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斯里蘭卡政府最近為了教育改革，考察了國內整個世俗的教育系統。同樣的改革也必須深刻地引入到僧伽當中。比較一下寺院的和基督教的教育綱目，其差異令人觸目驚心。未來的牧師修女不僅學習拉丁文、神學、聖經，還學習所有領域的現代知識，以達到在當代世界起領導作用的目的；其學習內容還包括比較宗教研究。
寺院的教育中，就我所知，年輕比丘〈我從未見過有比丘尼〉受訓成為村落中的宗教師，一如16世紀時那般的將宗教文化延續下去。
當從寺院教育中出來的和尚講法時，聽眾中或許會有一位天文物理學家，一位心理學術醫師，幾位電腦分析員和幾位受過評析方法訓練的在家佛學者。可以看到，講法的效果會很奇怪。如果聽眾望著天花板出神，或相互發出厭倦的微笑，恐怕不令人意外罷。以下我將隨便列出幾項建議。直接僧伽行政或從事管理比丘、比丘尼教育的人一定要制訂出一套有系統的規劃。我想談談比丘，而不是比丘尼的情況。因為我對前者的生活方式和訓練更加熟悉。但比丘尼也應該考慮相應的改變。因為如果在一個迅速趨向兩性完全平等的世界中，佛教要表現出一個令人尊嚴的面貌，比丘尼的地位，教育和運作都需要大幅度的革新。
比丘或許應對剃度制度進行重大改革。現在僧團中流行的剃度方式，是引導尚未成熟的小孩來做有關決定。往往是父母將他們供養到廟上，以獲得功德。父母送來的孩子如果氣質適合於宗教生活，這套系統對佛教終究有正面的效果。確實，過去往往是父母將「最好，最聰明」的孩子送來到廟上。可今天送來的孩子，往往是世間生活的不成功者：調皮的、不聽話的，愚鈍的。
我知道這套少年剃度系統深植於斯里蘭卡的佛教之中，我並不建議去除它。它的一個優點是使年輕人在未受世間誘惑時就進入解脫之道。年齡小時對於淨化內心，減少執著，以承受嚴格的寺院訓練也有利。另一個優點是使年輕和尚在心靈清淨，思路開闊，接受性和記憶性都好時，就開始研究佛法和經典文字(巴利文和梵文)。因此這有助於培養飽學之士，這也是傳統上有文化修養的和尚的特色之一。雖然我不主張廢除青少年剃度制度，我想如果採用更嚴格的標準，僧團的品質會大幅度提高。一個可立即採用的方法是，延長沙彌戒前的考察期。比如要求想出家的男孩子至少在訓練中心做兩、三年居士後才能受戒。這使僧團長老能在更廣泛的因緣下觀察他們，剔除那些不適合出家生活的人。
如果這個方法不切實，可以採用其他的甄別方式。不論選用何種方法，其標準都應該相當嚴格，而不會不人道--長老們不應為拒絕不適當的申請人而猶豫不決。因為所有關切佛教的信徒和用修行人的行持來看待佛法的非佛教的信徒﹝包括斯里蘭卡的居民和外國人﹞，有件共同感到痛心的事。這就是太多不配為僧的年輕人，穿上了黃袍，現了僧相。這只會損傷僧伽的美名和佛教本身。
 當然而更嚴格的剃度制度，只是為了防止不適當的人當和尚的第一步。同樣重要的是讓已出家者接受出家的訓練以促進他向善，均衡的發展。這是至關重要的一步。如果有潛力做和尚的年輕人得不到適當的訓練，在寺院得不到滿足，那將來的和尚生涯就成了問題。他們要不然就對僧伽失望而還俗，或者畏懼世上對還俗的成見，在沮喪和不滿當中繼續做和尚。這也是為什麼今天許多年輕和尚涉足政治，商業和許多不值得他們參與的活動當中。
年輕和尚首先應在自己選擇的人生道路上找到意義和快樂。而這條道路對他在世間的伙伴來說，並不能快速提供滿足。
如果今天沒有幾個和尚看上去有法樂，我想這是因為佛法沒有用能引發快樂的方式傳授給他們。
若要佛法發揮出力量，吸引年輕和尚深入聖潔生活的核心，它就必須對心靈的深層次的需要有針對性。這就是說，佛法傳授的方式，必須能激發出立即、至誠，自發的反應。
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Just as the Sri Lankan government has recently reviewed the whole system of secular education in this country with the aim of reforming educational policy, a similar reformation will have to be introduced right at the heart of the Sangha. If one compares the system of instruction in the Buddhist monasteries with the curriculum of the Christian seminaries, the disparity is striking. In the seminaries the future priests and nuns are trained, not only in Latin, theology, and scripture, but in all the fields of modern knowledge they will need to play a leading role in today’s world, including the critical and comparative study of religion.
