Night of drinking with a woman on the beach gets monk defrocked
After a long day of work, there’s nothing wrong with sneaking off for a romantic night, perhaps some drinks on the beach with a date, right? Well, maybe not if you are a Buddhist monk. One monk from a famous Hat Yai temple learned the hard way that sneaking off for an alcoholic beverage in the company of a woman could land you in deep trouble.
The holy man was busted when someone filed a complaint about his inappropriate behaviour which led to police sending a surveillance team to tail the monk on a night out. What they observed was a tryst that violated the code of conduct for monks and led to him being promptly defrocked.
Officers followed the disgraced monk as he left Wat Khok Samankhun in Hat Yai for his evening out last night. He was seen leaving the temple in his car around 9 pm and police followed him and spotted him picking up a young woman. The pair then drove towards Muang district, en route to the beach.
They stopped on the way for the woman to hop out and run into a convenience store and pick up some alcohol. After that, they drove to Chalathat Beach where the monk parked his car and the couple walked to the beach. They sat at the shore and drank their alcohol together.
When they returned from the beach, the police who had been following the monk stopped them and asked to search them and his car. In the car, police found his saffron robes as well as an incriminating pack of condoms.
The monk was then escorted by police back to the temple where the abbot was filled in on the monk’s indiscretions on his night out of fun. The abbot then moved to immediately defrock the monk.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
