Buddhists behaving badly

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Shaolin Kung Fu
21

Good catch, rett2

I usually state when I change thread titles, but I was in a rush yesterday and there was a lot of news. Besides, I launched this thread so I figured no harm done. But in future, I’ll endeavor to state thread title changes. Honestly, I didn’t think anyone was watching our forum quite that carefully. Good on you!

You have a fair point about widening the scope here, which is exactly what I intended because this didn’t really seem worthy of two independent threads. But if it seems to be an issue, I’ll split them later. For now, let’s just watch to see how this thread progresses over time.

22

Slightly OT

This would be more appropriate in a ‘Busted Buddhists’ thread, but we don’t have one of those. Whether or not these monks behaved badly is a matter of perspective.

Two Sichuan monks arrested for holding prayer ceremony for Dalai Lama – report
11 February 2016 12:43 Hermina Wong

Two monks have been arrested for holding a prayer ceremony for the Dalai Lama in the Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan, according to US-backed Radio Free Asia. The arrests come amid Chinese authorities’ efforts to suppress worship in the region.

The two monks reportedly held the ceremony on January 25 and welcomed a Dalai Lama statue into Jueri Temple, located in Sichuan’s Luhuo county. Chinese authorities announced on January 31 that all Dalai Lama statues were “illegal publications” and ordered them to be handed over before February 2.


Worship of Dalai Lama at Jueri Temple. Photo: RFA.

“The authorities sent the police in to try and stop the ceremony, but they did not succeed. The atmosphere that day [January 25] was not tense, but the authorities gradually began to impose stricter regulations in the county,” a Luhuo-born, India-based monk Awangkanre told RFA.

Awangkanre also said that the authorities have since blocked phone and internet connections, making it difficult for the public to know the status of the arrested monks.

“It is a regular campaign held before the Spring Festival to crack down on pornography and illegal publications, which include portraits of the Dalai Lama,” Gou Yadong, director of external publicity at the publicity department of the prefecture, told the state-run Global Times on February 2.


Photos of the two arrested monks – Baga (left) and Aojian (right). Photo: RFA.

Lian Xiangnin, an expert at the China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, also said that the Dalai Lama advocated for separatism, and hanging his portraits would be an insult to the Chinese, as much as hanging Saddam Hussein’s portraits would be to Americans.

The article has since been deleted from the Global Times website.

The two monks, Baga and Aojian, were an abbot (khenpo) and a Buddhist scholar (geshe) of Jueri Temple respectively.

23

Slightly OT

Alas, Kuan Yin…:o

MAR.10.16
WHAT HAPPENS BEHIND THE TEMPLE STAYS BEHIND THE TEMPLE
by Marco Ferrarese

Right when the nearby offices call it another day, the end of Muntri Street beside the God of Mercy Kuan Yin temple turns into an open-air lounge for degenerates. Cheap red plastic chairs of made-in-China quality sprout on the street next to tattered metal tables that would look at home in a morgue. This is Antarabangsa (translated not coincidentally as ‘The International’), George Town’s most infamous watering hole, a decaying traditional shop house manned by two generations of a Chinese family responsible for selling the cheapest alcohol on the island. The boss—a bad-ass, plumpy man in his mid-thirties—waits behind the bar next to a standing fan, no shirt on, his man boobs glistening with sweat. Towers of cigarettes, small packets of nuts, dried plums, and collections of the most gut-turning Southeast Asian whiskeys are his halo. He’s the pusher of an international array of beers neatly displayed before him in a wall of refrigerators. Skol, a European beer introduced in Malaysia by Carlsberg in 2004, has the lion’s share. Three cans go for 11 ringgit, the equivalent of mere $2.62USD.

In Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim nation where spirits are costly imports and other brands, like Singapore’s Tiger, sell for a minimum of 7 ringgit ($1.70) a can, we will never know where such cheap booze comes from. Some say it’s smuggled from nearby Thailand, others from the tax-free island of Langkawi to the north of Penang. What is certain is that you won’t find it cheaper than Antarabangsa. By 10 pm, hundreds of golden cans shimmer in the street corner’s dim lights, littering the autopsy tables as proof of each drunken group’s intoxication level. An Indonesian woman makes the rounds to collect the empties in a plastic bucket, saving them for the recycling shops that pay a few cents for aluminium.

