In recent weeks, a series of scandals have been exposed in Thailand, involving monks suspected of rape, fraud, theft and robbery, murder, drug abuse and bribery. A few Buddhist scum take advantage of people's piety and belief in Buddhism and rely on their special status to do shady things, which not only shames Buddhism and even Thai religious circles, but also causes strong dissatisfaction among local people. In order to eliminate these Buddhist scum and purify the ranks of monks, the Thai government requires the news media to publicly expose the scandals in the ranks of monks, and resolutely remove those lawless Buddhist scum from Buddhism and bring them to justice. The following is the shocking monk scandal exposed by Thai media since mid-June 165438+ 10.
Fake "colonel"
It all started with the recent arrest of a fake officer named Tamazon Wangchai. This man is the abbot of Phan Su Fuchang Temple in Wuli, Thailand-a very powerful and influential figure. This equally influential scandal may, to some extent, have more audience effect than the TV series that Thais are very keen on. Because the police caught the "colonel" red-handed, so that he could not deny it. Even more eye-opening, the highest-rated ITV channel in Thailand not only filmed the disgusting behavior of the fake colonel from beginning to end with a camera, but also publicly played this tape on TV, causing a sensation.
People see on the screen that Wang Chai, the abbot who has always been respected, was pulled out of his black Mercedes S500G by the police. Dressed in military uniform, he protested loudly: "I am a soldier. How can you treat me like this? " Later, when fighting with the police, the special uniform he was wearing slipped down, revealing the sacred yellow cassock inside.
The arrest was the result of careful cooperation between ITV TV and the police based on the informant's tip-off. Two days later, the video was broadcast on Thai TV news programs. I saw Wang Cai drinking whisky with two married women in a karaoke restaurant. Then the camera lens followed him back to his home-there were several members of the camera team lurking there. Soon, two women took a taxi, stopped at the door of Wang Chai's house and went straight to Wang Chai's house. Then, I saw the figure shaking in the bedroom upstairs, and Wang Chai, who was naked, leaned out and closed the blinds in the bedroom. Anyone can guess what happened next. The yellow pictorial, red and black women's underwear, alcohol and condoms that the police later found in his house also helped people to crack the behavior of Wang guess and the two women.
The abbot leads a double life.
At Wangchai's home in Namburi, north of Bangkok, the police found more shocking evidence of the crime. Wang Chai claimed that the two women who visited his home were his relatives. He explained that he wore military uniform out of reverence for the army-to realize a dream he had since he was a child.
In the face of a lot of hard evidence, any sophistry and prevarication will be of no help. The Thai Buddhist authorities quickly made a decision to remove him from Buddhism. The police searched Wang Chai's former residence in Machata Temple. In his room, people found bank documents and a lot of cash. The police suspect that monks and outsiders colluded with the former abbot and embezzled a lot of money from Pan Su Wuli Temple.
When Wang Cai was taken away like a mouse from his residence in a temple in Machata, handcuffed and with his head drooping, under the insults and ridicule of thousands of angry people, the wave of public anger immediately turned to the hierarchical Thai Buddhist community.
Soon, people saw Wang guess on the public TV program that he was wearing a softball hat and a black jacket and was being questioned by the police. The abbot of the monastery will face up to five years in prison for impersonating a soldier.
At present, Wang guess is still waiting for a verdict in prison. At the same time, Wang Cai's double life also unveiled the secret life of Thai monks.
Why are the scum of Buddhism so rampant?
So, did Wang guess whether the double life escaped people's eyes? In fact, people in the temple have long been aware of Wang guess's actions, but they talk lightly and no one cares about their reaction. As for the monks living in Pan Su Wuli Temple, they know better: their abbot is like a bad apple, heartbroken and hopeless. However, for fear that Wang would not guess his close relationship with the military, he had to submit to humiliation. Usually, people seldom see Wang Chai in temples, but they can often see him selling Buddhist cards to officers. It is said that these amulets can ward off evil spirits. Some officials often donate a lot of money and goods to his temple. Wang Chai took advantage of his close relationship with the army and obtained a brand-new special forces uniform.
"I'm glad he was skinned," said a local resident. "We knew for a long time that he was doing a lot of shady things, but we didn't know who to report to." Wang Chai not only colluded with the scum of the army, but also was not innocent economically. His contact with Paramachayu, the abbot of Macaia Temple in Bangkok, was unusual and caused a storm. Paramakayu is currently under investigation for misappropriating temple funds. Two years ago, when Da Macaia Temple was attacked by critics, Wang Chai came forward to defend him and claimed that the signature of Thailand's highest Buddhist clergy in a statement reprimanding Da Macaia Temple was false, which caused an uproar at that time.
"He (Wang Cai) and others arrested before him are certainly not the only senior monks who created scandals to damage the image of Buddhism," said Chavi Sudeson, a colonel in Thailand's criminal repression department. "I think these people have more members, and we will definitely arrest them all." Some news reports even claimed that Wang Chai was a member of a gang nicknamed Chihuahua, and the police believed that most of the members of the gang were at large.
