Hip Hypocrisy

Yesterday, while visiting the sites in Beijing with my new Couchsurfer friend, I stumbled upon this interesting scene. A monk taking a picture with an ipad. At first I thought it belonged to the nice people he was taking a picture of but as I watched him for the next few minutes it became clear that it was his.

So... whats wrong with this you might ask. The second noble truth of Buddhism states that suffering is caused by the desire for material goods and immortality, both of which cannot be satisfied and thus can only cause suffering. Therefore a Buddhist monk should adhere to those teachings, right...? When Lacey and I got married in Thailand, by nine Buddhist monks we paid them with a cup of tea, a flower and a take away lunch.

In China and Korea Buddhist monks have gained quite a reputation for doing un-Buddhist stuff. Check this out: Buddhist Monks Caught Gambling, Smoking and Boozing. On a few occasions when the topic of Buddhism comes up around our local friends, some of them start to tell us how much their father despises Buddhist monks because they get rich of of donations and never have to work for their money. This completely baffled me, I thought these guys had to beg for their daily meal, not for enough money to buy a luxury automobile. The Monk Who Got A Ferrari

While these examples are unique and definitely not a general representation of the Buddhist religion, it is a humbling reminder that we are all imperfect beings regardless of our individual faith.