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are bent on material enjoyment. 3. The sangha system is seen as out-moded. It seems to belong to strange old men who cling on to superstitious beliefs and customs. 4. Military service in certain countries has robbed young men of opportunities to join the sangha. 5. Parents may have discouraged their children from joining the monks.
The monks made it clear that, while objective causes outside their control do play a part in the decline of young recruits, they put the major share of the responsibility on themselves. They were dissatisfied with the image they projected. This is an important indicator of their changing perception of themselves.
The remedies they proposed also indicated their perception of the need to change roles. They were aware that their life-style should be seen as attractive and relevant to the present age. Secondly, they felt responsible for communicating this attractive new monkhood to eligible young men through as many channels as possible. They encouraged more contact with young men through education, youth work, study groups, and choirs. Parents were to be exhorted to nurture some of their sons towards the possibilities of entering monkhood. Short-term going-forth-from-home ceremonies were undertaken so that young people could get a taste of monkhood. The last was an innovation borrowed from the Theravada tradition in Thailand and was quite new to the Mahayana tradition. Lastly, someone suggested that, as a last measure, each monk should adopt an orphan so as to train him to become a monk when he grew up.
Unfortunately, such good intentions remain largely on paper and one seldom hears more about them nowadays. The reason for this is that the problem of recruitment has been linked to the issue of re-organization of the sangha, and, as the latter ran into trouble, the former was also dropped from discussion. Nevertheless, the problem of recruitment remains as real as ever.
B. Sangha Re-organization
The Buddhist community is organized according to rules laid down in the vinaya which claim Buddha himself as the authority.