Just a week before Wangchai's misdeeds of posing as a soldier were exposed, the head of the temple in Srion Lang, Bangkok, and the head of the temple in Hongtong House were also photographed by cameras when Thai police raided a karaoke bar. The pair of monks wore wigs, black glasses and casual clothes. While eating and drinking with the driver, they had fun with the female singer in the bar. Their antics were recorded by the camera and caught red-handed.
The latest Buddhist scandals revealed by the Thai media also include accusations against gay monks and an abbot, who hid guns and indulged in sensual pleasures, and the "Colonel Wangcai" scandal is the most representative one in this series of Thai Buddhist scandals.
The ITV TV crew handed over the evidence collected after two days of tracking and monitoring to the police. They never thought of being rude to monks. But even the Thai authorities are painfully aware that Buddhism, as a fortress of Thai cultural heritage, is being ridiculed and blasphemed.
The root cause of senior monks' crime
Many Thais believe that the problems surrounding senior monks have deep roots. Because I often deal with temples, I have long known that it is no secret that some senior monks have sex with believers.
Thai political critic and writer Tainong Kangtong wrote in a commentary: "If Buddhist guards in yellow robes defile their vows and maintain evil moral values, how can the Thai people continue to trust and worship them?"
The growing middle class and the continuously ruling government have tried their best to promote and accommodate western ideas, which has had a negative impact on Thai Buddhism. Sulac Sivaraksha, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, is a famous outspoken social critic. He believes that the problems of Buddhism in Thailand stem from Thailand's economic development and consumerism.
"People must understand that Thai Buddhism has been a part of Thai society for 8900 years. Generally speaking, Thai society is a society that depends on farming. Therefore, temples have become the center of cultural, educational and moral activities. Monks are trusted by surrounding villages and become people's spiritual leaders. For more than 30 years, we have been blindly following the American model. Now, this model has destroyed the main part of traditional Thai life. Even under the temptation of material things, monks are no longer comfortable chanting. " He said.
Sulac added that many senior monks in Thailand are now old people in their sixties and seventies. They were named monks as early as childhood and never had sex. Those who are still loyal to Buddhist laws and regulations and those monks who are more loyal to Buddhism can still live a clean and honest life, but many people can't resist the temptation of hedonism and feel that they have missed a good opportunity.
Traditionally, people donate money to temples to accumulate virtues and pave the way for the afterlife. But now money and abundant materials have quickly replaced the meager gifts of the past. It seems that the more money you donate, the more virtue you will accumulate in your next life.
Now, some politicians also donate money to temples in order to benefit from the spiritual guidance of local abbots to their communities. It is said that this temptation has developed to the point where money is directly credited to the abbot's personal bank account. Because the financial audit is imperfect, management and supervision can't keep up, and people simply don't notice it. The close relationship between Buddhism and politicians has led monks to be severely criticized by public opinion. Recently, a respected abbot was severely criticized for helping the government collect compatriots' gold to repay the loan Thailand borrowed from the International Monetary Fund during the financial crisis. At that time, his "Thais Help Thais" parade made his compatriots dig their brains to fill the exhausted national treasury.
In this regard, he said in public that he handed over more than 400 kilograms of gold and Thai baht (about 28 million Hong Kong dollars) worth1530,000 to the governor of the Bank of Thailand. But soon, the money disappeared mysteriously and the police are currently investigating the case.
In the face of successive scandals of Buddhist scum, public opinion believes that the key to eradicating these scandals is to quit the connection between Buddhism and materialism. To do this, we must strengthen management and supervision, vigorously eliminate the scum of Buddhism and purify the Buddhist team. At the same time, it is urgent to further reform the internal system of Buddhist organizations. (Contributed by Cai Xiaoyu)
Background information: Buddhist system in Thailand.
Monks enjoy a high status in Thailand. Where officials and people hold major celebrations, please ask monks to recite scriptures; When you meet a monk, you should pay tribute to him, no matter who he is, even the king, military and political leaders. When monks go out to beg alms in groups, people will offer them delicious food and then bow down to show their respect.
According to the statistics of the Buddhist Affairs Department of Thailand, by the end of 1992, there were 29,322 Buddhist temples in Thailand, with 285,000 monks and/kloc-0.5 million novices (young monks) living in these temples. It is worth noting that these figures change every quarter or even every day, because every day, some people may convert to Buddhism and some may return to the secular world.
Usually, monks get up early. Before dawn, they began to recite the morning classics, and then took the alms bowl and toured the nearby places several times, asking the believers to put food in the bowl as a dedication. These monks depend entirely on the kindness of nearby residents to make a living. The life of monks is controlled by 227 commandments, living in seclusion and meditation, and sexual intercourse is forbidden. (Contributed by Xiqiao)
Youth Reference June 5438+February 0, 20001