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by Kyodo News
COLOMBO -- A
campaign by Sri Lanka's prime minister to recruit 2,000 children into
Buddhist monastic orders to cope with a shortage of monks has met
criticism from a scholar who says child ordination is against Buddhist
doctrine.
Gananath Obeyesekere,
an anthropology professor at Princeton University, says the campaign
targets children as young as 5 years even though Theravada Buddhism
doctrine states that a boy must be at least 15 years of age to become a
monk.
The Buddha himself
ordained at just 5 years his only son Rahula, but this was regarded an
exception rather than a rule, Obeyesekere said.
After being rebuked
for the act by his own father, the Buddha specified that one must not only
have parental consent to ordain a child, but that the child must be 15
years of age. If not, the youth must have the ''physical maturity'' of a
15-year-old.
Sri Lanka's project
to mass-recruit children into Buddhist orders disregards these
considerations, says Obeyesekere, himself a Sri Lankan Buddhist.
Prime Minister
Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, who is also minister for Buddhist affairs, is
the father of the campaign and is encouraging public donations for the
endeavor.
The project includes
sponsors for each novice monk and a monthly allowance drawn from a fund of
contributions.
Reportedly, more
than 1,000 people have already applied, although the final figure was not
immediately known, nor was the breakdown of their ages.
The prime minister
told reporters recently that he conceived the plan after receiving
thousands of letters from senior Buddhist monks complaining, among other
things, that fewer people were joining the clergy. This, he said, had even
led to the closure of many temples around the country.
''I found there was
a problem and this is the solution,'' he asserted.
He believes his plan
will strengthen Buddhism in the country and bolster the ranks of a clergy
that was in danger of dying out.
But Obeyesekere, in
his remarks published in the Colombo newspapers Sunday Island and the
Daily News, says if more monks are needed for the orders, older people
should be recruited as they are increasingly given to meditation and
usually have a good knowledge of the Buddha teachings.
Most have meager
pensions, so free monastic board and lodging would be added incentives,
the scholar, who has written extensively on Buddhism, suggested.
But one major reason
Obeyesekere opposes child recruitment is that the very young are
vulnerable to sexual abuse, which he says is ''notoriously associated''
will all forms of institutionalized monasticism.
The possibility of
child abuse in Buddhist monasteries ''must be faced honestly and
squarely,'' he stressed.
Unlike adult monks,
children have little chance of resisting sexual advances, the professor
added.
''Even the presence
of guardians, or sponsors is not protection. How does the guardian inquire
into such possibilities when the mere talk of homoerotic practices is
taboo?,'' Obeyesekere asked.
He also asked why
those promoting the campaign have not set an example by being ordained
themselves or having their own children or grandchildren ordained.
The prime minister's
office, however, reacted hotly to the criticism.
One of
Wickramanayake's personal assistants said any opposition to the project
''was affiliated to a conspiracy to wipe Buddhism from the country.''
The prime minister
has only the best of intentions, he said, on condition of anonymity,
noting ordinations take place only with the consent of parents and high
priests of the temples concerned and the scheme provides children with
food, lodging and education that poverty may otherwise have denied them.
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