[SIZE="3"]In Search of Enlightenment! Monk clashes with priest, forms a labor union [/SIZE]Los Angeles Times, February 23 2006, 8:44 AM EST
....monks have bosses too, and even in a temple the boss can sometimes be a problem. Last fall, Hosono clashed with Gencho Komatsu, the 73-year-old head priest of the Tendai sect at Zenkoji. In short order, the monk found himself banished to a tiny, windowless storage room where he was ordered to spend each day writing out Buddhist sutras until further notice....
"It was harassment," Hosono said. "I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to release me from that room."
So the monk went out and got himself a union card.
Along with four sympathetic monks and four office workers from the Daikanjin temple, Hosono formed a small but certified union affiliated with Japan's National Confederation of Trade Unions. The organization says it is the first time Japanese monks have ever banded into an affiliate....more...
