Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch
RASHKB and author
Vol. 1 (1961)
ISSN 1991-7295
101
(1) monastery management, which is further sub-divided into sections in charge of
a. finance
b. food
c. entertainment of lay visitors
(2) guests, which not only passes on the qualifications for admission of itinerant monks, but also gives the monastery's own monks the permission they need to leave the premises
(3) the observation of monastic rules
(4) itinerant monks who, after they are admitted, must be provided with food, lodging, and instruction.
All told, there are 48 positions in the hierarchy—more than the total number of monks in any Hong Kong monastery. Therefore, this elaborate administrative structure exists here only in more or less skeletal form.
Hong Kong monasteries are nearly all "father-to-son" rather than "ten directions". This means that the abbot holds office for life rather than being elected by the monks every three years. Furthermore, he personally has title to the monastery premises. On both counts, there are problems of succession. Normally the abbot chooses his own successor, but some have died without doing so. Since there are often factions among the monks (with the Cantonese, for example, opposing the northerners), this can lead to conflicts that disrupt monastery life. Joint meetings of Buddhists and Taoists have been held to formulate a set of regulations for resolving such disputes. In one monastery, the Po Lin Tsz, there is underway a movement to transfer title of the property to a self-perpetuating committee.
Not all of the difficulties arise because of hot competition for the post of abbot. It is a difficult post to hold. The abbot must keep his monastery operating on funds that are usually inadequate.1 He must maintain his competence as a dharma teacher. Most of the monks who are spiritually qualified for the post would prefer not to have it. In many cases, therefore, the abbot must not only choose his successor, but persuade him to accept. In the process, the abbot often consults the heads of other monasteries as well as the monks of his own. Usually his final choice lights on someone who is a close relative of his by family or religious lineage—hence the term "father-to-son".
* Recently the abbot of one of the larger monasteries, having reached an advanced age, appointed his successor and retired. Almost at once the inflow of donations ceased. His successor apparently did not have the "knack" of winning lay support. After six months the old abbot had to resume his post to avert financial ruin.
Page 105
Page 106