Help Jennifer Harris with Her Survey on Perceptions of Monasticism within Buddhism!
by Danny Fisher
Tibetan Buddhist monastics gathered for the 2007 Kagyu Monlam Chenmo at the Mahabodhi Mahavihara in Bodh Gaya, India. Photo by the author.
This via Monty McKeever at the Tricycle Editors Blog:
Via Jennifer Harris,
“Hi! Working toward my PhD in community psychology, I’m conducting a survey (one version in English, the other Tibetan) of the perceptions of monasticism within Buddhism. With its spread to the West, Buddhist practitioners in the United States tend mostly to be lay and there are very few monasteries. This study therefore examines the role and relevancy of the monastic tradition within the Western Buddhist cultural community. I will also be posting an exact replica of the survey in the Tibetan language so that I can cross-examine two distinct cultural communities’ perceptions about monasticism.”
The first version of the survey, which is for Westerners, is available here. Help Jennifer out!
I just took the survey, but I noticed something she didn’t ask: whether or not the respondents are monastics themselves. I think she’s assuming all her respondents are lay people.