Sunday, June 12, 2005

Shaolin Temple in Thailand?

The scared sanctity of Thailand's Buddhist temples and monkhood have been exploited from time to time by criminals and other unsavoury characters. By becoming a monk, a criminal avoids prosecution from the authority, at least until he leaves the monkhood. Apparently in the earlier days when Thailand had a national military conscription programme, some would avoid the harsh army life by becoming a monk for the period they were eligible for conscription.

One doesn' have to be a lifelong monk, and in this we see young boys sometimes taking up the wearing of the saffron robe for a short period of, say, 30 days or three months (particularly during long school holidays), to bring blessings upon their families.

But this Shaolin-like behaviour is ridiculous, bringing disrepute to the Sangha.

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