It would not be surprising if members of the public are curious to know which meditation centre the English daily The Star was referring to with regards to the front page news published in Wednesday's edition. Furthermore, since it involved Buddhist monks, this matter surely caused concern to the Buddhist community especially those who are in leadership positions in Buddhist temples or organisations who are expected to protect and uphold the sanctity of the Triple Gem, which includes the Sangha or the community of monks.
To avoid other meditation centres or temples within the vicinity in Kajang being mistakenly linked to the top story of the daily, let it be known that the said centre is the Malaysia Nibbana Meditation Centre (MNMC)which is based in Kajang. The issue regarding the management of the MNMC bungalow cum meditation centre has been in existence since 2006. The centre used to draws huge crowds to its religious sessions and programs. Many local university students in the vicinity also troops into the centre to learn from its founder monk, Venerable Kai Chow.
In the early days when he just started to set up base in Kajang, Ven Kai Chow visited the Sungei Jelok Prison regularly where he provides counselling and Dharma teaching to the prisoners including those in the "Death Row". His works with the prisoners are well known especially amongst the Buddhist community. A compilation on the feelings of the prisoners published by him some years ago was in hot demand after its publication.
In perspective it does not really need much "probing" as what The Star claimed to do as this centre's matter are well known to many Buddhist organisations and community leaders. Furthermore those who reads Chinese vernacular newspapers might have also come across this front page "scoop" sometime ago which is already a stale story that the Chinese press now does not even take it as newsworthy to be published anymore. It is just curious how does the editorial team in The Star decides to front page an outdated story which the Chinese vernacular press already dumped long ago? Or is there any other agenda which only The Star knows?
From the surface, especially for those uninitiated, the said newspaper article was made out to looks like two groups are fighting over the control of MNMC's list of landed properties especially the centre in Kajang but the reality is that the catalyst to the current situation facing the centre did not arise out of any intention to wield control over any of the assets. The situation that created the sparks and caused the centre to go through what is happening today can be traced to different interpretation of the Vinaya (Code of Discipline for monks) by two conflicting school of thoughts. On one side is the centre's founder monk (who already left the centre) while on the other side is a group of six monks who still resides in the centre. Co-incidentally four of the monks still residing in the centre were the disciples of the founder monk. The issue on the control of the assets was an after thought.
Basically a situation which arises from two conflicting views on the Vinaya between the monks spread to the devotees of the centre. In the end the centre's devotees began to take sides and split into at least two conflicting groups. What's happening now concerning the centre are spillover from actions of the members of the Sangha. In the context of the Buddhist teachings, any problems within the Sangha community should be deliberated and solved within and by the monks themselves, preferably with the guidance of learned senior monks within the Sangha.
Lay devotees should not have been dragged into this matter which creates more animosity and frictions within the centre's community which is totally unbecoming in a religious community that vows to uphold and practice the Noble Eightfold Path. The Sangha should be the cause of unity and wisdom not creator of frictions and disillusion in the Buddhist community or any community at large. - Loka
The Star, Wednesday June 9, 2010
Meditaton centre built with public funds now a ‘country club’
By LEE YUK PENG
yukpeng@thestar.com.my
PETALING JAYA: The bungalow, nestled in a secluded spot amidst dense greenery, is supposed to be a temple that was built on public donations.
But accusations have surfaced that the “meditation centre” in a Kajang neighbourhood has been operating like a country club – open only to its estimated 30 members.
Almost 100 Buddhist devotees have been asking for the re-opening of the temple, built in a sprawling leafy area, since last year.
Their petition is seen on a website which was started last year by several former university students who once volunteered at the place.
According to them, the centre has been closed to the public since October 2006. The priest, who was the founder, quit that year.
The latest posting on the blog was dated May 29. It showed photographs of the centre, taken from outside its gate, where a CCTV was also installed there.
It is believed that several monks are residing in the centre now.
One of them, when contacted, was hesitant to elaborate about its recent Wesak Day celebration.
“We have our own things to do here,” he said, declining to reveal his name.
Shady place: The entrance to the centre in Kajang is cluttered with dead leaves and the entire place is covered in foliage.
A volunteer, who once helped to coordinate activities of the centre, spoke of her heartache of what the place had now become.
“We started it from scratch. Devotees helped to collect donations to buy the land for the centre,” she said.
According to the former volunteers, the centre sits on a 1.8ha piece of land which was bought from a developer with 50 guarantors in 2001 at RM2.3mil. This was fully paid up in 2004.
According to the website, the centre has another five plots of land elsewhere. The volunteers had sought the services of a valuer, who estimated that all the assets could be worth about RM10.8mil.
Previous news reports indicated that the centre once had about 100 volunteers and attracted 10,000 devotees to its events.
A Hong Kong resident even donated RM100,000 to the centre according to newspaper reports last year.
In its 2008 annual general meeting, members passed a resolution that they would not be seeking an external auditor to audit their accounts.
The centre, the volunteer said, started in 2001 and the priest in charge had a big following due to his community work.
She alleged that things started to go downhill when the monks began to break into factions among themselves.
“Some of the monks even took away several Buddha statues and equipment like loudspeakers,” she claimed, alleging that they brought in gym equipment instead.
Several devotees have lodged a police report about breach of trust but the monks also countered with a report that they had been harassed.
Calls to several officials of the Malaysian Buddhist Association, of which the centre is a member, showed that they were aware of complaints about the centre.
“We are leaving it to our legal team to look into the problem,” one official said.
The devotees have also complained to the Registrar of Societies.
Asked about the centre, registrar Datuk Md Alias Kalil agreed that any place of worship should be open to the public although “in this case, the by-laws of the centre stipulate that it is opened to those deemed as members.”
It is learnt that the ROS will soon be issuing the centre a show-cause letter, seeking an explanation why two laymen were on its committee although its constitution stated that only monks could hold posts.
