Expert: Justin Choo - 8/2/2007

Question
Hi again my dear friend,
I hope you are fine. I live in Iran (where you can find no Buddhists).

You have said “I am here to share my understanding of the Buddha's teachings.  It does not mean that I am a real expert at it.”
Don`t you know an expert whom you can introduce to me?

You have said “What I inferred was that if we wanted to be involved with worldly affairs then we had to live a layman's life and not to become a monk.”
Are monks considered upper than lay people in Buddhism? Isn`t it possible for lay people to become spiritually upper than monks? What`s monks` privilege to lay people? Can`t one be involved with worldy affairs but be spiritually higher than monks? Which one is more admirable: a good Buddhist doctor (lay person) or a good monk?

You have said “It is in the Vinaya rules...227 rules for monks.”
I asked that question because you had said “The monks are the GUARDIANCE of the Dhamma (Buddha's teachings).”
How can they be the guardiance of the Dhamma if they are not allowed to defend the Dhamma? It looks like a contradiction, doesn`t it?

You have said “<<Imagine a situation in which a criminal is beating an innocent person. You have two choices ahead of yourself........What should one do in these situations? >> You have to decide for yourself.”

Do you want to stand in the idea that “Bad kamma is inevitable in such situatuations”?  If you accept my idea that defending an innocent won`t cause bad kamma then it will become only a matter of knowledge. If that person who is being beaten is being punished by kamma because of his bad behaviour in the past, it`s not right to defend him. What if he is innocent and kamma is not punishing him for his bad behaviour, then it seems wrong if we don`t defend him. The question is how we can know if kamma is punishing him or not and which condition should we consider to be the fact? What does TTB say about these situations?

You have said “I practise according to the Theravada tradition.  I am in no position to comment on Mahayana text.  By the way the (Theravada) Tipitakka has a "Brahmajala Sutta" ”
Is a full English version of Tipitaka available on the net? If there is, i`ll be happy if you send its link to me. If there is not, I will never forget your kindness if you get your own Tipitaka scanned (Convert it to a PDF file) and send it to me.
There is one incomplete version of Tipitaka on this site: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/
But I want its complete version.

A New Question
According to the Pali Canon texts, Buddha was a begger-man and he encouraged others (his followers) to go begging for food. Don`t you think there is a problem here? When a person is healthy, he has healthy hands and healthy feet, why shouldn`t he work to earn his food? Doesn`t Buddhism hurt economics by developing beggers? The society already has children, handicapped people and old-men and women as consumers who don`t produce anything. Don`t you think by putting healthy people as monks in the category of cosumers it will hurt economics and economical self-reliance?

Anyway, I really THANK YOU for your answers.


Answer
Hi Arash,

Thanks for coming back.  I was unsure whether you might take offence to my earlier comments.  You may never know; people are usually very sensitive and may misinterprete others' comments.

I recommend the following Buddhist websites.  Please take your time to study them; go through them patiently and I am sure your doubts about what you have been asking will clear up in no time!  

http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/whatbe..
"What Buddhist Believe" by Ven. K Sri Dhammananda. This book explains the Buddhist perspective on life's general questions. Venerable was my teacher.  He passed away recently, last year.  

http://www.buddhanet.net (The �mother� of all Buddhist web sites)
Use this site as your ground base.  It provides all the links to Buddhist cyber space. A good place to search for Tipitakka.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/buddhism..
Wikipedia is a very fantastic and reliable source.  Just type whatever you want to know and like magic the information appears!  Also a good place to search for Tipitakka.

http://www.buddhism.about.com
This site is affiliated to "Allexperts"

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv
This site operated by devout Malysians through Europe.  Very up-to-date Buddhist news.

http://www.bswa.org
This site is in Western Australia where Ajahn Brahmawamso resides. He is an English monk and is a very popular speaker. You can listen to his talk through this site.

http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/
This is a very active and highly authoritative forum.  You will find it very useful by participating in this forum called "e-sangha".  Highly recommended.

Answer to your new question:
The Buddha was never a begger!!  You also need to have a little background knowledge of the Indian society during the Buddha's time.  Long before the Buddha's time Indian civilization was already very well established.  The society was controlled by the Brahmins (high caste priests) who practised Brahmanism, the present day Hinduism.  There were a lot of ascetics who wandered everywhere practising different forms of "spiritual ascetism".  These people concentrated their whole lives in search of the "ultimate release".  They lead  a "carefree" life and the lay people would support them by offering them food.  This was the way to follow when one wanted to find spiritual liberation.  The Buddha merely followed that tradition and for good reason.  Even today this tradition is followed.  The lay people understand this traditional practice and always support the monks.  It is the Buddhist culture that we support the monks by providing them the material necessities while they concentrate on their spiritual cultivation and teaching us the Dhamma (Budhha's teachings).  We refer the giving of "alms food" to the monks as Dana.  They never come begging from us.  It is our willingness to provide them with the daily sustenance.  Please be patient with your "learning" process.  I take the liberty to assume that you are from a very different culture and are just being exposed to Buddhist tradition.  If I am wrong please accept my apology.  Once you are familiar with the Buddhist traditions, a lot of your doubts will gradually disappear.

Wishing you peace and happiness :-)