Understanding Respect in Buddhism : หน้า 192/207

be summed up in the following proverb: One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel. If people think this way, they can harm Buddhism unknowingly. This is certainly not the nature of a Buddhist. Buddhists must consider all aspects, just as the Lord Buddha once said: "Do not believe something without first analyzing all aspects of it." 3) One who succeeds in Dhamma must not find fault in monks, but must help to support the spread of Dhamma to the fullest extent. On this point, I would like to share an example given by a respected senior monk during a lecture he gave to a group of college students. There was a layperson who read a great deal of negative news about monks, over-generalizing that they all were troublesome. As a result, he raised this concern when he met the respected senior monk: He said, "Nowadays, monks do not behave well and do not deserve my reverence. So, I wish to pay respect to only the Lord Buddha and the Dhamma. My question is, "Can I not pay respect to the Sangha?" His question was sensitive, difficult to answer, and had a potentially broad impact on the Sangha community. If the respected senior monk could not give him the right answer, it was possible that the entire class he was lecturing could lose their faith in the entire Sangha community. However, the respected senior monk just smiled and answered relaxingly, "Whoever respects the Dhamma must be a person who dislikes finding faults with others and likes to discover the virtues and goodness of others." "You ask if you can stop paying homage to monks, but continue to respect the Lord Buddha and the Dhamma. The answer is, "No." When you complain that monks are not good, this shows that you have a habit of criticizing others. It points to your fault-finding, inability to observe, and ease of jumping to conclusions." "There are, in fact, nearly 300,000 monks in this country. How many of them have you known or met? I'll say, 1,000 at most. If that is so, and you find that they have all engaged in misconduct, what about the other nearly 300,000? What are your thoughts on them?" "You have a habit of finding faults in others; you will never find good monks in this lifetime. You have closed your mind to the point that you cannot see anything good. I think you should learn to see from a different perspective." "Why don't you look inside a temple as though you're considering a secular school or institute? You will find that people at school can be divided into two groups: The Warm Hearted Family 382 Solving Buddhism's Crisis The Warm Hearted Family 383 Solving Buddhism's Crisis