The chief priest of a mysterious temple

Terubozu-sama
As far as I know, monks are also human children. It's not much different from ordinary people. However, depending on the person, there are things that shine, good points, and bad points.

Incidentally, as far as I know, the most greedy person in history is the Buddha.

That's because they saved so many people, and even after 2,500/600 years, they are still trying to save this many people.

Hello Terubozu-san.

First of all, I apologize for making you feel uncomfortable in the position of being ordained to the same priest position.

I don't understand the situation in detail, so I can't say it clearly,
From the standpoint of a temple, the land of a temple is the land of devotees without taking it back.
Therefore, I understand that it's not going to be a situation where they sell very often, but if it is time to sell, I think it is natural to step on the price in order to provide it to the devotees even a small amount as a person who takes care of the land on behalf of the believers.

However, if this is due to the chief priest's personal interests, it would be embarrassing for them to be in a position where they have been ordained to the same priest.

In modern society where temples are built and treated as a kind of company called a religious corporation, I know there are some people who cannot easily get away from such desire for money.

Even though they are monks and chief priests, they are in the middle of their entire lives.

Not all monks are such people, but we also nourish our bodies by receiving monthly stipends from offerings offered to the principal image of the temple.

I want to painstakingly engrave Terubozu-san's admonition and continue to work hard so as not to become a terrary man who treats gifts and assets that everyone aspires to like a salaryman.

Thank you very much for your advice.

I read Terubozu-san
We monks take care of temples, but if we serve as chief priests for a long time, I think there are people who think it's their own.
I think there are times when the original spirit of trying to protect the temple itself will deteriorate over time.
The reason Terubozu felt uncomfortable was probably because he felt the chief priest's attitude and actions smelled more secular than secular.
As a person with a monk's rank, I think you have to be careful about this.
Even if they refused due to various circumstances, I think it was extremely lacking in consideration as a monk that it would cause uncomfortable feelings in those who had taken time and caused even Amatsu to have distrust of Shakyamuni's teachings.
However, this chief priest is not unique, and there is always a possibility that I will be the same.
I would like to be careful from the bottom of my heart through Terubozu-san's experiences. Also, I will continue to work hard every day so that I don't forget to think that the Buddha realized, “Be careful, too,” about this incident

Unfortunately, there are too many intimate relationships that I don't want to talk about to the public. The state of affairs of peers from my point of view and clergymen from the point of view of the general public is not very good.

In my case, I get close to a few exceptionally fine monks (and pastors), value my relationships with those people, and try not to look too much at anything else.

I'll tell you by all means. There are few good religious people, so even if you don't throw them away, you don't think they are good people simply because they are monks.

From my point of view, there are monks who are greedy, and there are also monks who don't want to call themselves monks. Furthermore, after taking a look at the contents of the thank-you note, one more step...

I don't know if it should be called my temple or denomination, but my temple has two accounts, one is accounting for religious corporations, and the other is accounting for general meetings. And it's important from here on, but since the land in the name of the temple is under the jurisdiction of the General Assembly, no matter how much it is disposed of, it has nothing to do with the income of the chief priest. However, if you sell it at a high price and pool it, there is an aspect where the parishioners' contributions will decrease when it is necessary to solicit donations.

Sadly, in urban areas, costs are incurred simply by sweeping and cleaning temples. Open burning is prohibited, so they are putting it out as burnable garbage. Wooden buildings are restricted in Tokyo, and there are temples that have had to be made of reinforced concrete. Since concrete has a useful life, rebuilding will occur over a span of several decades.
How much would it cost to rebuild a temple? It's a story I've heard from people, but in the example of one temple, it seems that an estimate of at least 300 million yen “just for the main hall” came up. If you simply divide it as 300 parishioners, it's 1 million yen per house. The savings of the Gojikai, the budget of the religious corporation, the chief priest's pocket money, will it be half price even if the influential Odanna makes ends meet... this is a span of several decades, isn't it? Of course, it can't just be the main hall...
Even if Tokyo is extreme, similar calculations are common to chief priests. Even if it's a wooden structure, it won't be cut if it's repaired...

If I have a decent sense of money, I'll think about making money beforehand and preparing as much as possible, even if I'm greedy and abused. I'm sorry if I had to prepare and ask for the portion I didn't finish.
Even if the chief priest doesn't feel like it, someone in the head always brings up the conversation about the amount of money. (More than that, it's originally the job of the general manager. (The reason why monks can be saints in Theravada Buddhism is that they create an environment where parishioners can never become monks and concentrate on their ascetic practices.) There seems to be a factor that makes people lie there.

Now, there is no way to know the actual intention, but in psychology, not considering circumstances and blaming other people's shortcomings on human nature for the time being, it is called a “fundamental attribution error.” It's not a way of looking at the truth; it's just a view for satisfying oneself. If you say these words to yourself, you'll be able to relax your mind a little bit.

Monks, myself included, have become an occupation...

When I was young, from my mentor
“Being a monk is not a profession; being a monk is a way of life”

It reminded me of what I was told.

I wanted to go back to the starting point once again.

I would appreciate it if you could understand that there are not only monks like this.