Question: When I took the "Bodhisattva Precepts", one of the "Six Layers of Precepts" was not to say that monks were at fault. But now that we are in the Dharma Ending Period, there are many people living in Buddhist ashrams, wearing monks' clothes, and doing things that are not Dharma. According to the precepts, we lay people cannot say that monks are at fault. If we say so, we will break the precepts. If we don't say it, will Buddhism be extinguished faster in the future?

Master Ruxiao: You said it would be destroyed faster. Just like there is a pile of dog shit on the side of the road, the more you dig at it, the more it stinks. Monks are human beings, and the Buddha governs them. The Buddha has ways to control them. All monks are ordinary people. The Buddha said that they use convenience to educate and encourage, but you say that they are different. The causes and conditions are different, so you can't say. But don't be disappointed. Any monk, even if he can guard the door in the temple, has his value. If the monks are all like what you see, it means that our society is like that; if the monks are not clean, it means that our society as a whole is not clean, so we focus more on purifying society.

The monk is actually a gatekeeper to the Buddha. From this perspective, he has his own merits. But when a person talks about a monk's fault, he is talking about a group, which is an obstacle to his path to Bodhi. Looking at history, we can see that there are often impure monks, but Buddhism has not perished. This is the Buddha’s confidence, so we need to look at the big picture. In addition, the monk personally and the monk treasure are two different things, but as long as someone can guard the temple gate, the monk plays his role. Before he achieves success, his merits and faults are divided into two.

In other words, if there are evils in this world, they are all evils. If all merits are merits, why? Because from the perspective of the future of mankind, development is still the mainstream, and we cannot lose confidence in mankind because of historical regression. Therefore, Buddhist disciples must have a big mind. There are some things that we really cannot control, but we can take advantage of this temporary cause and condition. Although the times are very thin, it is enough to provide opportunities for our personal liberation. Bodhi belongs to the public. If the public cannot form a bond with Buddhism and have no chance to enter a temple, then all sentient beings will not be able to form a bond with Mahayana Buddhism.

For the Buddha, it is difficult to save sentient beings who have no destiny. Some people told me that some monasteries perform operas. This phenomenon is not caused by the monks, but because the sentient beings in this place have this kind of ignorance. This is a result of their karma, so they will call in such monks to fulfill them. But in the long run, the public has become attached to the Buddha, so this approach may be advisable or not. What is this called? Equality, in the view of equality in causes and conditions, all existence may have a secret meaning.

A person with bodhicitta can just buy a ticket to worship Buddha and not enter the theater, as long as you do not enter the role yourself. On the other hand, if we are not subject to the "Bodhisattva Precepts", how can we know the real life in Buddhism? So in general, the Bodhisattva precepts are for treating the mind. If the mind does not violate the Bodhisattva precepts, then we have not violated the Bodhisattva precepts. Whether our hearts violate the Bodhisattva precepts can be judged from the precepts of the Bodhisattva precepts. If we have faith in the Buddha and the determination to take the Bodhisattva precepts, we don’t have to consider what other people are like, we just need to follow the teachings. Although we Buddhist disciples are currently confused about some phenomena, we should try not to talk about them. We must know the time and occasion. If no one explains the cause and effect of the matter clearly to us, not only will we be at great fault for violating the Bodhisattva precepts, but it will also cause many people to lose confidence in the Three Jewels and give rise to doubts. Therefore, we must break down the cause and effect, take our time, and pay more attention.