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ancestral line existed in the monastic sacrifice rituals. People reconstructed another family within the monastic system based on what they are taught about family by social guidelines, and they reconstructed a very similar family system of their own within the monastery because that is the only cultural pattern they know about family.
3.5 Why need helps?
From the media or stereotypical beliefs, people assume that monastic life is easy and comfortable.80 It is true for some monks and nuns with large donations, and comparing to labor pay, conducting private Buddhist rituals can earn more money than doing a regular labor. In addition, it does not require heavy labor forces.
It is the most obvious reason for people’s sarcasm on monks and nuns. However, this is not true for all monks and nuns. Some monastery might have a large income from lay supporters’ donations, but only those who are on top of the managing structure are able to use that money with their own free wills. Most of monks and nuns, like Fan Tsung’s nun informants, receive a very small amount of allowance from the monasteries.81 Many relatives believe that their monk and nun relatives will be taken care by the monastic institution since they have left home, and they are less obligated to support them.82 In reality, many Taiwanese monasteries do not provide medical services or helps for their members, so they have to pay for their own medical expenses. Moreover, some monks and nuns are anxious about needing medical helps one day; they also feel insecure and anxious about their lives. Actually, caring for the sick member in the monastery is everyone’s responsibility within the
80 Fan Tsung, 1986, pp.181.
81 Nuns received less than ten dollars from the monastery every month, and it only worth for one-tenth of a factory worker’s pay (Fan Tsung Shiu-kuen, 1986, pp.181.)
82 Fan Tsung, 1986, pp.301.
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monastic community. According to Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, not visiting or not taking care of another sick member was against to the precept.83 The Buddha ordered his disciples to take good care of a sick member, and the monastic community should try their best to fulfill whatever the sick member needed especially when the member was dying; if a sick monk was filled with hatred at the time of death, he would get a bad rebirth.84 When a monastic member was sick, someone should be appointed to take care of that member, and if there was not enough medicine, the care taker should help finding a layperson to donate medicine, but if the care taker could not find someone to donate, then he could take things from the monastic community or even use the donations that people offered to the Buddha.85 However, if the care taker still could not get whatever the sick member needed from the above methods, then he could sell the Buddha’s material property such as umbrella.86 Therefore, we knew that the Buddha cared about sick members from Buddhist doctrines. Ideology was not the reality found by many researchers. From Fan Tsung’s observations, she saw nuns lacked of material resources, they were emotionally insecure, and had low social esteems. Therefore, monastic life is not as pleasant as what people might think.
Some monks and nuns realized that only after they entered the monasteries. If a monk or nun donates a large amount of money to the monasteries they join, then they can be exempted from doing heavy monastic chores. If one entered the monastery at an old age, in some cases, they would only be accepted if they make large donations because they do not have any labor values for the monasteries. As a social institution, the monastery provides less security and care than a normal
83 Shih Ne Ron, 2003, pp.190.
84 Shin Ne Ron, 2003, pp.186-187.
85 Shih Ne Ron, 2003, pp.187-188.
86 Shih Ne Ron, 2003, pp.187-188.
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household, and both monks and nuns are fully aware of that fact.87 In C.F.S., the allowance of a monk or nun is for paying daily material needs and some medical expenses other than room and food. The amount of money given by the monastery monthly is not sufficient to cover both labor and private insurance. A member cannot receive any private donation from other lay supporters except their relatives, so they do need some financial supports from their relatives. Of course, they can choose to live a poor monastic life, but most of their relatives would give some helps to them.
3.6 Social Changes
Before at the time when transportation and other technologies were not convenient to people, keeping a relationship with another person is not that easy compare to now. People keep their contacts through writing letters. In today’s society, transportation and technology are convenient, and keeping contact with someone is less time consuming. Geographical distance sometimes blocks the opportunity for a monk or a nun to contact their relatives. Unlike in the Buddha’s time when the monastic community moved from place to place, the monastic community has gradually settled down in fixed locations, and we call these fixed locations
monasteries. Having a fixed residence makes it easier for monks and nuns to have routine contacts with their relatives, and the relatives are able to visit these monks and nuns at the monasteries, too. Even though monks and nuns do not have to travel around like in the Buddha’s time, geographical distance can still be a problem for some monks and nuns in keeping contacts with their relatives. Especially in China, a monk can travel far away from his hometown to join a monastic community.
Moreover, he would travel around monastery to monastery, too. Thus, even the monk is financially well-off, still, it is not easy for him to keep close contact with his
87 Fan Tsung, 1986, pp.348.
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relatives. Improvement of technology changes our relationships with people in some ways. I am not saying it is a positive change or not because it really depends.
