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purpose of preaching and debate; 4. remedial education, which is planned for old monks who have missed their chances for education when they were young.17 Other proposals for the reform of sangha education ran along similar lines. Three points are of interest here. First, all the proposals look on education as something very important. Their expectation that all monks should at least be university graduates, given the situation in Hong Kong where only an extreme few have gone to a university, appears a little unrealistic. Does this reflect the fact that the monks themselves feel a little insecure about their own education? Second, all proposals put a great stress on secular learning. This probably tells something important about the monk's self-perception. Secular learning is necessary for better understanding and communication. The desire for secular knowledge indicates an orientation towards openness with the world. Third, professional training is often stressed. This indicates a willingness to render direct service to the community.
D. Role of the Monk in Modern Society
Formerly in traditional China, monks did not have to ask themselves what they wanted to do in life. The career of monkhood was clear and no surprises were expected. Ritual, prayer and meditation were the order of the day, occasionally punctuated by participation in prayers for the dead when they were asked for. The more ambitious and talented monk might have applied himself to study and became a master of the dharma. But that was all that a monk could hope to become.
The coming of modern life has instilled a new consciousness into the monk's mind. Suddenly, he feels that prayers and meditations are not enough. Somehow he feels that something more is needed to justify his existence. He may attempt to explain this new desire to be useful to society as really the extension of the Mahayana ideal of benefiting all living creatures. Nevertheless, he would be hard put to it if he were asked why this new trend has happened only now while the Mahayana ideal had been around for a long time. The search for a new role became acute when the monks moved from the quiet and peace of the monasteries in the New Territories into the hustle and bustle of
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purpose of preaching and debate; 4. remedial education, which is planned for old monks who have missed their chances for education when they were young.17 Other proposals for the reform of sangha education ran along similar lines. Three points are of interest here. First, all the proposals look on education as something very important. Their expectation that all monks should at least be university graduates, given the situation in Hong Kong where only an extreme few have gone to a university, appears a little unrealistic. Does this reflect the fact that the monks themselves feel a little insecure about their own education? Second, all proposals put a great stress on secular learning. This probably tells something important about the monk's self- perception. Secular learning is necessary for better understanding and communication. The desire for secular knowledge indicates an orientation towards openness with the world. Third, professional training is often stressed. This indicates a willingness to render direct service to the community.
D. Role of the Monk in Modern Society
Formerly in traditional China, monks did not have to ask themselves what they wanted to do in life. The career of monkhood was clear and no surprises were expected. Ritual, prayer and meditation were the order of the day, occasionally punctuated by participation in prayers for the dead when they were asked for. The more ambitious and talented monk might have applied himself to study and became a master of the dharma. But that was all that a monk could hope to become.
The coming of modern life has instilled a new consciousness into the monk's mind. Suddenly, he feels that prayers and meditations are not enough. Somehow he feels that something more is needed to justify his existence. He may attempt to explain this new desire to be useful to society as really the extension of the Mahayana ideal of benefiting all living creatures. Nevertheless, he would be hard put to it if he were asked why this new trend has happened only now while the Mahayana ideal had been around for a long time. The search for a new role became acute when the monks moved from the quiet and peace of the monasteries in the New Territories into the hustle and bustle of
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