He has an engaging personality and claims to possess supernatural powers. He says he met the Buddha and is a friend of the Hindu god Phra In.
But his behavior is in stark contrast to the requirement of simplicity and self-control that the Buddha imposed on his followers. He travels by private jet and helicopter. Every year he makes a trip abroad (to Laos, France and the US) to give lectures and inland he is transported in the back seat of a 40 million baht Rolls-Royce Phantom.
He has knocked the money out of the pockets of gullible Buddhists, who think they are doing a good deed with it. He would build the world's largest replica of the emerald Buddha and establish a hospital.
According to the Anti-Money Laundering Office, he and his fellow monks have 200 bank accounts with a daily turnover of XNUMX million baht.
We are of course talking about Luang Pu Nen Kwam, the controversial abbot of Wat Pa Khanti Tham in Si Sa Ket. His extravagant lifestyle became known through a video and photos that surfaced on social media. It shows how he travels by private jet and helicopter, wears expensive fashion accessories and electronic Gadgets plays.
And if that alone isn't bad enough, there's also the accusation that he has slept with eight women, one of whom is a 14-year-old girl, and has two children.
A special child
It's a special child and that's what it is. The winged statement of Dik Trom's father certainly applies to the young Luang Pu. He was born in 1979 in a simple farming family in Ubon Ratchatani. He reportedly started meditating at a local cemetery at the age of 6. On Buddhist holidays, he dressed in white and stayed in a nearby temple.
At the age of 15 he was ordained as a novice and six years later he entered the order of monks at Wat Pa Don That in Ubon Ratchatani. He became known for his meditative powers, such as his ability to look into the past. He demonstrated it in a cave in Khon Jiam.
In 1999 he settled in Ban Yang (Si Sa Ket), where in 2002 a villager donated a piece of land worth 15 rai for the construction of a temple. It is not there yet. The woman, who donated the land, was threatened with death last month after asking for the land back.
There are still followers who firmly believe in Luang Pu. Sukhum Wongprasit, president of the Baan Wimuttidham Buddhist group, is one of them. He recently asked the Sangkha Council to explain how Luang Pu violated Buddhist principles. According to him, the photo in which the monk is in bed with a woman has been photoshopped. “I don't know how this is going to end. But we will refute all false accusations against Luang Pu."
The 'jet-set' monk, as his nickname is now, currently resides in France. He refuses to say when he will return to Thailand.
(Source:Spectrum, Bangkok Post, July 7, 2013)
Photos: Left Luang Pu in his private jet, right preaching at Wat Pa Khanti Tham in Si Sa Ket.
Here in the village also the talk of the day. Someone asked me how much is 200 million dollars in bahts. He had read that he had bank accounts with that amount of US$. But it was also clearly said that he would never be arrested, because he has money and then you will be in Laos or Cambodia in no time. I'm curious how it will end, but I think I can already predict it.
It is certainly a special child, but it has nothing to do with religion, but with mafia.
Hope the Thai police when he comes back what we normal people don't believe will stick him inside for the rest of his life.
To give all his capital to old and sick people.
It is sad in a country like Thailand where so many poor people already live
Moderator: Your comment is too general to understand. Please more content.
What surprises me the most is that this monk was apparently able to build up his wealth undisturbed without a rooster crowing about it. And now it's suddenly big news that all media pop up and all Thais speak shame of. What a hypocritical mess. It is well known that there are many more such monks, albeit with abilities on a more modest scale.
hello Martin. It's not that surprising when you understand how patronage works in Thai society. This monk has made everyone around him his psychic slave by throwing money around and giving everyone expensive presents. Of course, even the Benz dealer does not ask why a monk orders 22 Benzen, but is simply happy with the contract. This form of mental slavery is not punishable in itself, only morally reprehensible in my view, both for the giver and the receiver. The future and the investigation of the DSI will have to show whether, in addition to patronage, there is also theft, fraud, money laundering, corruption, sex with minors and other offenses. The monk has already been charged with 6 or 7 offenses, I thought. (including non-compliance with the university law!!)