In the pirivenas or Buddhist monastic schools, so far as I can see, the young monks (never nuns!) are trained to become village priests capable of preserving a religious culture not very different from that of the sixteenth century.
One can see the bizarre result when a monk educated in the pirivena system has to give a sermon to an audience that might include an astrophysicist, a psychiatrist, several computer analysts, and even some lay Buddhist scholars trained in the methods of critical scholarship. Is it any wonder that the listeners pass the time glancing idly at the ceiling or casting weary smiles at each other?
In what follows I will merely throw out a few random suggestions. A systematic programme would have to be worked out by those more directly involved in Sangha administration and the training of monks and nuns. I will speak about monks rather than nuns, since I am more familiar with their lifestyles and training. But corresponding changes should also be considered for the nuns, whose status, education, and functions require drastic upgrading if Buddhism is to present a respectable face to a world moving rapidly towards complete gender equality.
For the monks, radical change might be needed at the very beginning, in the system of recruitment. The method of recruitment that currently prevails in the Sangha is the induction of young boys who are far from mature enough to make their own decisions. Often they are “offered” to the Sangha by their parents, as a way for the parents to earn merit. If the parents would sacrifice a youth who seems temperamentally inclined to the religious life, the ultimate effect such a system has on the Sasana might be a positive one.
Indeed, in the past it was usually “the best and the brightest” who would be given to ‘ the monastery. Today, however, the child selected is too often the one who appears unlikely to succeed in worldly life: the mischief maker, the maverick, the dullard.
I am aware that this system of childhood ordination is deeply entrenched in Sri Lankan Buddhist culture, and I would not propose abolishing it. Despite its faults, the system does have its positive points.
For one thing, it enables the youngster to enter the path of renunciation before he has been exposed to the temptations of worldly life; thus from an early age it helps promote the inner purity and detachment needed to withstand the rigours of the monastic training. Another advantage is that it gives the young monk the opportunity to study the Dhamma and the textual languages (Pali and Sanskrit) while the mind is as yet fresh, open, receptive, and retentive. Thereby, it conduces to the wide erudition which is one of the traditional hallmarks of the cultured monk.
However, while I would not go so far as to suggest abolishing adolescent recruitment, I do think the Sangha could vastly improve its ranks by imposing more stringent criteria for admission. One measure that might be adopted at once is a longer probationary period before granting the novice ordination.
For example, it might be made mandatory for boys intent on being ordained to live at training centres as lay postulants for a minimum of two or three years before they are considered eligible for novice ordination. This would give the Sangha elders an opportunity to observe them more closely, in a wide variety of situations, and to screen out those who seem unsuitable for the monk’s life.
If this is not practicable, then some other selective procedure might be applied. Whatever method is chosen, the standards of selection should be fairly rigorous—though not inhumane—and the elders should not hesitate to turn away unfit applicants. For one thing has become too painfully obvious to all concerned Buddhists alike, and also to non-Buddhists (both residents of Sri Lanka and foreigners) who judge the Dhamma by the conduct of its followers: far too many youngsters are being draped in saffron robes who do not deserve to wear them. Such misfits only sully the good name of the Sangha and of Buddhism itself.
More rigorous screening of candidates for ordination is, however, only a preliminary measure aimed at sealing off the Sangha from those unsuited for the monkhood. What is equally essential is to offer those who do get ordained training programmes that will promote their wholesome, balanced development. This is truly a critical step, for if youngsters with the potential for the monk’s life fail to receive proper training they won’t find fulfilment in the monastery, and if they don’t find fulfilment their future as monks will be in jeopardy. They will either become disillusioned with the Sangha and return to lay life; or else, from fear of the social stigma attached to disrobing, they may continue as monks in a perpetual state of frustration and discontent. This may explain why we see so many younger monks today involved in politics, business, and other activities unworthy of their calling.
What is necessary above all is for the young monk to find meaning and happiness in his chosen path of life, a path that does not offer the immediate satisfactions available to his comrades who remain behind in the world.
If so few monks today seem to show a real joy in the Dhamma, I suspect this is because the Dhamma is not being presented to them in a way that inspires joy.
For the Dhamma to exercise a magnetic power that will draw the young monk ever deeper towards the heart of the holy life, it must address their needs and aspirations at a deep interior level. This means it has to be offered to them in a way that arouses an immediate, sincere, and spontaneous response.
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