Concerns of Senior Citizens and the Monastic Community : หน้า 11/91

Senior Citizens Never fear from the concerns of the more senior citizens in society is courage in the face if coming of death. Many old people are uncomfortable with the approach of death and for some, fear paralyses any hope of happiness in the twilight of their lives. For others, the fear of death is not so serious as the fear that their close relatives and friends will neglect them in their later life. Some old people, instead of coming to terms with death and preparing their lives and minds for the inevitable, bury their heads in the sand by taking refuge in material comforts or grandchildren. Monastic Community Monastics are a special but particularly important group for world society -- a special component of society with its own special needs. In many places, the monastic community has only limited access to the opportunities for education. In many places, the monastic standards of discipline are unclear and meditation is little understood or practiced. The results of neglect of opportunities to develop the monastic community is that monks do not have sufficient competence to give advice on the everyday-life problems of lay-people or to teach the general public about the real path to improve the quality of their own minds.