Evil Monks

Recently I had spoken with a fellow who, in his younger days, had been an American Peace Corps Volunteer in the Far East. Amidst his endless stories and observations was the fascinating tidbit that NOBODY ever decided to become a Buddhist Monk, that the Monasteries were actually just functional Orphanages. Yes, while it is supposed that some actual orphans were dropped off, that is, children who had lost their parents, in most cases it was probably prostitutes dropping off incidental babies, or a farmer dropping off the baby of an unmarried daughter after “a fox had jumped out her window”, whereupon the daughter could become a proper virgin again. So, in short, the Monasteries of the Far East are filled almost completely with … well, let’s keep calling them “orphans”. That’s nicer. His point was that in the Far East becoming a Monk represented no huge religious or spiritual commitment. Monks just happened to be Monks. Nobody ever asked them what they wanted?

Oh, and these people would continue to be Monks all of their lives, considering that there was a strong social stigma against… “orphans”. Somebody should probably look into that today. With Television everywhere, probably even in the Monasteries, these Monks would learn what it is to act normally. They could escape, grow their hair, go to the Big City and get a job. So it is that the Modern World changes everything.

Anyway, back to the Orphanage Monasteries. Yes, it is wonderful that in certain Monasteries the Monks are given such intensive training in matters of the Spirit… if we could only find where such a Monastery actually exists. But more usually we see Monks given enough vocational training to be manufacturers of Gift Shop Trinkets, or they are set out to beg at the train stations or airports. Their Spiritual Training consists of keeping to a schedule of mandatory prayers. Well… that better than nothing.

Oh, but there is far worst. We see all these Movies in which unscrupulous Administrators of these Orphanage Monasteries take all of these lads and train them up to be Fighters, Militiamen and Assassins. Certainly, it must be a far stretch to understand how Religion and Spirituality could have much to do with any of this. It is more likely that Chief Administrators with Priestly Titles have no official oversight and can make themselves rich in any way they can imagine, even by hiring out private armies and hit men.

Oh, it is not just the Buddhists I blame for this lack of centralized discipline and control of their “Priests”, but historically the Muslims have had the same problem with their Monasteries. The original Assassins came out of some very corrupt Muslim Monastery. And the Assassins would have made the Ninjas look like a bunch of little pussies!

Oh, and here is a puzzler… that there are so few female Monks, Nuns, in the Far East. Nobody ever says so out loud, but a lot of ‘nostril pinching’ is suspected. What they ‘say’ is that the female babies are far more frail than the boys and so many more female babies ‘die’ at birth… nobody says they are ‘killed’, but simply that they don’t make it. Yeah, pinching their noses probably doesn’t help since they are so frail already. Anyway, even if they are not wanted, the boys are passed along to the Monasteries. There is simply nowhere for the unwanted female babies to go. I hope this has changed. To me, the prejudice seems to go the wrong way. Girls can be so much more useful than boys in the Modern World. They cooperate better. Less testosterone. Anything a boy can do, that matters, a girl can do better.

Oh, the West should not be too judgmental about Infant ‘Nose Pinching’. Remember that only until recently “Infant Mortality” was high even in the West. And Mid-Nurses were employed. Now, what was a Mid-Wife’s job, exactly? The Mid-wife would come into the home. Talk to the wife. Talk to the husband. Have a look around. Then a baby would be born that would either live or die. Coincidentally, a lot of large families in small houses had a higher infant morality rate. Not a written word has passed into History… who would write such a thing? … but the Mid-Wives were probably nose-pinching. Oh, and while their services were much sought out, sometimes it was resented, and the resentment would on occasion explode. Most of the American Witch Trials targeted Mid-Wives. But they shut down those trials quickly. People needed to protect their Secret. Before Birth Control and Legal Abortion, and before there were Social Programs and Safety Nets for the miserably Poor, people needed to do something about their pest Babies. I guess nobody thought about sending them all to a School for Trained Killers. Oh, if only the whole World were Buddhist.