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structure because the longer the jie-la you have does not guarantee you with a higher position in the management structure. People who have longer jie-la are the elders within the monastic community. They are seemed to have higher wisdom and more experienced with Buddhist practices, so all members will respect them. In C.F.S., members who have more than thirty years of jie-la can retire from all monastic jobs, and spend their time on their own will. Before when the number of sangha member is sufficient to fulfill all monastic positions, members who have more than twelve years of jie-la is exempted from positions in the kitchen because jobs in the kitchen are toilsome. This is not the case now because the number of sangha member is decreasing but C.F.S. is expanding.
2.5 Background of the Monastic Members
The main temple of C.F.S. has some monks and mostly nuns. This is never the case in monasteries in China. According to Welch’s descriptions of monasteries, it is either a monastery for monks or a nunnery. It’s very unlikely to have both sangha28 living in the same monastery. However, there are many monasteries having both sangha in the same monastery in Taiwan. There should be more than three hundred monks and nuns who had been tonsured by the old Chan master.29 The number of nuns exceeds the number of monks. Monks and nuns of C.F.S. can also tonsure his or her own disciples. Therefore, there are sangha members of different dharma
generations living in one monastery. Furthermore, there are sangha members from
precepts will go to the monastery where it holds the ordination ceremony.
28 bhikshu and bhikshuni sangha.
29 The recently published (April, 2010) pamphlet on brief introduction about C.F.S. and C.F.S. Special Issue of Thirty Years indicated that the number of the old Chan master’s tonsure disciple was over three hundred, but I believe the number should be more than they indicated. Many statistics provided by C.F.S. in any form is not that accountable. One is not sure whether the number of its member indicates the old Chan master’s tonsure disciples or all members currently residing in its temples. Even if they clearly indicated that, the number seems to be inaccurate.
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different dharma lineages who study in the C.F.S. Buddhist College. Many of them chose to join the Order of C.F.S.
Gender:
A data published by C.F.S. ten years ago indicated that bhikshu and sramanera composed of about 30%, and bhikshuni and sramanerika composed of about 70% of its whole members.30 That tells us its number of nuns exceeds the number of monks.
It is also true in the number difference between bhikshu and bhikshuni in Taiwan.
These numbers might change in ten years, but the ratio remains the same.
Another interesting data in the same book by C.F.S. is the number of its tonsure members. This includes those who have left the monastery. Its total number of tonsure member was 363 ten years ago. There is a recent published book also shows that the total number of its tonsure member now is over three hundred.31 However, the number of members who reside in its temples is no more than one hundred and fifty. What do these numbers tell us? I believe it tells us two things: First, since there are new members joining the Order every year, the number of its tonsure member should increase instead of unchanging. Therefore, it is highly possible that their data is inaccurate. Second, there were more monastic members who had been tonsured in C.F.S. before, but they later left the monastery.
Age
The only published data was the one that I mentioned previously. That is the only resource I found because the monastery does not put a great effort to update their data. The age of most of its members fell into thirty-six to forty years old. The
30 C.F.S. Special Issue of Thirty Years, the first part of the name of this issue has been abbreviated because it is the name of the monastery which should be anonymous.
31 A pamphlet on brief introduction to C.F.S.
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average age was 42. That data was ten years ago. The age of new sangha member now is much older than ten years ago. The youngest sangha member is twenty-eight years old and the oldest member is almost ninety years old now. There are less than 10% of its members who age between thirty to forty years old.
Birth Place/Nationality:
Sangha members of C.F.S. are from different countries, but most of them are from Asia. Many of them were born in China, and they had followed the troops to Taiwan in 1949. The nationalities of the sangha members include India, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and Germany.
Education
The highest percentage of C.F.S.’ sangha members finished their high school degree. According to the data ten years ago, second highest percentage of its sangha members never finished their high school, or they do not have a chance to have formal schooling after elementary and junior high school. However, only old members now have not much of the formal schooling because of the tough social condition in Taiwan when they were young. Very few members have no formal schooling at all or being illiterate. The number of members who holds a graduate degree is less than ten, and the third highest percentage of members has an
undergraduate degrees. Although the above is the data from ten years ago, and the number has changed, the ratio between these categories remains the same.
Motives to join the Order
To ask a monk or a nun their motivation to join the Order is a difficult task. Most of them will tell you how great Buddhism is, and they are eager for salvation. When
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you talk to them, or do a little bit of interview with these informants, then you will find out there are other reasons behind that. However, this does not mean that these informants do not believe in Buddhism or do not have any religious belief before joining the Order. I did not do a formal research on this topic; however, by listening to my informants’ life stories during interviews and other sangha members without formal interviews, I grouped their motivations into six reasons. These six reasons are from the reference of Welch’s research out of thirty-nine cases.32 Welch stated out seven reasons why those monks entered the sangha: escape from the world, illness, orphaned, persuaded by relatives, liked monastic atmosphere, interested in
Buddhism, and other reasons. These reasons Welch grouped into are still the case even up to this date. There is only one exception. No one in C.F.S. entered the sangha because he or she is orphaned. In Welch’s cases, he had many informants entered the sangha when they were kids, so orphanage became one of the reasons. I had heard that there were a few sramanera living in the main temple of C.F.S. for less than two years many years ago. These sramanera, I should call them boys actually, were sent by their parents because of their illness or behavioral problems. It was more like a correctional facility for the young. C.F.S. decided to send them back to their parents because they were not ordained formally. The other six reasons also apply to my informants, and some of them have more than one reason, but the primary reason is the most critical one. These reasons could be subjective as what Welch had mentioned in his book, but I believe they are close to the reality.
a. Escape from the world: There is a great percentage of the sangha members have marriage before. Many of them had a tough marriage, and many of these
marriages ended up with divorces. Therefore, looking for religious refuge helps them to heal the wounds. Furthermore, some members told me about their
32 Welch, 1967, pp.258-269.
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unloved childhood, or close relatives died from a sudden car accident. Many of them have difficult lives before entering the monasteries, and that really motivates them to leave the secular world and look for a different life in the monasteries.
b. Illness: Recently, one of my monk informants told me that he had bad illness all over his life until the date he got ordained as a monk.
c. Persuaded by relatives: This group of members also have a tough life in secular world, so their relative would encourage them to join the sangha. For example, one monk was badly hurt by previous love relationship during his undergraduate years, and suffered from depression. His parents who are Buddhists encourage him to become a monk because they believe that is the best for him.
d. Liked monastic atmosphere: one elder nun told me that she became a nun just because she liked the atmosphere and life in the monastery. She started to learn about Buddhism only after she joined the sangha.
e. Interested in Buddhism: Some of the members went to monasteries out of their own wish when they were young. They have always wanted to join the sangha.
The number of members who falls into this category is small.
f. Other reasons: the nun who had lived in the main temple of C.F.S. the longest joined the Order because she had been living in the temple as a vegetarian laywoman (zhai-gu 齋姑) for years before, so the old Chan master asked her to join the Order.
Qualifications to join the Order
C.F. S. has no restriction on age, whether you have marriage before, or
educational background. This is not the case in all Taiwanese monasteries because many monasteries refuse to tonsure people who have marriage before, and they also
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have restriction on age at the time of novice ordination. It is believed that people who have been married before and the elderly have more bad mannerism or habit, and they might cause the monastery more trouble if they join the Order.33 There are also some monasteries preferring to have new members with higher education.
These restrictions are different from monastery to monastery, but these restrictions are not in the Vinaya. Therefore, it really depends on the considerations of each individual monastery. None of my informants ever heard about someone being rejected from joining the Order.
2.6 Daily Life in the Monastery