Readers in Council,
The Japan Times,
5-4, Shibaura 4-chome,
Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0023
There must be a better word to apply to male Buddhist religious than “monk,” as was used, for example, in the January 19th story “Matchmaking service gives Buddhist monks a boost in dating market.” If there isn’t, then perhaps we ought to make one, because in English“monk” denotes a man living in a separated religious community and abiding by vows - especially of poverty, obedience, chastity, humility - in pursuit of spiritual purification through the self-discipline of asceticism, study, worship and service. Not for his own good but for the good of all mankind. Instead, Japanese Buddhist monks seem to live a life of wonton indulgence which does not earn my respect. Matchmaking for monks, for instance, sounds more than ridiculous. What kind of spiritual self-discipline are they showing me? Publicly enduring a frigid New Year’s purification bath doesn’t recommend anything to me. When I first came to Japan I toured temples in Kamakura and was interested to see the monk’s cottage there, with the monk’s satellite dish on the roof, his Mercedes Benz out front, and his wife hanging up his laundry out back. I thought,“What kind of monk has a wife, a car and a satellite dish? He doesn’t drink alcohol too, does he?” Later I learned that they do. I know it’s a lingering bit of culture shock, and that maybe I ought to learn a new definition of “monk” to match the culture here. But, instead, I am still of the opinion that Japanese culture ought to learn a new definition of “monk.”
Published on Sunday, January 29, 2012 as “A less ascetic word for ‘monk’.”