Are Buddhist monasteries ethical?

I was reading a book about Zen labyrinths and walked through one today. <br><br>I was doing some reading about Buddhism, and it appears that the practice of Buddhism is live where you are. Don’t move to live in a monastery. <br><br>I couldn’t find anything about Buddhist monasteries in current times. But these monasteries are taking the resources from the area. They have special access to land, tax breaks, they ask for donations, they are huge tourist traps. If people are devoting their time to living in a monastery and working there, they are not contributing to society. They are leeching the resources of society and not giving anything back. They have special access to resources for not giving anything back. <br><br>I know they offer classes and meditation outside of the monasteries in cities. I think they mostly focus on meditation. They don’t discuss ethics. I’m not convinced that meditation is good for you. I’ve never met anyone who meditates who has a good understanding of philosophy. <br><br>So my conclusion is that Buddhist monasteries are unethical. They leech resources from society without contributing back to society. They teach people to sit around and do nothing.<br><br>A quick google about this topic usually leads to news articles about sex scandals in the Buddhist community. I’m not much of Buddhist. I’m a philosopher who is looking at the ethics of these monasteries.