Spirit of Light
Be who ever you want
When it comes to respecting within religions/spiritual paths I understand that for those who have gone forth and become a monk or a nun, the laypeople would be respectful to the monastics, because the path of monastic life is not an easy one. And yes the monastic people do study the scriptures all the time and will by this gain deeper wisdom of how to live a righteous life.
But there may be the other way around too, that as a monk or nun they would also understand that being respectful toward the laypeople is a part of being a monk or nun.
To be a teacher (i speak of dhamma teacher here) take time to be "good enough" to give truthful teaching to the laypeople. and in my understanding (can be wrong of course) there will be different answers given to different people because of the wisdom level they are on, they may not understand the deeper teachings.
To get into an argument with a monastic is unwise in my experience, and i will from now refrain from direct discussion with monastics, but yes i will ask questions still.
And yes it is allowed to disagree with the monk or nun, but it would be good for all that it was done in a respectful way
But there may be the other way around too, that as a monk or nun they would also understand that being respectful toward the laypeople is a part of being a monk or nun.
To be a teacher (i speak of dhamma teacher here) take time to be "good enough" to give truthful teaching to the laypeople. and in my understanding (can be wrong of course) there will be different answers given to different people because of the wisdom level they are on, they may not understand the deeper teachings.
To get into an argument with a monastic is unwise in my experience, and i will from now refrain from direct discussion with monastics, but yes i will ask questions still.
And yes it is allowed to disagree with the monk or nun, but it would be good for all that it was done in a respectful way