Do you have a negative impression of religion? Many people do, and it’s because improper religions are so common nowadays. What’s more, many people get sucked into improper religions, thinking that they are being “saved” and that they need to “save” others. Even if we haven’t encountered improper religions yet, we or our loved ones might encounter them in the future, so it’s important to know how to differentiate proper religions from improper ones. These standards are actually really similar to differentiating proper people from improper people, so even if religion doesn’t concern you, you can extend these standards to people in general.
For a quick background on why I wrote this article, I grew up in Toronto, Canada, and I remember during my student years, our teachers would tell us to respect all religions. My classmates were quite multicultural and had varying religious beliefs, including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu, but most were atheists.
I had a pretty neutral idea of religion until around high school, when I started hearing about all the crazy things that religious people do, such as war, terrorist attacks, and suicide bombing. These all gave me a negative impression on religion. It wasn’t until after university, when I started learning about Buddhism, that I changed my negative bias towards religion because I encountered a proper teacher named Venerable Jing Kong. This past week was the second year anniversary of his departure, so this post is in honour of that.
From Venerable Jing Kong and his student, Venerable Chengde, I learned about the differences between proper and improper religions, and in order to help others avoid improper religions, I wrote this post. While these standards are mostly from the perspective of Buddhism, they should be able to be extended to other religions and to people in general. If even one of these red flags exist, we have to be very cautious.
1: Improper religious leaders are arrogant. Proper religious leaders are humble.
Improper religious leaders will often brag about themselves and put down others.
Proper religious leaders will often talk about their lack of cultivation and how they still have not completely practiced all of the religious teachings. They also praise other sects, leaders, and religions.
2: Improper religious leaders make you feel scared or worried. Proper religious leaders are gentle and wouldn’t give you pressure.
For example, an improper religious leader might say, “If you don’t stay here by my side, you and your family might attract disaster. If you leave here, you cannot come back.”
A proper religious leader would never want to give you pressure. They would help you feel at ease. They should be warm-hearted and sensitive to others’ feelings.
3: Improper religious leaders don’t practice the religious precepts. Proper religious leaders do.
For example, Buddhism has five basic precepts: Don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t lie, and don’t drink alcohol. Buddhism also teaches us to eliminate the five mental positions: greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt.
If a religious leader has a terrible temper, or is a pervert, or charges money for classes, or gives you pressure to donate, or gets drunk, or makes you doubt yourself, these are all red flags. Improper religious leaders don’t emphasize or practice these precepts and teachings. They might even say they are above them.
A proper religious leader would emphasize the precepts and religious texts. They would often say that they haven’t practiced them well and are still working hard to improve. They lead by example.
4: Improper religious leaders focus on superstitious worship. Proper religious leaders focus on moral education.
Improper religious leaders often focus on religious ceremonies that help deceased souls or that can eliminate sins and negative karma. These things are hard to verify, and the leader doesn’t explain the logic behind it, so followers tend to just take the leader’s word for it. The leader might then brag about their “results”. Since followers don’t really understand what’s happening, and they just blindly trust the leader’s words, it’s quite superstitious.
Proper religious leaders would educate people on how to help deceased souls and reduce negative karma, which is through our moral cultivation. Proper religious leaders would also explain the purpose behind these religious ceremonies and how they help deceased souls (by inviting these souls to listen to sutra lectures at the event) and how they help to eliminate negative karma (by bringing out virtuous thoughts and vows from people). These ceremonies would not be the main focus though; they would happen at certain dates in the year. The main focus is on moral education.
5: Improper religious leaders don’t cite the religious texts. The things they say often violate the religious texts. Proper religious leaders frequently cite the texts, and everything they say accords with the texts.
All religious texts talk about how to cultivate morality in order to gain a better afterlife. As students of a religion, we need to study the texts and believe in the texts (as opposed to believing in what people say). If we hear different people saying different things, we need to confirm with the texts to see which is correct.
For example, if a Buddhist leader says, “I can transcend the diseased soul of your family member to the Western Pure Land,” we need to have the sense to know that the texts never said anything about others helping you to go to the Western Pure Land. The texts say that only you yourself can decide if you go to the Western Pure Land, and the conditions are belief, vow and chanting Amitabha. It does not say other people can transcend your soul there, so we can judge this person to be an improper religious leader.
Usually, it’s beginners who most easily get deceived because they never studied the texts or know to study the texts. When they hear these big claims, they get overly excited and lose their sense of rationality. The religious leader might not ask for a fee, but these people feel so grateful that they’ll donate a lot of money. Thus, if we’re going to invest time in a religion, we need to actually study the texts and check if the religious leader cites the texts and role models the teachings.
