When a temple fund-raising degenerates into something more like a hungry ghost month celebration...

I just came back from a fund raising dinner for a temple with quite a bit of distaste.

Before this, I had pretty good impressions of the temple though I am not too familiar with it. But the dinner left me with a pretty bad impression.

There was an auction to raise fund for the new temple building. Personally, I don't think auction is a very suitable method for a Buddhist organization. But that's just me.

The auction did not go well. There were very few bids. The items were very highly priced. Most were more than ten thousands with a few items in the thousands. Not that the price were not justified. Some of the items were collectors' art work. However, the crowd did not look like the very rich type.

The problem I had was when the auction was not going well, they resorted to pressure tactics. They started calling out names and ask the named person to bid for a higher price. The contractor for the new building was there and was specifically ask to bid, dropping comments like "or perhaps we need to reconsider the deal..." What was worse was it was the abbot monk who went up on stage and was doing some of that. I thought that was quite unbecoming of a Buddhist organization and a Dharma teacher.

At an interval between the auction breaks, a few people broken into impromptu Hokkien sing-song and I thought the whole thing degenerated into what appears to be a Hungry Ghost Festival getai. A few other people at the same table thought so too.

I do understand temple building requires quite a lot money. But the way the auction was conducted gave me a really bad impression. I am not sure I am that willing to support that temple any more.