Good question! I really don’t know, but I suspect not.
Indeed. Ven Akaliko and myself have been somewhat involved in this, and the Buddhist community opposes these changes.
What has happened in Australia is that the same-sex marriage debate revealed that some minority communities in Australia can be wooed by pushing legislation whose purpose is to harm the LQBTQI+ community, or to erode rights for women.
When I was at such a meeting in the NSW Parliament, I saw that all the religions were represented by 100% men, except for Buddhism. I proposed that we all try to invite more women to be present, given that we were discussing such questions as the legality of abortion. The Liberal MP laughed it off, saying that even his own party had a long way to go to achieve equality. He wasn’t wrong.
I think that’s a complicated legal question, and probably varies a lot from place to place.
In Thailand, for example, the Sangha is administered under an official Sangha Act, with leaders appointed by the King, so their relationship with the law is different from Australia.
Yes, the Vinaya states that “kings should be obeyed”, i.e. that the Sangha should follow whatever local laws there are. This principle is applied in several cases in the Vinaya itself, for example, we should not ordain someone who is wanted by the authorities.
Not as such, no.
It varies, but yes, this is often the case.
That’s correct. In Australia they will sometimes refer to the Buddhist Councils or ASA in questionable cases, eg. deciding on a visa, etc. The biggest direct concern that the Aust gov has had with monks is when they come on religious visas then disrobe.
More or less, yes. Monastics usually don’t own the kutis we live in, so many of the Vinaya rules are treated as loose guidelines.
Tough one! What we do first of all is try our very best to build so that bugs don’t come. At Santi, for example, we made no enclosed cupboards in the kitchen, as that helps minimize cockroaches. For buildings, if making from scratch it is possible to termite-proof them pretty well.
In cases where there are pests that either cause a genuine threat or are in violation of health codes, monastics have been known to turn a blind eye as lay people take care of it. I don’t think there’s a good answer to this problem; some things are not black and white.