Venerable Geshe Konchok Wangdus
Profile
Born in the village of Sabu in 1969, Konchok Wangdus knew from an early age that he wanted to become a monk, which he eventually became at the age of 12 despite initial disapproval from his parents. He went straight to Drepung Loseling Monastery, South India, and began studying for his Geshes degree - a degree in Buddhist Philosophy that was to take him 18 years. He graduated in 1999, having attained a Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate in Buddhist Philosophy at the highest levels. After graduating he went to Gyurment Tantric College to study the esoteric principles of Tantra for one year. Following this, he taught Madhyamika (Middle Way) and Abhidharmakosha (Metaphysics) in the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala for 6 months.
In 2002, he returned to South India to study Tantra in Drepung Loseling Monastery, and in 2003 took up a post at Rizong Monastery at the request of Rizong Shas Rinpoche III to teach in the monastery school. Rizong offered peace for his meditation and further study of Buddhist Philosophy.
(MB - Manoj Bharij; KW - Konchok Wangdus)
MB: Can I first ask you Geshe-la, why did you become a monk?
KW: Since I was young I was fascinated by the dialectical debates of monks debating Buddhist Philosophy and I decided that I wanted to become a monk. My parents resisted me at first but they eventually understood that it was what I wanted to do. So with my parents' approval I went to South India and started my studies to become a Geshe [a student in Buddhist Philosophy].
MB: And why become a monk?
KW: There are many things – high monks know that the worldly lives of man are only made of sad things – worry, pain, sadness, so the monk's life is more special and more happy than that of a layman... so some people look at the worldly life and choose to become a monk. If you compare the two, the monk's life is very easy - easy to go and stay anywhere with no problems. If you think more long term, it is the attainment of nirvana. An important factor is that society needs institutions which can help society. The people who can help the most will be monks because monks know the reality of life, know the knowledge and they have an idea of how to help as they know Buddhist Philosophy. To help completely, the monk can sacrifice his life to help others. Laymen cannot do this totally as they have family to look after, monks don’t have this – monks give up their own life, their pain, to help others.
MB: So the renunciation is like sacrifice?
KW: Yes, because a monk is alone and can do anyhitng within a short time, because he doesn’t look back, he doesn’t need to, he only looks forward. Monks also are more strict, more disciplined than laymen and so they can really help society.
MB: And what are the future prospects of monks – what can monks do? Taking the example a young monk in monastic education, what can he do after he has finished his education?
KW: If a monk wants to, he can do anything he wants. If he wants to be a teacher, he can do this, if he wants to be prime minister, he can be. But not things that they are not allowed to do – in society there are so many bad jobs that a monk couldn’t do – that Buddhism doesn’t accept for monks… for example being a butcher. Tthere are some jobs which are really suitable for monks. They have ideas from Buddhist Philosophy – he must use his knowledge for the good of society. It would be better, more rewarding, to go by Buddha’s teaching and follow them for the benefits of the public.
MB: I guess a good example is the late Bakula Rinpoche who was ambassador to Mongolia for ten years and helped reinstate Buddhism there after the fall of Communism.
KW: Exactly. There is a saying in Tibetan – that administrative jobs should be done by monks because monks are more honest, have more discipline!
MB: So what exactly is the role of monks in society?
KW: In society, monks really fulfil the necessities of people who need some kind of rituals, who need help, religious things from monks. If the people are affected in their mind by something then they invite monks for rituals and it satisfies them. Monks lead people towards the good side by giving advice – what to do, what not to do – they show the way to people, to the good side. How to live life.
MB: Do you think the role has changed?
KW: Yes, it has changed. Some things shouldn’t have changed but they have – that is really unbelievable. Some Vinaya [rules of monastic discipline] disciplines have changed negatively. For example, Vinaya used to have many disciplines – one was not to take money direct from laymen, this has now changed and there are many others… so its very upsetting. But there are good changes, especially in Tibetan and Ladakhi communities, in early times the monks only studied rituals and chanting. Now in modern times all monks study Buddhist Philosophy – maybe 95%. That is a very big change. In earlier times in Tibet, there were limited experts who really practised, meditated, analysed – there were very few scholars but generally now we have more scholars but not like those in the early times. We have more students to study in this age.
MB: More quantity, less quality?
KW: Yes.