For years, this twisted corner of Penang Island’s World Heritage Site was shunned and feared by locals because of the populace of drunken Indians and the area’s reputation for fistfights. Slowly, however, thirsty and penniless backpackers discovered the cheap Skol cans and made Antarabangsa a truly ‘international’ evening hangout. Seeing the white faces of these foreign kwailos (‘white ghosts’) sitting among the Indians, even the Chinese were convinced that Antarabangsa couldn’t be as bad as they had been told. In a predominantly Islamic nation where ethnic identity is a marker of everything, finding Chinese, Indians, and foreigners from all parts of Asia and the West rubbing elbows over beer is quite an accomplishment. Especially when Skol beer, another international champ, is the clincher.

The other side of the coin is that these days, Antarabangsa has become so flooded by backpackers that Lonely Planet should consider including it within its budget nightlife options. But with all the drunken locals swaying from the tables to the temple’s wall to pee—and sometimes vomit—in the drain, that’s hard to happen. Kuan Yin, however, keeps turning her merciful eye across Harmony Street towards the cleaner alleys of Little India. She also believes that what happens every night at the back of her temple is better kept a secret.

24

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

Lord Buddha, that is. :rolleyes:

Top Thai Buddhist monk investigated over vintage Mercedes-Benz
Supporters of Somdet Chuang, frontrunner for the post of supreme patriarch, say tax evasion claims are politically driven


Thai Buddhist monks on their way to the morning alms-offering ceremony. Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA

Oliver Holmes in Bangkok
Tuesday 29 March 2016 05.04 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 29 March 2016 07.56 EDT

A 90-year-old monk is under investigation for tax evasion in Thailand and will be summoned by police after he refused to answer their questions about his classic Mercedes-Benz.

The 1953-model car in cream and worth more than $250,000 is at the centre of a politically divisive battle over the future leadership of Thai Buddhism.

Somdet Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn, better known as Somdet Chuang, is the frontrunner for the post of supreme patriarch, a position that leads 300,000 monks in the most populous Buddhist-majority country.

Paiboon Kumchaya, the justice minister, has said that Somdet could be arrested after he refused to answer questions from police who visited the temple.

If he doesnt respond to the summons, we will seek an arrest warrant, he said.

Chuang has said the car was a gift from a follower and it is kept in a museum.

His supporters say the allegations are politically charged. Chuang has ties to the Dhammakaya Temple, a power base for Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted former prime minister and the ruling juntas top foe.

The leadership battle, which mirrors Thailands political divide between pro-military yellow shirts and Thaksins red shirts, has led to street protests.

The prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, a general who took power in the 2014 coup, has said that unless the dispute is settled he will not nominate any candidate for supreme patriarch.

Only once the prime minister nominates a candidate to the king can the post be approved.

Chuangs supporters took to the streets last month to protest against what they believe is state interference in religious affairs.

The army responded by trying to disperse the demonstrators, shaven-head monks in saffron robes, but it led to scuffles that shocked many Thais.

We will not move until the state stops interfering in religious affairs, said Methi Thammacharn, secretary-general of the Buddhism Protection Centre.

Images on television showed about 1,000 monks clashing with troops in uniform. One video showed a monk putting a soldier in a headlock.

Dont touch monks! shouted onlookers.

This month, police detained a monk close to Chuang for attitude adjustment, a detention programme which coup leaders have used to haul in hundreds of dissenters, politicians and journalists for interrogation.

The unprecedented move increased tensions over the Buddhist leadership contest, already fraught as ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 88, has traditionally been involved in Buddhist ceremonies but his ill health has created a power vacuum.

There is countrywide anxiety over the royal succession with both the yellow and red shirts seeking to solidify their position in the countrys future.

Political leaders will want a supreme patriarch, an influential figure, to be sympathetic to their cause.

The countrys last supreme patriarch, Somdet Phra Nyanasamvara, died in 2013 aged 100.

