Bhikkhu Bodhi on the problems of monastic education
In our conversation last year about the role of Buddhist monks in potentially intervening in support of the people in Myanmar, Bhikkhu Bodhi went beyond the surface issues and delved deep into the real matter at heart: what is the nature of the Sangha in the 21st century? In doing so, he discusses what he sees as one of the root problems with the current monkhood: their education. In order to have a monastic order which is more responsive and in touch with the real needs of the people and planet in general, Bhikkhu Bodhi advocates a radical shift in looking at the monastic training system, and updating the curriculum so that it is more practical for their roles as spiritual guides. Listen to the entire interview to hear the venerable’s thoughts in full.
“Monastics should have an understanding of at least some principles of social organization, governance, political administration, and economics.”
“I think this points to a serious shortcoming in the traditional Buddhist method of education and training. Perhaps some can argue on the other side, that is what has maintained the continuity of the monastic tradition through some 25 centuries, preserving the same tradition, the same methods of training, not allowing the monks to step out of the boundaries of the traditional system of monastic training. But the world in which we're living today is extremely, utterly different from the world in which Buddhism flourished in the earliest centuries, and the earlier centuries, from the time of the Buddha right up to maybe the beginning or middle of the 20th century.
Let's say, in this case, of the Buddhist countries up to the 19th century, before the colonial takeover of many of those countries, invariably the form of government was a monarchical form of government, in which one of the tasks of the monarch was to support the monastic order and the monastic order would serve, at least some of the monastics, would serve as advisors and councils to the king on religious matters.
And there was almost a kind of silent pact between them, that the monastics would not speak up and advocate in political matters, leaving that as the particular domain of the secular authority of the kingship, but I would say, that the divide between the two was not absolute, even during the traditional period. At times, when the monarch would overstep the boundaries of Buddhist morality, would do things which would be harmful to the sāsana, then the monastics would oppose the king, and maybe try to give him advice on how he could correct his ways, or perhaps even throw their support behind a contender for the throne. But I say that those were maybe exceptional cases, the general rules that the monastics would pursue their own traditional system of monastic education, training, and practice.
In the contemporary period, we've had a complete change in systems of governance, whereby now we have, presumably, at least an ideal of democratic models of governance, in which the government has to represent the people. And the people have the responsibility for putting the government into power. And the government that's elected by the people has to adopt and promote policies, at least in theory, that will fulfill, that will promote the well-being, of the population.
So, in this case, I would say, as part of the kind of guidance that monastics give to the people, the monastics should have an understanding of at least some principles of social organization, of some principles of governance, of political administration, of economics, and the kinds of economic policies that would be conducive to their well-being; some understanding of ecology, the impact of governmental policies on the natural environment, the relationship between environment and human organizations; and so, monastics should be able to speak up very clearly, and knowledgeably about those topics. And that would require a broadening of the system of monastic education.
To take a parallel case, one might take the education and the training system which Jesuits in the Catholic religion undergo; the Jesuits are trained in so many aspects, so many aspects of secular society. So, they become very, very knowledgeable about politics, economics, sociology, ecology. And when we compare the kind of education - and even in maybe some of the other priestly orders, maybe they don't carry that type of education to the same extent that the Jesuits undergo - but I would say the Catholic priests also get some kind of training in subjects like political science, sociology, and economics; whereas, the Buddhist monks know almost nothing about those subjects. So, I think a contemporary system of Buddhist monastic education also has to include training in those areas, that the monks and nuns will be qualified to speak up on those issues.”