BHD — I’ve been mulling over a coherent response to what you’ve offered but decided better just respond! I feel you and also acknowledge that it’s very complicated. Buddhism has always had a complex relationship to the class structure of society — even since the days of the buddha. Two great reads: The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism by Uma Chakravarti and The Early Buddhist World Outlook in Historical Perspective help burst the bubble that there was ever really a time where the owning classes weren’t very influential in the leadership of the sangha.

As far as our time goes, it still complex. Lay Westerners never had the monastic institutional/cultural support of dana to be able to offer retreats freely, so they made a compromise: pay for the amenities, teachings offered freely. Still hard for most to make it work though the institutions are certainly better now — and improving — in regards to scholarships,diversity, etc. Even the notion of lay people practicing for enlightenment is a relatively new phenomenon that can be traced back to the anti-imperialist strategy of Ledi Sayadaw in the 1800s. (There are, of course, clues to lay practice in ancient times in the suttas as well) On the other hand, the internet provides such an amazing and vast array of free resources to anyone around the world, something that is unheard of in the past. I’d like to be able to find a way to support people doing self-retreats at home so that they can utilize whatever time they have to best create the protective conditions for practice…

Anyhow, thanks for your thoughts and work! aloha