Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith.
Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in violation of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts.
The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funnelled out of their monasteries funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation.
The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern their status shields them from scrutiny, and soul-searching across society about the role of religion.
“I’m not involved in the religion like I used to be,” 33-year-old motorbike taxi driver Mongkol Sudathip told AFP. “I don’t have full respect for it anymore.”
King Maha Vajiralongkorn has cancelled invitations to more than 80 monks who had been due to attend his upcoming 73rd birthday celebrations, citing “inappropriate behaviour that caused mental distress among the Thai people.”
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Marty Kaufmann
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
