gaining the noble priesthood, the monks start to study in Buddhist Universities. Some even go to state universities. But what is most important is their competency in the Buddha’s teachings (Dhamma). Before studying about the ideologies of the Western philosophers, a Buddhist monk should have a comprehensive knowledge on Buddhist teachings. Moreover, they should be knowledgeable about the religious rites and discipline of the Buddhist order.
Sermonizing and preaching Paritta in the approved manner and conducting meditation programs are a monk’s responsibility as well as his duty.
A monk receives a degree ten thousand times more valuable than a university degree the day he is en-robed since the saffron robes are considered the flag of enlightenment. As long as a monk is in his robes, he could do a great religious & a social service to the society.
That was why our Great Buddha said, “Paraththan patipajja” (serve others/ see to others welfare).
A monk should be philosophical of the eight laws relating to the vicissitudes of life. Even our great Buddha had to face abuse and reproach. That is the nature of the society. Such things are normal in a society which is full of jealousy, hatred and conceit.
Priesthood is so superior that even a king worships his servant if he becomes a monk.
It is said that even the maternal and paternal parents of a monk attain Enlightenment because of him. It is due to the fact that they refrain from doing sinful acts and do meritorious deeds thinking of their relative monk.
The shortest road to attain liberation ridding of suffering and oppression is the virtuous living as a priest. Wholesome priesthood is a blessing to the whole world.
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Very true, taken up the full ordained vows is one of the best thing one can do. To received the ordination vows which represent that this person is willing to let go of person fun, time, family, friends, attachment, enjoyment and study, learning, practising, Dharma and become better and eventually enlightenment.
To be an full ordained Buddhist priest one who represent the body, speech and mind of Buddha, who also is the role model for lay person to follow their path.
In this story said, even King worships his servant if he becomes a monk, it’s not because of the robe, the title but because this servant actually want to deal with him own issues and will scarified everything for the benefit of others. It’s extremely hard to have this kind of devotion and faith in Buddha, or this kind of love towards all living beings ,hence even King is respect about this.
Thanks
bryan
This article is exactly what Rinpoche had said before. The vows that a monk uphold is very sacred that if we were a 10th level Bodhisattva and we make offerings to a simple ordinary monk who upheld his vows. The Bodhisattva would still collect merit! That shows how sacred it is to uphold the Vinaya code that was the sacred legacy of the Buddha.
On top of that, Rinpoche said that the monk is superior to an ordinary practitioner because of the vows they uphold and that 24 hours a day is dedicated towards collecting merit. Their whole lives is geared toward Dharma and that’s why Sangha members are needed in an area to make the Dharma grow in that area.
Thanks David for sharing that about a high level bodhisattva collects merits by making offering to a monk.