1 00:00:00,031 --> 00:00:05,139 Is a monk allowed to hold jobs if the job does not break any of the precepts? 2 00:00:07,683 --> 00:00:13,392 Well, the first thing is, I thought, yes, you can hold a job here in the monastery. 3 00:00:14,714 --> 00:00:15,916 And there's heaps of work. 4 00:00:17,358 --> 00:00:19,662 And you have to make sure that you don't break any precepts. 5 00:00:19,802 --> 00:00:27,574 But I guess the question is holding a job out in the world, which is not possible. 6 00:00:28,448 --> 00:00:32,412 supposed to hold it closer. 7 00:00:33,133 --> 00:00:37,997 The question is how far you can take that, because everyone here has roles, actually. 8 00:00:38,258 --> 00:00:39,619 It's a good question because it helps us. 9 00:00:39,639 --> 00:00:43,223 It gives us a chance to talk about everyone. 10 00:00:43,243 --> 00:00:45,705 Here we've got a camera person, for example. 11 00:00:45,745 --> 00:00:49,068 Her job is the dedicated camera person. 12 00:00:50,309 --> 00:00:55,975 This person on the far left is the monastery bookkeeper. 13 00:00:55,955 --> 00:01:10,470 and secretary and Kathy doesn't have a job because she refuses to ordain Yasa is our groundskeeper so he does the 14 00:01:11,817 --> 00:01:22,391 He's going to take over my duty of looking and seeing what needs to be done in the monastery and hopefully help with arranging workers and so on as best he can. 15 00:01:22,411 --> 00:01:28,980 I mean, neither of us speak Singha, so it's a lot of fun trying to explain our ideas to them. 16 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:34,247 And for them to explain their ideas to us is equally entertaining. 17 00:01:34,227 --> 00:01:43,599 And our camera person is not just a camera person, she also does the kitchen manager. 18 00:01:44,100 --> 00:01:47,324 And Kathy has been helping with the kitchen as well. 19 00:01:47,344 --> 00:01:49,086 And then Turindu also. 20 00:01:49,707 --> 00:01:53,552 But anyway, so even the monastics, we have jobs. 21 00:01:53,532 --> 00:02:03,888 But, you know, how far you can take that, whether it means, if you mean working in the monastery, that's most likely not what you're referring to. 22 00:02:03,928 --> 00:02:09,777 Most likely referring to doing something for lay people, for example. 23 00:02:10,558 --> 00:02:13,623 Doing something not for the Buddha's teaching. 24 00:02:14,083 --> 00:02:16,587 And I would say the Vinaya may not 25 00:02:19,132 --> 00:02:49,138 directly explicitly disallow it but the Dhamma certainly does and the teachings of the Buddha even within the Vinaya are quite clear that we're not to engage in any sort of worldly pursuits or assistance for lay people besides teaching I mean there are monks who decide that they want to be doctors and so they provide cures for people 26 00:02:49,118 --> 00:02:57,041 And this is quite explicitly in the Buddha's teaching not allowed, the performance of services other than meditation. 27 00:02:57,803 --> 00:03:04,242 People will often ask, well, but if someone's a good doctor, why can't they use their skills? 28 00:03:04,222 --> 00:03:08,847 Well, of course they can use their skills, but they should be a doctor, not a monk, right? 29 00:03:08,867 --> 00:03:17,096 You become a monk means you take on a specific life, the life of a recluse meditation practitioner and perhaps teacher. 30 00:03:17,857 --> 00:03:20,760 And so you've committed yourself to that. 31 00:03:20,940 --> 00:03:30,651 And then to use it for something totally outside of the realm of the practice and the teaching of Buddhism is crazy. 32 00:03:30,631 --> 00:03:31,733 completely inappropriate. 33 00:03:31,973 --> 00:03:35,279 I mean, of course this is contentious and controversial. 34 00:03:35,299 --> 00:03:50,547 There are people who will argue against this, but from my point of view anyway, this is quite clear that even doing good things for people, if you want to do good things, like if you wanted to do whatever job you were asking about, 35 00:03:50,527 --> 00:03:54,171 If you want to do that job, then become that person. 36 00:03:54,211 --> 00:03:57,735 If you want to fight legal courses, become a lawyer. 37 00:03:57,836 --> 00:04:00,378 If you want to heal people's illnesses, become a doctor. 38 00:04:01,039 --> 00:04:03,242 If you want to be free from suffering, become a monk. 39 00:04:03,863 --> 00:04:08,308 Or even to teach other people meditation, become a monk. 40 00:04:09,749 --> 00:04:18,880 I would say that's the best job that you have, aside from jobs in the monastery supporting the community, which is, I think, on a different level. 41 00:04:19,889 --> 00:04:26,919 In the bhikkhuni patimokkha, there is even a rule for that that we are not allowed to do chores for laypeople. 42 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:28,841 I don't think we have it explicitly. 43 00:04:29,222 --> 00:04:31,205 No, monks I think don't have it. 44 00:04:31,225 --> 00:04:44,563 But we have it explicitly in the patimokkha that we are not allowed to do chores for laypeople and that is to have some 45 00:04:45,860 --> 00:04:53,772 Even to do something for a lay person to get more food or to get some benefit out of it. 46 00:04:56,636 --> 00:05:07,412 So I can certainly say we are not allowed to do any job for money or for food or something like that. 47 00:05:08,168 --> 00:05:13,559 I think the point of the rule is to prevent people from doing that. 48 00:05:13,599 --> 00:05:19,551 We're not allowed to do it at all because it gives the opportunity for corruption. 49 00:05:19,631 --> 00:05:30,312 People who are only beginning in the monastic life to get on the wrong path. 50 00:05:30,292 --> 00:05:36,977 It's very easy that people say, oh, if you do me this favor, I give you something. 51 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:41,213 Because that's how the world rules or is ruled. 52 00:05:42,577 --> 00:05:43,859 And so it becomes a corruption. 53 00:05:43,879 --> 00:05:44,600 It's just not allowed. 54 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:46,703 We have to be very strict. 55 00:05:46,963 --> 00:05:48,325 And we've left the world. 56 00:05:48,586 --> 00:05:51,850 We're not meant to get back involved in it. 57 00:05:51,870 --> 00:05:55,596 You have to consider that the monks have left. 58 00:05:55,856 --> 00:05:59,902 They're not in your circle, your pool of workers. 59 00:06:00,302 --> 00:06:07,032 You can't ask monks to help you build your house or so on like that, help you fix your computer or whatever. 60 00:06:07,012 --> 00:06:09,376 We can do jobs for our family. 61 00:06:09,396 --> 00:06:15,205 I have helped my father with his computer as a monk, and he's the only person I do that for. 62 00:06:15,245 --> 00:06:16,106 Remember my mother. 63 00:06:16,126 --> 00:06:25,881 Yeah, there is an allowance to help family, like direct families, like mother and father and brother and sisters. 64 00:06:26,482 --> 00:06:31,250 Because you're also allowed to ask them for whatever you want, so there's that kind of thing. 65 00:06:32,492 --> 00:06:32,612 Okay. 66 00:06:32,632 --> 00:06:32,732 Okay.