Over time, there are many social and political reforms to bring equality between man and woman. There are changes in marriage and family in which the role of
woman changes. Women have higher education and better chance to higher education. In work field, women are given more chances to get a better job and position today. These opportunities increase women’s incomes, so they no longer see marriage as the only meal ticket.88 Social reform movement took place in the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912); the Taiping Rebellion struggled to seek gender equality, to bolster new position to woman, to make marriage a personal choice and to abolish ancestor worship and other religious elements.89 When Communists took over China, large ancestral sacrifice at a lineage level was prohibited.90 Ancestral worship is like other types of religious sacrifice, and family ancestral worship had also been attacked later. Familism was no longer a strong social ideology in Communist government, and divorce was easier to obtain.91 Political change in China brought some changes to religious systems, too. Although religions were attacked by the Communist
government, still, they allowed some religious institutions to continue running under proper guidance. Many monasteries relied heavily on conducting private Buddhist rituals, especially those hereditary temples. If public large scale ancestral worship was no longer allowed, it first attacked economical income of some monasteries at that time. The situation gets better now, and people have more freedom to conduct religious rituals in China now. In Taiwan, political change also brought some changes to Chinese Buddhist institutions. In colonial time, Japanese Buddhism was introduced
88 Fan Tsung, 1986, pp.11-12.
89 Baker, 1979, pp.176.
90 Baker, 1979, pp.208-210.
91 Baker, 1979, pp.211.
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to Taiwan. Japanese monastic system differs greatly from the Chinese one. Japanese monks are allowed to marry and have child. The whole point of their marriage is for monks having heirs to inherit their temples. These temples are mostly hereditary with blood relations. There was once that Buddhist Association of Republic of China wanted to allow monks to marry. If this proposal had passed at that time, the kin relations of monks and nuns would be far more complex. There were more social and political changes that brought changes to Buddhist monasteries, but I want to discuss changes that might affect the relationships between monks or nuns and their
relatives.
Changes of social values and ethics are very important to monks and nuns. More parents are willing to respect their children’s life choice. The privilege backgrounds of monks and nuns help improve their social and religious status. Many people now understand that entering the monastic system is for religious pursues but not
escaping from problems in secular world. Education improvement of monks and nuns also upgrade their social status; more and more monks and nuns hold higher
educational degrees than before, and most of nuns are no longer illiterate as samples in Fan Tsung’s research.92 Because women have more freedom to make decisions of how they want to live, and they are more independent economically, extrafamiliar alternative is not as strange as before although it is still not fully understood by the society. People now focus more on individuality than before, so family burdens no longer play an important role in blocking one to reach his or her goal. In the past forty years, many large Buddhist monasteries such as Fo Guang Shan, Dharma Drum Monastery and other monasteries expanded in a rapid speed.93 These monasteries found all the ways to increase social status of monks and nuns by sending them to
92 Fan Tsung, 1986.
93 see the website: www.fgs.org.tw (Fo Guang Shan); www.ddm.org.tw (Dharma Drum Monastery)
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study for higher degree. Many monks and nuns got their PhD degrees and have teaching positions in the university. All these give people a very different picture about monks and nuns. Moreover, monastic life is not a mystery now because of the booming expansion of religious institutions and religious activities for lay supporters today. In Fo Guang Shan Monastery, they invite the parents of its members to visit their children twice a year. Parents of monks and nuns are addressed as in-laws of Fo Guang Shan. Traditional belief that when one leaves the family and enter a
monastery, he and she is cutting off relationship with kin forever has been changed.
Furthermore, nuns have higher religious status and more influences on religion and society than before, too. Venerable Cheng Yen of Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation is a good example. Some stereotypical views about extrafamiliar
alternatives still remain, and not everyone accepts these changes, but we do see some differences over these years.
3.7 Filial Piety
One of the most important virtues that Confucius taught is filial piety. According to Confucius, “filial piety is the basis of virtue and the source of culture…94” In
general, filial piety is the proper attitude toward one’s parents. Because filial piety is the root of virtue95, so it is also the root of morality in Chinese society.96
Confucianism and Buddhism have different views on what are proper attitudes toward parents. In addition, there are some differences between the definitions of filial piety by Confucianism and Buddhism. Furthermore, ways to fulfill filial piety are very different between the two philosophies, too. From Paul Chao’s work, I found
94 Classic of Filial Piety, chapter I: The General Theme
95 see Legge’s translation of Classic of Filial, chapter one.
96 Chao, 1983, pp.82.
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that the definition of filial piety is really cultural based.97 The virtue of filial piety is not exclusive to Chinese society, but other cultures do not use the term filial piety as much as the Chinese does. In different cultures and religions, they all have their own expressions of filial piety. For instance, Egyptian has an annual reunion tradition with the deceases relatives, and offerings will be made at tomb; during the reunion, Egyptians will talk to their deceases relatives like they were still alive.98 Egyptian’s way of being filial is very different from Chinese filial children of being obedient and respectful. In some cultures, they also have tradition of sacrificing deceased99 or god on the behalf of the father, and I think that such an ideology is patrilineal in their definitions.100 Romans, Semitic people, Islam, Christianity and Judaism all have different ideologies of filial piety.101
Extrafamiliar alternatives such as entering a monastery not only violate social order, values and ethics but also against the Chinese central virtue of filial piety.
