Thai students meditate on their rights, challenge world record bid

Thai students are challenging their nation’s quest to shatter the world meditation record with a staggering one million young minds. Amidst this peaceful protest, they argue that this pursuit might tread on the sacred grounds of religious freedom.

The Facebook page Bad Students (นักเรียนเลว), which is well-known among Thai students, announced yesterday, October 24, that many schools across the country had asked students to take part in a campaign called Meditation for World Peace.

According to the Facebook announcement, the campaign aims to invite one million people to meditate to promote world peace, make better changes and promote Thailand as a Buddhist country.

Thai students, teachers and other school staff have all been targeted to take part. They were asked to meditate in the morning after classes. Many students who disagreed with the idea urged the Facebook page to reveal the matter to the public.

The students who shared the story added that meditation would not improve world peace and that meditation should not be done to promote that Thailand is a Buddhist country. The country provides freedom for residents to believe in any religion. Participants must have the freedom to meditate or not to meditate.

The site did further research into the campaign and found that it was supported by the World Peace Organisation, the World Fellowship of Buddhists, the Dhammakaya Foundation, also known as Phra Dhammakaya Temple, and some others.

Some Thai students commented on the story, saying that they did not find any benefit in the activity, some said they got certificates while others said that it was just an activity to promote a goodwill exercise for each school and these organisations.

Many added that it would be better for students to spend time on their classes and lessons, and better for teachers to improve their teaching skills.

The site reported that the campaign had successfully gathered one million participants but the process continued until the campaign ended on October 31.

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