types of punishments for offenses. Although the old Chan master indicated the punishments for offenses on rules of first section, he still gave those who are on the supervising positions the authority to decide and carry out the punishment. Basically, there are six types of punishment: solitary confinement in the repentance room39, disrobe40, no allowance for one to six months, no leave can be granted for one to six months, repent according to The Great Repentance Before The Eighty-eight Buddha, and forbidden to go out of the monastery or talk to others. The monastery will also inform all members during monthly conference about who should and will receive punishments due to his or her offense.
2.9 Monastic Economy Types of incomes:
C.F.S. has sixteen branches in Taiwan and three branches overseas under its direct control. Monasteries built by the old Chan master’s disciples are managed by themselves independently, so they only have affiliated relationship with C.F.S., and it has no authority in running these affiliated monasteries. Besides these branch temples, C.F.S. has a radio station, a profitable enterprise, and other non-profit foundations. Each branch temple, affiliated monasteries, radio station, the profitable enterprise, and non-profit foundations of C.F.S. has their own financial system
39 The punishment is named as “bu gong zhu 不共住” in Chinese, and its literary meaning is prohibition to live with the community. In The Common Regulations of the Monastic Community, the old Chan master foot noted that it is a punishment of solitary confinement in the repentance room. In Protimoksa Sutra of Dharmagupta School, the most serious punishment of the root precept (offenses of prajika-dharma) is also “bu gong zhu” in Chinese. However, “bu gong zhu” is expulsion from the monastic community for life in here. Expulsion from the community basically means one has to disrobe, and can never become a monk or a nun again. The rule number seven in the first section of The Common Regulations of the Monastic Community indicated that the punishment of any sangha member who violates the basic or root precept (prajika-dharma) is solitary confinement in the repentance room (bu gong zhu). This is different from Pratimoksa Sutra of Dharmagupta School’s punishment on most serious offense.
40 It was written as “chien-dan 遷單” in Chinese, and it also has the meaning of expulsion from the monastic community. It is the punishment of most serious offense.
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separately from the main temple. There are different types of income which support these institutions.
Donation from pilgrims:
A few larger temples of C.F.S. have tourists or visitors in a daily base. Most of these visitors are not lay supporters of C.F.S. Sometimes, tourist guides will bring his or her tourist group to visit the main temple. Some of these visitors will make donations to the monastery, or purchase things at the bookstore.
Donation from lay supporters:
Each temple has its own supporting lay group, if a lay Buddhist joins the lay supporting group of the temple, he or she will donate a certain amount of money in a yearly base. Donation can be in any forms. Some of the lay supporters would donate things that the temples need, for example, some lay supporters donate vegetables and fruits from their own cultivation. Most of these lay supporters are lay disciples of the old Chan master; they are less likely to be lay Buddhists of other monasteries.
Fund raising:
There will be a food and market fair organized by C.F.S. in order to raise money every year. In addition to the fair, different things donated by the lay supporters or food made by the monasteries are sold in the temple in order to raise some extra fund.
Investment:
One of C.F.S.’ branch temples in Kaohsiung was built with the old Chan master’s
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personal savings and investments. According to him, he earned most of his saving by investing stocks while he was serving in the military.41 The old Chan master is the one who can decide whether the monastery should invest with its own fund or not.
Ancestral ash altar and tablet hall:
All temples of C.F.S. have their own ancestral tablet halls, and a few of them have ancestral ash altars. People can pay for a space in the ancestral ash alter or tablet hall for their ancestors’ ash or tablets, and the cost ranges from about $1000 to $3000 dollars for each space. Both ancestral ash altar and tablet hall generate quite a large amount of fund for these temples.
