Cat and mouse game Wat Phra Dhammakaya
It has dominated the Thai news for months: the controversy between the Thai judiciary and the abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya. This week, the police would enter the temple with a great show of force because an arrest warrant has been issued against the abbot.
He is charged with handling stolen goods and laundering 1,2 billion baht, money stolen from the coffers of the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative. The abbot would not have known that it was contaminated money. A total of 12 billion baht has disappeared from the cooperative's coffers, for which the former chairman (also treasurer of the temple) has already been sentenced to 16 years in prison.
On Thursday, 600 police, army and civil servants surrounded Wat Phra Dhammakaya. The police entered the temple grounds but were unable to arrest the abbot because he was nowhere to be found. There were some 8.000 followers on the immense temple grounds which disrupted the search.
According to Sanitwong Wutthiwangso, director of the temple's communications department, the abbot has not fled the arrest and said the temple cannot contain the large number of followers who had come to meditate out of concern for the abbot's well-being. Followers of the abbot pleaded for mercy because the abbot is 'seriously ill'. After the end of the search and a press conference, the temple closed all gates.
Critics see the Dhammakaya group as one of the fastest growing sects in Thailand. The community claims to have millions of followers worldwide.
Temple supporters say the raid is politically motivated. The abbot is said to have close ties with former Prime Minister Thaksin and the junta does not like that.
Source: Bangkok Post and other media.
abbot and 3 other monks of the temple have been given checks by name. In addition, a large number of land title papers and money, totaling 2,56 billion baht! , went to the temple. Also, a group of 50 people involved each put more than a million in the pot, a total of 75 million. And so I can go on and on.
Considering the size and the constructions, it is pure money laundering and theft, set up and cooperated by monks, abbot and others
Everything coming from embezzlement, theft, by the treasurer of the temple who, as the main culprit, was chairman of the ransacked corporation KCUC
Reasons are constantly given for the abbot not to report. Don't forget that as a monk he had already put land and more in his own name and therefore should have been a monk already. And now these events again. Criminal, according to the judiciary and a large part of the population.
Waiting now for the actual arrest, warrant is already in place, and he will not get bail due to constant opposition: this means that if
he is arrested, he is like a monk… and is of course judged.
Rotten apples should be removed.
2,56 billion baht. And the bunch of people live in poverty. Those 8000 won't all be rich either.
Here in Chiang Mai I always hear about the wealth of the temples. You should drive around the city and see how many temples are expanding again. Many here complain about the lack of parking and then point the finger at the huge area occupied by the temples. People say that to me, but I don't think people dare to tell each other. The same when one talks about the prime minister.
Buddha turns in his grave. Nothing, absolutely nothing, has this whole event to do with what “the doctrine” stood for. Simplicity and modesty are hard to find here, most likely lost forever in the soup of money, power and possessions. And it is always at the expense of “the supporters”, they literally and figuratively pay for this whole circus and are only losers.
I missed my regular seller of Thai state lottery tickets for a few days. When I met him and asked where he had been he said he had been staying at Wat Dhammakaya for a few days. Why, I asked him, are you a fan of Phra Dhammachayo? Not at all, but sitting in white clothes and playing a devout Buddhist yields 500 Baht per day, excluding food, drink and a place to sleep. And that's more than I can earn selling lottery tickets. (true)
If the temple wants to stop the devout 'followers' they should just stop paying them. Then they're gone. I assure you.
What I think about Thai Buddhism, and certainly about monasticism, is well known: I think it's a mess. But I do not believe that the majority of those present in the Wat Dhammakaya are paid followers. They are for the most part fanatical but misguided adherents.
For the most part yes, but from Udon people have also left for that temple.
They happened to be the guards of the red shirts at previous demonstrations.
So that they just come to pray is nonsense they just want a confrontation.
That's why barbed wire fences everywhere has nothing to do with praying in my opinion.
And payment is normally done at every demonstration.
I'm afraid you're right Tino and years of influencing simple people in a specific way has paid off, given the huge amounts of money that are on the table.
In essence, people are not so different and power and wealth do good to a certain section of people.
Incidentally, these kinds of scenes do not only take place here in Thailand. Just look at the Catholic Empire, the Vatican with all its splendor. What it takes, the showpiece of the red hat clique. Doesn't serve any poor soul either. Not to mention the situation in the Muslim faith. Life is a play and the top performers go the furthest.
The real fanatics have been or have been paid for years, but not every time they show up. I can give you numerous examples of people who manage the lands/properties of the temple outside Pathumthani, Besides the parents of a friend of my wife, a whole family lives in a beautifully converted building and farms (well, let others farm) on lands of the temple. Look well dressed, do nothing, and have two expensive cars in front of the door. All financed by the temple. Before that they were poor wretches in a dilapidated building. Yes, I would also fanatically sit on the floor in white clothes if there was a threat that this luxurious life would be taken away from me. I don't because I don't have that mindset. But 'believe' me: without money, no one involved in the temple is a fanatical Buddhist follower.
The Prime Minister can use Article 44, on the grounds of creating chaos in society by the followers, and everything will be solved in no time.
Now it appears that a new argument is being put forward by followers, namely that democracy must come first, in other words, it is now clear what political goal the followers aim for. A clear reason to act well and knowing the Thai government will not be fooled, can designate it as a political meeting and then it will soon be over for the entire temple. Think that the statements of the temple were not so tactical as to wait for another government first, because that is of course grist to the mill of the current government. Think this is being considered by the Thai government.
But the point remains that the abbot will simply be arrested for the misdeeds committed.