[Nppracph]

Sounds a lot like the way things work in Korea and Thailand, too. There's a widely held belief among the laity that reading the suttas is for the ordained, while their duty is to accumulate merit to transfer to their parents' cosmic merit account. Failing to do so makes them bad Buddhists and bad children.

Among the monks, there are few who actually teach the public about what's in the suttas/sutras. Instead, they (in my experience) repeat the words of their own teacher and encourage hero-worship of him. Preserving and promoting their lineage often becomes the real focus, rather than spreading the Buddha's dhamma.

But there are bhikkhus and bhikkunis who are committed to walking the path and sharing their experiences sincerely (and for free) with the public. Problem is, they don't try to gain a following. They tend to remain in solitude most of the time. Because most of these bhikkhus and bhikkhunis are so low-profile, the public tends to equate Buddhism with the more visible examples, which are the monks who give blessings, appear on TV, write books, give speeches and take donations.

There are exceptions, of course. The above is just a rough outline of my experience. Offhand, I can't remember meeting a single monk who was in either a leadership position or in the public eye, and whom I also thought was sincere about either practicing or spreading the Buddha's dhamma. I imagine there are some, don't get me wrong, but I haven't personally met one.