Barbaric Thailand monk under fire for beating man in a bid to expel evil spirits (video)

A video of a barbaric Thai monk beating the crap out of a Thai man and trampling on him to expel evil spirits went viral on social media and sparked concerns among netizens about the inappropriate behaviour of Thailand’s monks.

The video showed a group of monks, and other men, holding a man in a white shirt while one monastic brother beat the man with a stick and trampled on him. The monk kept shouting “Get out! Go away!” The Thai man, meanwhile, was being beaten to a pulp and screaming in pain.

After the beating and trampling went on for a while, the assaulted man asked the monk to stop, saying that all the ghosts in his body were already gone. The man also thanked the monk for the beating.

“Thank you, master. They (evil spirits and ghosts) lived in my body for a long time.”

Netizens raised concerns, asserting that the role of Buddhist monks does not include the task of fending off evil spirits. The ritual, deemed violent by many, was criticised for its potential to cause harm to the individual involved. Numerous comments suggested that the man’s risk of harm was more likely to come from being beaten by the monks rather than any threat posed by any spirits.

The identities of all the monks in the video and the temple where the ritual took place were not revealed in the video.

A renowned Thai monk, Payom Kanlayano, gave his opinion on the ritual. Payom said he had seen a ritual to ward off evil spirits performed by monks before but it was not as violent as this one. Payom added that sprinkling the man with holy water should be enough. If the spirits still possessed him, Payom said the man should go to the hospital for treatment.

Sorcerer monk

A Thai sorcerer known as Khunkawee Srisiam later came forward to admit that he was the monk in the video some eight to nine months ago before he left the monkhood. Khumkawee is now operating a sorcerer’s house to help people ward off evil spirits.

Khunkawee insisted that he did not release the video to social media and believed that one of his followers did it to tarnish his image. He admitted that it was not appropriate to perform the ritual as a monk but the man and his mother asked for his help.

Khunkawee finished by apologising for his actions.

“I am sorry for destroying the good image of monks and Buddhism. The man and his mother agreed to the ritual. I had to use violence against the man because many evil spirits were living in his body. He was a big man and used to be a soldier. Four to five monks and men, as you can see in the video, could hardly hold him still as the spirits controlled him. I do not use violence in every case.”

Khunkawee previously made headlines in Thai news for a strange ritual that some saw as sexual abuse. Khunkawee and his followers were captured in a viral video expelling evil spirits from a vagina of a Thai woman.

Khunkawee was seen ordering his male followers to ward off the spirits by touching the woman’s vagina and beating it with a stick. He apologised for the inappropriate ritual but insisted that the woman consented, and his only intention was to relieve her suffering.