Abbot defrocked for bad habit

NAKHON PATHOM: An abbot and well-known fortune teller was defrocked after offering to perform a lewd “good-luck” ritual on a young woman in a short-time hotel. The woman, 20, told police she had gone with her boyfriend to pay respect to the monks at Wat Maeng Mum Hill Temple (Temple on Spider Hill). While there, the woman’s boyfriend had his fortune told by famous monk Phra Srilasang Walow. The 28-year-old monk was renowned for conducting the salika linthong ritual, in which small carved images of mynah birds are used to convey the gift of the gab. As the couple were leaving, the monk gave the woman his card, warning her that she was cursed by bad luck and advising her to call him back when she wanted the salika linthong ritual performed. When the woman’s luck turned for the worse she called the monk, but he offered to perform the ritual only under certain conditions: one-on-one; outside the temple in the Follow Inn short-time hotel; and, most importantly, nobody else could ever know about it. The ritual would involve her stripping naked and being rubbed, inside-and-out, with gold leaf and salika linthong amulets, she said. The woman tipped off police, who caught the monk at the hotel, dressed in white and preparing for the “ritual”. Inside his shoulder bag they found an ATM card, gold leaf, many amulets – and a contraceptive of the “morning after” variety.