Hi,
Quick question here.
There is a donor who loves to offer a monk an amount of Usd10000 for his 5-year needs by cast or whatever need be.
What should we do to have it purely?
Thx.
2 Likes
It is better to work with invitations and the donor says, “If you ever need anything let me know.” or “if you need anything having up to the value of $10,000 in 5 years, let me know.”
Some say first invitation is better. Some say 2nd invitation is better because it has both time and value.
When you refuse money, sometimes that happens. You cannot prompt the $10,000 donor to do that.
You can say, “We can accept robes but we cannot accept money or have it accepted for us.”
Then he can ask if there is a helper who takes care of you. After that you can point him out. If you point out the donor without being prompted, any requisites should not be allowed. Anything bought with those requisites are not allowed.
You should read the BMC. It has all of the answers, but don’t pay attention to what he says about “modern” issues and checks… most classical theravada teachers reject that.
Don’t be attached to the money.
It is best to live in monasteries where not using money is the norm. The donors can properly learn at such places and there are good monks who live in such places.
Let him know you cannot accept money and you kindly refuse.
Once money is offered incorrectly as you describe, you really cannot manipulate that instance. You should verbally refuse it.
Sorry. Easy come easy go.
3 Likes
Your answer is splendid!
2 Likes
That is very generous of him/her. What is the money meant to be used for? That works out to about $166 per month. Is that for food, for a monk on his own? It won’t be enough for housing so that’s why I’m curious how the donor came up with that amount; perhaps assuming the monastic already has a monastery to stay in. Or maybe for travel expenses?
3 Likes
Oh this is totally The $64000 Question.
Shall I, or would you, have to ask the donor?
1 Like
It may not happen with the foreigner monks, but to his her own people. The same culture is perhaps making more sense as $160 is not deemed a very large amount a month.
But you might be right, travel expenses, and to study-monks they would not be impossible to accept that.
The faith of Asian people to Buddhism, both Theravada and Mahayana seems remarkably astonishing. There is a story was told by a yellow Theravada Bangladesh monk that witnessed his university friend, a Mahayana monk. One night the Mahayana monk whined that the laptop was broken but he needed it for the next week report, while he had not got much money in his current bank account and couldnot afford to fix it (Mahayana monks can ride and drive motocycle and cars too, so it is normal keeping money is just one of their daily businesses or just for buying food occasionally or treating an evening dinner to other bhikkhus or bhikkhuni(s) in a vegetarian restaurant).
The Theravada monk, had listened to silently that night, was shocked when the next evening a latest brandnew Apple Macbook was on his roommate table. He told me that he just wanted to convert his current robe to be a Mahayana monk like the other. It was told that his roommate that night too, rang to his donor at home, then the earlier morning they simply agreed to transfer him US$1500 (1000 for new laptop, the extra 500 was for the “4-requisites”- Mahayana monks also work on the 4 things as theravada does.
We are not uneasy to find scatteredly in the Suttas there were laypeople who were Asian professed Buddhism and contributed considerably, especially the Kings or higher-class people. Even when moving to Chinese speaking countries afterwards, the faith of laypeople seemed to have still worked efficiently till its end.
1 Like
I don’t know the donor, so wouldn’t be able to ask. It’s up to you, but you probably don’t want to ask either, as we wouldn’t want to discourage the donor from their generosity.
1 Like
1 Like
Yes, their faith and generosity is very great. Americans and other Western converts were not brought up in that giving environment, unfortunately. But now there are some second and third generation convert Buddhist families, so hopefully that will improve.
1 Like