6: Improper religious leaders like to show off supernatural abilities. Proper religious leaders only help people through education.
When the Buddha was on Earth, he and his students had supernatural powers that arose from deep meditative concentration. However, the Buddha forbade his students from using supernatural powers to help people. The reason is because ghosts also have supernatural powers. If Buddhists teachers use supernatural powers, then people wouldn’t be able to differentiate a proper Buddhist teacher from evil ghosts who’ve possessed a person. The Buddha only taught and helped people through lecturing and education; that is something malevolent ghosts cannot do. Therefore, proper religious leaders will only help people through lecturing and education, not through supernatural methods.
Some improper religious leaders like to show off supernatural abilities. They’ll predict your future or read your past. Then you feel like they know everything, and you’ll view them like a God. In reality, they are possessed by an evil ghost, and they probably seek to profit off you or enjoy the feeling of having worshippers.
Some improper religious leaders will say they are a certain Buddha or God or Spirit manifested in human form. But in the history of Buddhism, any time someone says they are a certain Buddha manifested in human form, that person then “passes away” peacefully shortly after. The reason was already mentioned before: Buddhas help people through education. As soon as people think they’re some sort of God, they lose interest in learning and instead want the “God” to use supernatural abilities to help them. Thus, if someone says they are a certain Buddha or God in human form, but they’re still here after a while, that’s an improper religious leader.
7: Improper religious leaders don’t come from a long line of ancestors. Proper religious leaders do.
In Buddhism, succession is highly important. Every sect has a long line of patriarchs. For example, Pure Land Buddhism has 13 patriarchs that are publicly acknowledged by the Buddhist community. A proper religious leader studies from an acknowledged line of patriarchs. They’ll often cite their teachers’ teachings.
An improper religious leader might say stuff like, “One day, I suddenly got enlightened.” If they seem to know a lot and don’t talk about learning from an acknowledged teacher, they’re probably possessed by ghosts. Again, the Buddhas don’t use supernatural powers to help people because they don’t want followers to lose their sense of rationality.
It’s also possible that an improper religious leader will say that they learned from a certain acknowledged teacher. In this case, we need to go a step further and inspect if they actually often cite that teacher’s teachings and practice them, just like if they cite and practice the religious texts. A proper teacher will always cite and practice the texts and their teachers’ teachings.
For example, Venerable Jing Kong was a very famous and well-respected Buddhist leader. Due to his fame and great number of followers, many people tried to use his name to gain money or fame. People will say they are his student or are working for him as a way to attract followers, but in reality, Venerable Jing Kong doesn’t know about these people doing these things, and he never mentioned, let alone endorse, these people in his lectures.
What to do if someone you know might be part of an improper religious group
Note that if you happen to realize someone might be part of an improper religious group, it’s very important to not oppose them or make them feel like you are right and they are wrong. We have to put ourselves in their shoes. They trust their religious leader and have been in that group for a while. If someone suddenly tells them that what they are doing is wrong, it’s a hard message to swallow.
To give an analogy, imagine you’ve been drinking soda for many years. One day, someone tells you, “Don’t you know that soda is terrible for your health? I’m telling you, you gotta quit right now!” But you’ve never heard this news before, and you really enjoyed drinking soda all these years. If they make you feel really uncomfortable, you might oppose not out of logic, but out of emotion.
As their family member or friend, our responsibility is to share important knowledge that we know in a humble and caring way. We can mention that we recently learned about some standards for proper and improper religions, and share some of these standards, but we shouldn’t directly say, “Based on these standards, don’t you know your religious group is improper?” That’s opposing them and making them feel like they are wrong, which will make them oppose us. Instead, we can let them reflect themselves.
We also mustn’t be rushed for quick results, or else we’ll become annoyed and controlling towards them, which again creates conflict. Ultimately, there isn’t one correct way to advise, but the principle is that we should let them feel respected and cared for, and we must remain humble and patient.
Conclusion
Since improper religions are very common nowadays, knowing the difference between proper and improper religions can help us and our family and friends from getting duped or hurt.
Proper religious leaders are humble and gentle; they diligently study and practice the religious texts, and they come from an acknowledged line of teachers. They seek to benefit people through education. Improper religious leaders are arrogant and give others pressure or worry. They don’t practice the moral teachings from their religious texts, and what they say or do often contradicts the texts. They might also show off supernatural powers because they are interested in getting worshippers, not students.
If we encounter people who might be in an improper religious organization, we shouldn’t criticize them or shock them by telling them that they are wrong. We should be respectful, humble, kind, and patient in the communication and advising process.
Originally published at https://www.weeklywisdomblog.com on July 28, 2024.