MB: Do you think there have been problems adapting to 21st century society? The whole world is changing but Ladakh especially so. Do you think Ladakhi monks have had problems adapting to these changes?
KW: Yes, the society is changing very fast. Whether it affects the monastic community depends on the monks living in the monastery. If monks have a good education in Buddhist Philosophy then it doesn’t affect them because they know the philosophy which teaches them about the changes we are facing now in the modern age. So if he has good education, then it doesn’t harm him… even if it does, he can take advantage of it to give him more education and learn from his experience. He’d know the causes of the changes he is experiencing in the society and he’d put his mind to it and overcome it. As an example – China is rapidly progressing economically. China is progressing 10% more than European countries. So right now, Chinese people are becoming more interested in Buddhism because on one side you have this huge progress of modern things, economic power, but on the other side they are giving importance to Buddhism because if they really know the anxieties of the modern things, the sadness and disadvantages of the modern things, if they are really educated in Buddhism, then they are not affected by the modern changes.
MB: Is Buddhism still relevant today even though most religious traditions all over the world are fading away and societies are moving more away from religion and more towards materialism?
KW: Yes, it's very important. Everybody wants happiness – there is no one who wants unhappiness. Most people know that material things do not give us happiness. The main thing is that the inner happiness must come together with the outer happiness – people are beginning to realise this now. Buddhism talks about the mind, how we have to train our minds through compassion and non-violence – it is also known by the world now that we are facing many problems even though we are developing. The outer world is progressing and people are more materialistic – you also need inner happiness to go with this.
MB: How do you see the future of monastic life?
KW: Monks nowadays are getting modern education as well as religious education. Also the society is progressing in developing education and economically too, so this really affects the monastic life, but mostly in a good way. But because of the changes in society, if the monks don’t practise properly, then this will really affect monastic life.
MB: How do you see monastic life now?
KW: In earlier times the people only practised what the Buddha had said – like blind faith. Now people are asking more questions – and this is important in Buddhism, especially from western people. Because of that the monks also take their own responsibility because questions come to them on Buddhism. So people are learning more... but the discipline could be better. We will have problems in future if our monks do not practise Buddhism and meditation deeply - they won't be in a good position to help those in need.
MB: So talking about education, part of the government curriculum for monastery schools is to learn English - why should English be learnt in monasteries? How can learning English benefit monks?
KW: If you talk in a broad sense, to keep the world peaceful, each individual has the responsibly for his own happiness, and those around him. As mentioned earlier, with the progress of materialistic things, we also need to progress internally. Right now everyone says we need a peaceful world. To bring peace in the world, everyone must take responsibility. To bring peace to the world we must have peace first with our family, then our neighbours, village, state, country, then worldwide – to bring peace we do not need material things. We are social animals, we depend on each other, so we must have peaceful relations between each other, we must understand each other. We must give love to each other. They talk about this in all religions but Buddhism teaches to do this with compassion which is desperately needed in this modern society so Buddhism can help.
We have many countries which are Buddhist but those with sutra/tantra are only within the Himalayan regions. To talk about these things to the world, about peace, one must know the language. The person who knows the language and who can talk and the person who translates are very different. If a person doesn’t know the language then it is very hard to express what feeling he has to the people. If you think about Buddhism, if you only study Buddhist Philosophy and don’t take things from the outside world, this is also wrong. Buddhism goes hand in hand with science. That’s why it is also important to know the main points from science. Science is mostly taught in English so that’s one reason why English is very important. Also the other philosophies are all written in English… like by the European philosophers. Buddhists also need to know these things. English is the international language and all books are written in English. To know the other religions, monks really need English. That’s why its very important to teach English in monasteries to the new generation.
MB: These are very major, very important reasons. Are there any minor reasons, for example to be able to communicate with foreigners or tourists?
KW: Yes, of course. In the monastery we all do chanting. Tourists are very interested in monasteries – some are very happy to see these things – so monks need English to be able to communicate about monastic life to foreigners. Monks always talk about serving others, and from the other side, to help the tourists, to teach about these things is also helping. The monks can also exchange information with the tourists – tourists are very educated, they come with lots of knowledge in their minds because they read many books – they can also share this with us. It's also important that we learn from a native speaker so the pronounciation is better, more natural. This will help us.
MB: OK, thank you for your time.
KW: You're welcome.