Maintaining Faith in Buddhism Amidst Negative Perceptions : หน้า 190/207

When people lose their faith in Buddhism, they do not teach their children to pay respect to the monks. They show no interest in studying Buddhist teachings and stop making merit. All temple activities, events, and ceremonies become paralyzed. The number of Buddhist people declines. However, behind the scenes, this whole situation is brought about by only a few writers, eager to facilitate a decline in Buddhism. When we hear negative news about monks, as Buddhists, how do we think about it in the right way and what should we do to maintain Buddhism? When there are publications about monks who break the monastic discipline (and thus, do not deserve people’s respect), adults must teach their children to think about these issues in the right way: 1) When the press publishes articles about monks who break their monastic discipline, should not rush to believe it. We should use our wisdom based on reason. As a matter of fact, these monks must go through a judicial process conducted by the Sangha Council. We should not get involved. The Sangha Council will punish the monks in accordance with the monastic discipline. A senior monk once stated that, “Buddhism can be compared to a large pond; whoever reaches it and bathes himself will be clean. However, whoever reaches it and does