I read this article in my local newspaper from back in Australia. The headline was:
“Flirting monks told to stay offline” From correspondents in Bangkok March 04, 2008 06:01pm
THAI officials urged Buddhist monks today to avoid using social networking websites to woo women after an advocacy group found some monks were doing just that.
The request came as police in the northeast detained a monk accused of using a website to lure a woman to his temple and raping her.
"I call on Hi5 users to tell the monks to leave the site if they are found using it," junior minister Jakrapob Penkair said after a Buddhist monitoring group said some monks were flirting on the website popular with Thai users.
Reports of monks caught using or selling drugs or having consensual sex with women are not uncommon in the Thai media, which reported today a 23-year-old monk was caught raping a teenager he lured to his room through the website.
A senior Culture Ministry official said monks should not be banned from the cyberspace, but should turn this "crisis" into "opportunity" by bringing Buddha's teaching to the young.
"Instead of using the net to flirt with young girls, monks should find ways to preach Dharma and lead them in the right direction," said Ladda Thangsupachai, head of the Cultural Surveillance Centre.
“Hi5” is a socializing network like facebook and is really big here in Thailand with teenagers. I have students who say they “play” on Hi5 for 4-8 hours a night.
Now, I am no Buddhist or know the ins and outs of what a Buddhist monk should do. But I am sure that they are meant to forgo everything when they become a monk. Things like TV, radios, computers and so forth are meant to be forgotten about and they practice reading Buddha’s words and meditate. I am sure some Buddhists can inform me more on this.
I am going to search the Thai newspapers tomorrow and see what I can find. In the English print newspapers there is nothing mentioned about a 23 year old monk raping a girl but again in the Thai print papers there will often be stories such as this that don’t make the English print papers.
I don’t know what the senior monks or “Abbots” I think they are called; think about how these new age monks entering the monkhood act and the way they live life as a Buddhist monk.
I personally don’t like facebook and hardly use it, I check my account maybe twice a week to keep up with friends but don’t get into all the movie, games, quizzes and so forth. I just think it is such a waste of time, but again those same people think that blogging about my boring and miserable existence would be a waste of time, so each to their own.
Anyway I will try and find more on this story tomorrow and go from there. Here is a link to the Herald Sun newspaper from the amazing city of Melbourne.
Brunty.
Flirting monks told to stay offline
3 comments:
I thought that there was a tradition in many Thai families for the sons to "take the robe" and ordain as a monk for a temporary period in order to make merit for the family and intensely study meditation and the dharma. Perhaps it is these "temporary monks" who are violating the many strict rules of conduct and behavior that a true man of the robe would normally adhere to.
Kind regards,
Mike F. (Buddhist in training)
Thanks for this post about the digital underbelly of the Thai monkhood, Brunty. As you know, this is a subject close to my heart, as I'm a Buddhist myself.
Regarding bhikkhus (Buddhist monks) using the Internet, there's two ways to look at it. Sure, if they are misusing it to behave in ways that are inappropriate for monks when offline, then they shouldn't be doing such things when online. (I'm glad to read that there's a group that monitors these kinds of activities.) On the other hand, the Internet is a way for Buddhists to share the Dharma/Dhamma, and this includes bhikkhus.
There are many examples of decent monks and laity - http://forestwisdom.blogspot.com - who use the Internet to spread the Buddha's message to interested people. As with other groups using the Net, there are responsible individuals and irresponsible individuals. Look at us bloggers, Brunty. For every decent, friendly blog in the blogosphere, there's a nasty, perverted one. This is the way of the world, unfortunately, and monks are in the world - some more than others, of course!
So, bhikkhus that misuse the Internet to break their vows, and the whole point of their ordination, should be found out and dealt with appropriately. Bhikkhus that are using the Internet to showcase the Dhamma are doing much-needed work, considering the sometimes violent, confrontational, painful & egotistical nature of human beings.
G at 'Forest Forest'.
mf4strings it is true that normal Thai men do enter the monkhood for short periods of time.
I agree that it wouldn't be the older monks but from the new age and are up to date with the use of computers and social networks.
Hi Gary. Yes, spreading the word on Buddhism by the WWW is a fantastic way to do it.
I know there are many very good Buddhist websites and have looked at others blogs who comment on your blog.
As the mf4 said it could be lay people who have entered monkhood for a short time. I believe that 95% of the massive amount of monks in Thailand are good Buddhists and it is the small amount that get caught doing the wrong thing that create all the publicity.
I hope the paper reports more on the good side of Buddhism and not just the bad as they do but again there is always your site and and others that promote Buddhism well.
Hope your special family member is recovering well (Leo) after the operation.
Brunty.
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