25

This is a few months old…

…but oh so worthy of posting here. Plus it’s not from Thailand. :rolleyes:

That’s not very zen! Buddhist monk is jailed for 162-car tyre-slashing rampage after he accidentally stepped on an insect

Julian Glew, 45, who lives in a tent in the woodlands, went on the rampage
The Buddhist monk became angry when he accidentally killed an insect
Has now been jailed for 11 weeks after going on the run for three months
Judge said his actions were ‘not those of a person who lives for a peaceful co-existence’

By THOMAS BURROWS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 03:51 EST, 21 January 2016 | UPDATED: 06:31 EST, 21 January 2016


Julian Glew, 45, who lives in a tent in the woodlands, went on the rampage because of his religious beliefs

A Buddhist monk slashed the wheels of 162 cars after he became angry when he accidentally squashed an insect.
Julian Glew, 45, who lives in a tent in the woodlands, went on the three-day barefoot rampage because of his religious beliefs.
He has now been jailed for 11 weeks after the judge said his actions were ‘not those of a person who lives for a peaceful co-existence.’
Glew became frustrated and upset after inadvertently squashing the insect in September last year.
The 45-year-old, who has lived in the woods for almost 20 years, was arrested several days later following a CCTV appeal by Humberside Police.
At court, he pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal damage. He was originally due to be sentenced on October 14, but failed to show up in court.
Instead, he went on the run for three months and was finally tracked down by officers in West Yorkshire earlier this month.
Joanne Markham, for the mitigation, told Beverley Magistrates’ Court that Glew had suffered some mental health issues in the past.
He was described as being ‘detached from society’ and having previously lived in a Buddhist monastery.
She said accommodation had been found for him at a hostel in Princes Avenue, west Hull, following his first court appearance, but it ‘didn’t work because of how he was used to living’.
Miss Markham added: ‘He has indicated that he feels he should go to prison for what he has done. He has no previous incidents on his record and he lives without means, not claiming any benefits.’
Sentencing him to 11 weeks in prison, Judge Fred Rutherford said: 'I have noted the facts of this case, but I am still left here with someone who says he did not want to hurt anyone but went out of his way to affect 162 people by causing them massive financial inconvenience.
‘He targeted vehicles randomly and slashed the tyres. That is not the actions of a person who lives for a peaceful co-existence.’
Most of the tyres were not obviously wrecked, but the irreparable damage was discovered when they were inflated and the pin-***** was found.
CCTV shows Buddhist monk Julian Glew in Pocklington driveway


The barefoot ‘Pocklington *****er’ walks away after slashing a tyre on one of the 162 vehicles he targeted


Glew, who lives in the woodlands, walks away after puncturing a tyre on a parked car in Pocklington


Jailing Glew at Beverley Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Fred Rutherford expressed incredulity at his claims not to want to harm anybody ‘but nevertheless went out of his way to affect at least 162 people’

[QUOTE]MECHANIC WAS INUNDATED WITH JOBS BUT MOST TYRES WERE BEYOND REPAIR
Motor mechanic John Galley was inundated with jobs following the slashing spree, but said many of the tyres could not be repaired.
In an interview with ITV, he said: 'Most weren’t obviously damaged, but were deflated and flat.
'You had to inflate them to find the damage that was usually a pin-*****, but it was damaged in such a way that the tyre wouldn’t repair.
‘There was only certain types of repair that you can conduct on the tyre and generally speaking these were sidewall damage that meant it was a new tyre.’

Inspector Joanne York, of Humberside Police, welcomed the sentence.
She said: 'Sentencing Julian Glew to 11 weeks in custody is good news for the residents of Pocklington and justice has been seen to be done.
'Vehicles were damaged over two nights in Pocklington in September 2015 which caused widespread upset and concern to the residents of Pocklington at the time. The incidents caused great inconvenience and financial loss to all those victims.
'Following his initial arrest in September he was bailed to appear in court but failed to attend and spent several weeks avoiding arrest. Mr Glew had left the Pocklington area after he failed to appear at court.
‘I am very grateful to the people of Pocklington for their assistance and their support while we have carried out our investigations.’
Detective Sergeant John Burrell of Humberside Police said the case had been unprecedented in the ‘pleasant and peaceful’ town and had caused upset and financial loss to many.
He described Glew’s excuse as ‘drivel’, adding: ‘His is not a particularly coherent theological view and I don’t think adherents of Buddhism would share the view that it was OK to inconvenience hundreds of people on account of an accident.’

[/QUOTE]

26

There is no evidence in the above article to support the claim that he is a Buddhist monk. And a great deal suggests he isn’t. Methinks the tabloids are telling fibs to juice up their headlines.