Private ritual services:
Lay supporters or even the sangha members themselves can ask the monastery to do ritual services for them. Ritual services can be classified into two types: to generate merits or avert from disaster and misfortune and ritual services for the dead. Depending on the type of Buddhist ritual, the cost is different, too. For
instance, the Buddhist tantric ritual of feeding the hungry ghost (yien-ko 燄口) takes about four hours, and the cost for that ritual is around $3000 dollars. Having a
Buddhist ritual outside of the temple will cost more than having it inside of the temple. In overall, the cost of the Buddhist rituals ranges from around $300 to $6000 dollars. Buddhist ritual services are, indeed, the major monthly source of income of all temples of C.F.S.
41 Zhou Zun Hong 卓遵宏: The Interview Transcription of Taiwanese Buddhists (Taiwan Fuo Jiao Re Wu Fang Tan 臺灣佛教人物訪談), 2007.
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Ancient Indian Tantric ritual services:
The main temple of C.F.S. is the only monastery in Taiwan that is of Chan lineage but having a Tantric altar in it. The old Chan master also practices ancient Indian Tantrism, and he established International Association of Ancient Indian Tantrism and Chan Buddhism in 2005.42 Before the establishment, he taught some of his disciples the practices of ancient Indian Tantrism. There is a bhikshuni vijra master in the main temple now, and she is responsible to do ancient Indian ritual services for people who ask for it. There are different kinds of ancient Indian Tantric ritual service, and the cost for each type is different, too. For example, a special kind of service for the dead is leading the dead to a possible better rebirth.43 This type of ancient Indian Tantric ritual costs about $1500 dollars. Only the main temple of C.F.S. has Tantric altar and Vijra master, so only the main temple has the income from ancient Indian Tantric ritual services.
Dharma ceremonies:
Each temple of C.F.S. has its own scheduled dharma ceremonies every year.
During the ceremonies, people will donate money to support the temple. The donation from dharma ceremonies is a type of fixed income for the temple, but the amount of donation differs each year.
Donation from relatives of sangha members and themselves:
Sometimes, when one decides to join the Order, his or her relatives will also become supporters of the monastery, too. Many of the sangha members’ relatives
42 It was said by the old Chan master that the difference from ancient Indian Tantrism and other esoteric practices was that the first originated from Vairocana (pi-lu zhe-na 毗盧遮那佛), and it was the old type of Tantrism. The information is from the internet resource of C.F.S.:
http://www.chiefsun.org.tw/family/01_about/01_detail.php?Md=4&Ld=57&Id=103, 2010/09/12.
43 It is called zhon yin shen yin du 中陰生引渡 in Chinese.
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become lay supporters of C.F.S. They might not have any religious belief before, be supporters of another monastery, or have another religious belief. Under the influence of their sangha relatives, they also join the supporting group of C.F.S. In addition to that, many sangha members donate a lot of money from their own savings. For instance, the electronic water heating system was donated by a
bhikshuni of the main temple. During dharma ceremonies, sangha members will also donate money in order to generate merits for their ancestors or relatives.
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Chapter Three: Different Perspectives on Kin Relations of Monks and Nuns
In Fan Tsung’s study, there was about two third of her informants remained close tie with their lay families, some of them chose to have no contact with friends or families due to religious reasons and some of them wanted to be close to their families but being refused.44 There are different reasons that the family members are willing to remain or not to remain a close tie with another monastic relative.
Whether monks or nuns get along with their families before entering the monastery is important in affecting their future relationships after becoming monks or nuns. On the other hand, our social ethics and values also play a part in affecting people’s attitude toward the act of joining the Buddhist order, and that will also, indirectly, affect the relationship between monastic members and lay families. Monks and nuns have long been criticized of violating Chinese social ethics and values because their choice of celibacy, leaving lay families and secular world. Unlike Sherpas society or Thai society which Buddhism is their state belief, most of people in Han society do hold some negative stereotypical views about Buddhist monks and nuns, and their extrafamilial alternatives45. Like social ethics and values despite being positive or negative, these stereotypical views on Buddhist renunciation change over time, but there are always some biases which have remained for thousands of years.