Buddhist monks keep acting inappropriately, and Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has had enough. Yesterday, PM Prayut ordered the National Office of Buddhism to strengthen discipline among Thailand’s Buddhist monks, following a long string of cases of monks breaking the rules.
The Sangha – the collective word for Thailand’s monastic community – has existed for thousands of years in Thailand. Ordained monks are expected to follow 227 rules outlined in the code of monastic discipline. However, monks clad in saffron robes often break the rules, even the serious ones such as no sex, no drugs, no stealing, no killing and no lying.
Have Buddhist monks always been naughty, or has modern mass media and technology simply brought their inappropriate behaviour into the spotlight?
Either way, some of Thailand’s monks haven’t been the best role models in recent times….