Being unfilial is the most serious accusation from the society to Buddhist philosophy, monks and nuns. Many parents are unwilling to let their children to join a monastic community because they are afraid of being neglected when they get sick and old, especially sons. Even if they need not to depend on their children at the old age, they still need to depend on their male child to perform sacrifices after their death.
Serving for live and dead parents become the very basic duties of the children.
Parents’ anxieties and expectations are caused by our social beliefs and ideologies.
There is a set of social guidelines on proper relationship between our relatives and us,
97 Chao, 1993, pp.72-73.
98 Chao, 1993, pp.72.
99 A Greek father would depend on his son when he gets old, and the son has the responsibility of worshipping god and obligations to the dead and fatherhood. Also in Greek culture, obedience to the father is more important than the affection to the mother.
100 In India, the purpose of marriage and raising a male child is that the child can perform sacrifices to the names of the father (Chao, 1993, pp.72).
101 Chao, 1993, pp.72-73.
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so such a relationship would alter if any social rule is violated or social order is disrupted. Some relationships between monks and nuns with their relatives alter because they violate social rule and disrupt social order by having an unacceptable life choice. It is somehow interesting that even if some parents agree with such life choice, other relatives or people would accuse them of being crazy. My research samples are all from Taiwan, so I am going to discuss about the definition of filial piety of both Confucianism and Buddhism in general, how Buddhism replied to their accusations and how does it affect the relationship between monks and nuns with their relatives.
Confucianism on filial piety
In The Analects of Confucius, he said that filial piety was serving the parents according to propriety when they were alive, and burying and sacrificing them according to propriety after their death. There are literal meanings of filial piety in Chinese characters. Filial piety is composed by two Chinese characters, and the first,
‘xiao’ (孝) is composed with two parts; the top part stands for old and the lower part is son or child.102 Thus, xiao means the debts that a child owed to the old, the parents. According to Confucius ideology, piety is the devotion towards the spirits of ancestors and dead parents. Although a child is asked to sacrifice ancestors and dead parents, it does not mean that Confucius believe in ghost or spirit after death. One should sacrifices ancestors and dead parents like as if they were alive. Some people believe that if one needs food and clothing when they are alive, then they must also need food and clothing after death. This belief is very culturally based and exclusive in Chinese ideology. Despites that, Confucius denied of discussing anything about after life. He said: “when one did not know about life, so how could he know about
102 Chao, 1983, pp.72-73.
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death”.103 Confucius told his students about how a child should sacrifice their ancestors and dead parents:
to remember the ancestors, to perform the same rites, and the same music which they performed when living, to reverence what they reverenced, to love what they loved, to serve them after death as they were served during their life, and to serve them though they have disappeared as if they still existed, that is perfect filial piety.104
Mercius, like Confucius, believed that the virtue of filial piety is very important, and it could even supersede a religion.105 Chao in his book pointed out the religious role of filial piety and religious elements in The Classic of Filial Piety (Xiao Jing 孝經) and The Record of Rites (Li Ji 禮記); He argued that both books proved religious content of filial piety in Confucianism, and the religious factors were rituals, moral code, paraphernalia used in the rituals and priests.106 Moreover, Herbert Spencer believed that certain religious systems were necessary component of a society in the progress of civilization.107 Similar to secular religion established by Saint-Simon and Comte, the status of virtue of filial piety had been upgraded as a secular religion.108
Reciprocal relationship between parents and child
In Chinese society, the mutual relationship between parents and child last not only when the parents are alive but also after the death of parents. When parents are alive, they take care of their dependent child, so when the parents get old, they
103 The Analects of Confucius, ch. 11.
104 Chao, 1983, pp.73.
105 Chao, 1983, pp.74.
106 Chao, 1983, pp.79.
107 Chao, 1983, pp.98.
108 Chao, 1983, pp.98.
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depend on their child’s cares.109 Child has to sacrifice their ancestors and dead parents, and in return, these descendents will be blessed and protected by their ancestors and dead parents with their supernatural power.110 Such a mutual relationship has been passed down from generation to generations without a stop.
Therefore, having an offspring, disregarding they are born or adopted, is very
important in continuing ancestral sacrifices.111 The duty of sacrificing ancestors and dead parents relies on male descendents only, and daughter’s filial duties are only to her father-in-law and mother-in-law. The obsession of having a male heir among Chinese parents is not purely a gender preference, and such an obsession is partly due to system of filial piety in devotion of performing sacrifices. The mutual relation between a child and the parents is also supported by Buddhism. The ideology of debts of a child to the parents, especially a son to his mother, is an important propaganda in Chinese Buddhism, too. We should now move on to discuss Buddhist point of views on the virtue of filial piety.
Buddhism
To Chinese society, Buddhism is a foreign religion coming from India. When it was first introduced to China, it brought up a lot of discussions and criticisms.
Buddhism encouraged people to leave their family and secular world, and join
Buddhism encouraged people to leave their family and secular world, and join