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of eligible young men who are willing to become monks. This problem has also become the starting point of the sangha's extensive self-examination and reflection in recent years, resulting in the voicing of proposals for the entire reorganization of the sangha system. The lack of recruits has not been limited to Hong Kong. Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore have reported the same trend. Suddenly, it has appeared that the disappearance of Chinese Monks was not inconceivable, but could indeed be approaching fast. In 1977, a leading monk expressed his fear of such an eventuality in an open letter to all Chinese monks. He said,
There is to-day a lurking crisis within Mahayana Buddhism and that is the scenario of a shortage of monks,
the sangha treasure, and a void of successors.
Mainland China has been the source of all Chinese monks in various parts of the world. Now, with the change of political regime in Mainland China, Buddhism no longer exists there and all Chinese monks have also died out. Nowadays, the greatest concentration of Chinese monks are in Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, various factors such as the chaotic social change brought about by advanced industrialization and military service in some areas have posed an extremely serious threat to the source of Chinese monks who can carry on (with the sangha)."
The same monk called upon all Chinese monks to think of ways to remedy the situation and suggested, among other things, a major re-organization of the sangha. This open letter solicited a number of responses. The following is a summary of the opinions expressed.
It is unanimously agreed that the sangha is an integral part of Buddhism. Buddhism would not be Buddhism without the sangha. All agreed that the shortage of young monks was posing a serious problem. Directly or indirectly the responses contained speculations on the causes of decline. They can be summarized as: 1. The changed social situation, which has rendered the monastic life unappealing to young people. Unfortunately, this point has not been elaborated upon. 2. Young people nowadays
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of eligible young men who are willing to become monks. This problem has also become the starting point of the sangha's extensive self-examination and reflection in recent years, resulting in the voicing of proposals for the entire reorganization of the sangha system. The lack of recruits has not been limited to Hong Kong. Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore have reported the same trend. Suddenly, it has appeared that the disappearance of Chinese Monks was not inconceivable, but could indeed be approaching fast. In 1977, a leading monk expressed his fear of such an eventuality in an open letter to all Chinese monks. He said,
There is to-day a lurking crisis within Mahayana Buddhism and that is the scenario of a shortage of monks,
the sangha treasure, and a void of successors.
Mainland China has been the source of all Chinese monks in various parts of the world. Now, with the change of political regime in Mainland China, Buddhism no longer exists there and all Chinese monks have also died out. Nowadays, the greatest concentration of Chinese monks are in Taiwan and Hong Kong. However, various factors such as the chaotic social change brought about by advanced industrialization and military service in some areas have posed an extremely serious threat to the source of Chinese monks who can carry on (with_the_sangha)."
The same monk called upon all Chinese monks to think of ways to remedy the situation and suggested, among other things, a major re-organization of the sangha. This open letter solicited a number of responses. The following is a summary of the opinions expressed.
It is unanimously agreed that the sangha is an integral part of Buddhism. Buddhism would not be Buddhism without the sangha. All agreed that the shortage of young monks was posing a serious problem. Directly or indirectly the responses contained speculations on the causes of decline. They can be summarized as: 1. The changed social situation, which has rendered the monastic life unappealing to young people. Unfortunately, this point has not been elaborated upon. 2. Young people nowadays
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