A monk dies in yet another day of Buddhist shame in Thailand

Photo by Saree SK

A history of bad blood between two monks yesterday resulted in the death of one on yet another day of shame for the Buddhist faith.

There has been an endless number of monastic scandals over the past year in Thailand involving Buddhist monks being caught engaging in inappropriate and criminal acts in violation of their monastic vows from fornication to rape, from substance abuse to drink driving, and from theft to embezzlement.

The latest, yesterday, involved two monks fighting which resulted in the death of a 64 year old after a clash with a 49 year old at Wat Mai Thong Chai Temple in the central province of Kamphaeng Phet.

As far as Buddha’s teachings and scriptures are concerned, Buddhism forbids violence in resolving conflicts.

Officers from the Khlong Larn Police Station were called to investigate the temple in the Khong Larn district of Kamphaeng Phet.

Police found the 64 year old monk, Kumart Absuwan, unconscious on the floor with cuts and bruises on his face at the temple pavilion. He later died in hospital.

The offender was reported to be a 49 year old monk in the same temple named Anake kwanyuen, who surrendered himself to the police.

The witnesses informed the police that there was bad blood between the two monks and that they always poked fun at one another. Yesterday Anake made fun of Kumart and the older man got angry.

The witnesses reported they started fighting in a more serious way than normal. The younger monk threw a tiffin carrier at the older monk’s head at first and then they started fighting. But Kumart couldn’t fight back and was eventually kicked and knocked to the floor.

The superintendent of Khlong Larn Police Station, Pisit Sanguankaew, reported that Anake was ordered to leave the monkhood, and was charged with attacking others, causing death.

Anake informed the officers that he had attacked Kumart due to anger and didn’t expect that the attack would lead to his death.

According to Thai Law, Section 295, whoever causes injuries to others both physically and mentally would face a penalty of imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of up to 4,000 baht, or both.

The abbot of the temple and the community leader informed the media that both monks were mental health patients and they were very sensitive.

SOURCE: Khaosod | Channel 7 UCA News

 

Thailand News

Petch Petpailin

Petpailin, or Petch, is a Thai translator and writer for The Thaiger who focuses on translating breakingThai news stories into English. With a background in field journalism, Petch brings several years of experience to the English News desk at The Thaiger. Before joining The Thaiger, Petch worked as a content writer for several known blogging sites in Bangkok, including Happio and The Smart Local. Her articles have been syndicated by many big publishers in Thailand and internationally, including the Daily Mail, The Sun and the Bangkok Post. She is a news writer who stops reading news on the weekends to spend more time cafe hopping and petting dwarf shrimp! But during office hours, you can find Petch on LinkedIn and you can reach her by email at petch@thethaiger.com.

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