Gavin Butler (vice.com, Melbourne, Australia, Nov. 29, 2022, 7:07 pm); Eds., Wisdom Quarterly
| The monk, including the abbot, were sent to rehab after failing drug test (Hugh Sitton/Getty). What's more misguided than becoming addicted (craving/clinging) to delusion-inducing drugs? |
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Buddhist temple has no monks after they all test positive for METH
| The Buddha would blush. |
A small Buddhist abbey’s entire coterie of monks was defrocked, dismissed, and sent to rehab this week after every single one of them tested positive for methamphetamine.
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All four monks at a temple in Phetchabun province's Bung Sam Phan district, in central Thailand, were forced by police to take urine tests on Monday.
| Who's high here? Is it you, or that one, falling asleep during meditation? Or this hyper one? |
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| True Tales of...Fentanyl and Meth (Sam Q.) |
- [There are other forms of good deeds (dana, sila, bhavana) besides practicing generosity (dana) and giving to the Sangha, but Thais are addicted to this form of good karma and are more prosperous than neighboring Theravada countries as a result.]
Mr. Boonlert said more monks would be assigned to the temple to allow people to carry out their religious duties.
It’s not clear why police targeted this particular temple, nor these particular monks, to test for drug use — but the action comes amid a broader national campaign to tackle the trafficking of illicit substances.
Thailand (which is part of the Golden Triangle, a place notorious for drug trafficking), like many other nations across Southeast Asia, has in the past two years seen a major uptick in the volume of meth passing through the country.
| The Least of Us back cover (Sam Quinones) |
In the wake of the Burmese military coup, which in February 2021 saw the Burmese military overthrow the civilian government and plunge the nation into chaos yet again, record-breaking quantities of both crystal methamphetamine and meth pills, otherwise known as “yaba,” have continued to pour out of the Triangle and flood the region.
Production and trafficking of illegal synthetic substances hit record levels in 2021, with authorities collectively seizing nearly 172 tons of methamphetamine and more than 1 billion yaba tablets.
This is not an isolated case of Thai monks behaving badly either. In recent years, the sacred institution of Thai Theravada Buddhism has been tarnished by a series of high-profile arrests and scandals relating to corruption, murder, and drug trafficking among its monastics.
- [EDITORIAL NOTE: A distinction needs to be made between the larger, lazier institutional school called the Maha Nikaya, which accounts for 90% of Thai monks, and the Dhammayut or Thai Forest Tradition of wandering ascetics (practicing the dhutangas or 13 Sane Ascetic Practices), who practice more in accordance with the historical Buddha's instructions, resulting in famous monks of great attainment -- even though some criticize this school as make believe, invented by a royal who wanted to temporarily ordain but found most temples too corrupt and lazy to be worth his time. He therefore set up a purer school that continues down to this day, made famous by many meditation masters emerging as a result of the back-to-basics approach to the Dharma. Thai Forest Tradition monks left the corrupt cities and temples for the solitude and silence of forests, which are in very short supply due to deforestation, but it resulted in the famous Ajahn Mun and other Isan (northeast Thailand) monks plus the great arhat Ajahn Jumnien and Ajahn Buddhadasa from the south of the country. Ajahn Chah, who was Maha Nikaya along with his famous awakened Western students, tried to erase the distinction between the two schools to be more inclusive, uniting the Sangha.]
| Good Western monk Ajahn Chah in Australia |
| Monk DUI, carrying meth (thethaiger.com) |
Earlier in January, another monk was similarly disrobed after being caught consuming methamphetamine pills and selling them to local youths.
Such controversies have eroded public faith in Thailand’s Buddhist monks, with experts telling VICE World News in March that the nation’s Buddhist monastic order was in need of reform to weed out bad actors and restore the religion’s image of purity and righteousness.
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| Trigger warning: crystalline methamphetamine |
“[But] most of the society is learning that not all those who are wearing saffron [robes] can be a holy or respectable person.” Buddhism is the official religion of Thailand, followed by about 93 percent of the population. The country is home to more than 300,000 monks [and possibly many more temporarily ordained samaneras or "novices"]. Source (vice.com)
