Saw a documentary today about corrupt Buddhist monks
in Thailand
constant scandals, monks using drugs, seducing women,
and even murder
I learned Thailand has a monk police force of monks to
capture and discipline those who break their monastic vows
that is an indication of how widespread the problem is
it’s surprising when you learn of the holy, of all people,
being unholy
they cast dark clouds over the others living holy lives,
like the predatory priests in Catholicism
who sully the reputations of all the exemplary priests
and of the Catholic church
just as the corrupt Thai monks are sullying Buddhism
in Thailand
the documentary reported that just about every week
there was a scandal involving monks in Thailand
so disappointing for followers of faiths
such a dark stain on great religions
reminds me of how I became disenchanted with Eastern
spiritual practices when I learned of so many predatory
gurus preyed on wide eyed female followers
despite these gurus seeming enlightened and above
inappropriate behaviors
and in their sacred Vedas, it reads something like this,
“just as deer will avoid a burning mountaintop, sin will
avoid an enlightened being.”
not true, no matter how highly evolved, how enlightened,
a person becomes, that person still has to be circumspect
in his or her behavior.
Bob Boyd