While walking calmly along the roadside, a car with yellow number plates suddenly pulled up close and sped off with a loud roar. Since there was a school on the opposite side of the road, I felt angry, thinking how reckless such driving was. At that very moment, another car came roaring toward me from the opposite direction. It was a brand‑new, expensive luxury vehicle, and on its windshield were the words “… Monastery.”
The driver was someone wrapped in a maroon robe, wearing dark sunglasses, with a completely shaved, gleaming head.
Today, the people of Myanmar are enduring countless forms of suffering under an authoritarian system. Some families have been torn apart by death and separation. Some have lost limbs. Some have lost their property. Some have lost their hopes and dreams for the future. There are countless children who go to bed hungry every night, unable to fill their stomachs even for a single day. Wherever one looks in Myanmar, the sight is filled with tragedy and misery.
Yet within this very landscape, there also exists a community living in quiet comfort, enjoying a god‑like luxury even before death. This is the religious community sustained and enjoyed by shameless and morally corrupt individuals.
The Buddha taught that craving and greed are the greatest enemies of one’s ultimate goal, and instructed their eradication. He also laid down disciplinary rules (Vinaya) to ensure the purity of conduct and the longevity of the Buddhist dispensation.
However, many who today call themselves sons of the Buddha behave as if the Vinaya does not exist at all. Their greed for wealth, money, and status is so extreme that even ordinary laypeople are astonished. In matters of greed, they refuse to yield to one another, competing relentlessly to gain more.
Monks within this religious circle often show far more cunning in the pursuit of wealth than laypeople. Some own high-end luxury cars and live in mansion‑like buildings rivaling royal palaces. Below are some of the ways they conduct their business:
1. Making Money Through Manipulative Sermons
Some monks exploit slogans such as “If you don’t donate, you won’t have; if you don’t have, it’s because you didn’t donate” to extract offerings from naïve people. They first accumulate as many certificates and titles from the authorities as possible. Then, after practicing dramatic speech, tears, and performance worthy of actors, they mount the Dhamma throne.
With long honorary titles and persuasive oratory, they travel giving sermons that promise abundant blessings and wealth. The fee for a single night of such preaching often exceeds what an ordinary citizen earns in an entire year of labor.
2. Making Money by Building Pagodas and Monasteries
Ignoring the saying “Honor the Buddha, shield the pagoda,” some monks rapidly construct religious buildings like mushrooms sprouting after rain. They entice donors with rare titles such as “Pagoda Patron” or “Monastery Patron,” pressuring people to donate everything they possess—even the jewelry they are wearing.
Even after construction is completed, donation boxes are placed everywhere to continue soliciting money.
3. Making Money Through Deceptive Displays (“Monkey Shows”)
Some shameless monks keep various animals in monastery compounds to attract attention and solicit donations. Some even bring these animals to sermons and make them perform tricks like trained attendants, thereby extracting money from audiences.
The Buddha taught loving‑kindness toward all beings and showed the path to liberation from samsara. These monks, however, do not guide beings toward liberation; instead, they cage animals, starve them, and exploit them solely for personal gain.
4. Making Money Under the Guise of Charity
The Buddha prohibited monks from engaging in external activities that interfere with monastic duties. Yet today, some monks do almost everything except genuine monastic work. Some compete directly with laypeople in charitable ventures inappropriate for monks, using them as opportunities to collect donations.
5. Making Money Through Worldly Superstitions
Some shameless monks engage in occult practices such as charms, talismans, astrology, and fortune‑telling. Due to generations of oppression, many Myanmar people are fearful, gullible, and lack critical thinking. Exploiting these weaknesses, certain monks use mystical jargon and superstitions to extort money from the public.
6. Making Money Through Gambling
As poverty deepens, people increasingly seek shortcuts to easy money. Instead of reaching prosperity, these shortcuts usually drag them deeper into ruin. Among those who encourage these destructive paths for personal profit are certain corrupt monks.
They give people lottery numbers and lucky digits while soliciting donations. Whether the public prospers or not is unclear—but these monks steadily grow wealthier.
The methods described above are only a few among the many ways corrupt monks pursue wealth. As the saying goes, “A greedy monk’s desire is as vast as the ocean.” Due to such unchecked craving, society hears daily of disgraceful scandals beyond tolerance: monks fighting over monasteries, land, moneylending at interest, and collusion with cronies. These morally corrupt figures steadily erode the very foundations of the Buddhist faith.
This raises an unavoidable question: Is the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee simply watching all this with folded arms? It appears they dare not speak out. Many among them enjoy wealth through alignment with the ruling elites. They will not strike their own legs or smash their own rice pots.
Worse still, some monks openly supporting dictatorship now engage directly in armed activities—actions entirely incompatible with monastic life. Fearful of angering the regime, the Sangha bureaucracy remains silent, making it unsurprising that corruption within the Sangha goes unaddressed.
Yet amid this widespread corruption, there also exist monks of integrity—those who respect and uphold the Vinaya, diligently practicing learning and discipline. This is a hopeful sign for Buddhism and a source of strength for sincere believers.
Such monks should continue practicing the Vinaya themselves and teaching it to the public, enlightening those who have been drained by impostor monks and left barely alive.
At the same time, laypeople must realize that supporting shameless, undisciplined monks is like watering a poisonous plant. The Buddha taught:
“Not associating with fools, associating with the wise, and honoring those worthy of honor—this is the highest blessing.”
Those who violate moral discipline and engage in base conduct—no matter how they dress—cannot be considered wise or worthy. They are fools. Those who venerate them stray from the Buddha’s teachings.
Therefore, Buddhists must use discernment to distinguish between corrupt, undisciplined monks and sincere, disciplined ones—and follow only those who truly align with the Buddha’s path.
Nyo Htun