27

[QUOTE=rett2;1292439]There is no evidence in the above article to support the claim that he is a Buddhist monk. And a great deal suggests he isn’t. Methinks the tabloids are telling fibs to juice up their headlines.[/QUOTE]

really? do you think so?
:wink:

28

According to the article the person was upset about having accidently killed an insect.

That is not actually any kind of breach of ethics in Buddhism, even for monastics. Intention is key. Buddhists monks do try very hard not to hurt insects, but accept that accidents will happen.

Also, monastics have to live in a kind of parish, and meet up to recite the precepts regularly and confess mistakes. Even if they are hermits, they should have this kind of contact with their fellows. I believe that stepping on an insect by mistake doesn’t even need to be confessed to another monk. (Please correct me if my memory is playing tricks on me). So if this person was trained in the rules and living as a monk in an extended community, he would not have needed to do more than to remind himself to be more careful in the future. And if he was unsure, all he would need to do is ask a fellow monk for advice.

I believe that Jainism is stricter here, and at least in some branches Jain monastics go to great lengths not to injure insects even unintentially.

29

Ningguo brawl

Watch: Chinese Monks in Violent Brawl Over Temple Work
By Juliet Song, Epoch Times | April 27, 2016Last Updated: April 27, 2016 3:25 pm

A video showing Chinese Buddhist monks fighting each other at their temple was posted to Chinese social media, breaking with the serene and lofty perception conventionally associated with the ascetic cultivators.

//youtu.be/yX9wYVSNf-c

The incident happened on April 24 at the Ningguo Temple in eastern China. In the video, three monks dressed in saffron-colored robes can be seen hitting and grappling each other, while tourists try to pull them apart. One of the bonzes carries a cell phone.

Peng Pai, a state-run social news outlet based in Shanghai, reported that the confrontation arose when three monks at the temple, all of middle rank, took their disagreements about temple administration to the physical level.

The three monks involved have been expelled.

“By fighting, the three monks disregarded the Six Dharmas of Harmony,” the temple abbot told Peng Pai. “They have set a bad example for society.”

Ugly. Just ugly. :o

30

expelled

Three monks expelled after video of them tussling in the temple goes viral

Three Buddhist monks were dismissed from a temple in Yangzhou after a video went viral earlier this week, revealing to the world that all monks do not in fact know kung fu.
In the video, the monks are seen fighting with less than expert timing in a 15-second-long scuffle, featuring a lot of what appears to be hair-pulling. Others monks are seen trying to break up the fight while their buddies help by filming it with their smartphones.
The tall monk seems to get the worst of the ordeal, getting bashed in the head a number of times, even with a smartphone, but by the end of the video seems well enough to at least check on his own smartphone.
Yesterday, the abbot of the temple revealed via WeChat that the three monks involved in the fracas had been expelled, never to return, sent to wander along in the wilderness, waiting for their chance at redemption, or at least that’s how it seem to work in the movies.
ECNS reports that the monks were all mid-level managers at Ningguo Temple in Yangzhou and the fight was over some trivial management issue between rivals that had personal grudges against each other simmering for some time. Ah, the complicated world of temple politics.
Video of the fight went viral on Chinese social media, with many netizens believing it was representative of larger problems in Chinese Buddhism.
“Many monks these days are not sincere in their beliefs, eventually their true colors come out,” commented one netizen.
“They have embarrassed all monks, especially with their poor fighting skills,” wrote one Weibo user.
“I am not familiar with what type of kung fu this temple teaches,” joked another.

By Alex Linder in News on Apr 28, 2016 11:00 PM

Not all Buddhists monks know Kung Fu…in fact, it’s only a small percentage. Very small. :rolleyes:

31

15-second-long scuffle, featuring a lot of what appears to be hair-pulling

I didn’t see the hair-pulling but it would have had to have been below the belt.

32

BAD Buddhists

Thailand: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36431861

33

I’m disappointed to read the news that the temple and some monks may have been exploiting the tigers for profit. In particular, if parts of tigers bodies were being sold as amulets or tourist items, then as a layperson I lose confidence in these monks as representatives of the Buddhist Sangha.

A while back I saw a documentary on the temples activity and found it inspiring and impressive, and believed the storyline that they were doing important conservation work. Maybe they were, at first, and maybe they still are. It will be interesting to see what the investigation finds. I hope that information emerges showing that it isn’t as serious as it is being made out to be in the news.

34

Beat me to the punch, PalmStriker

Forgive the merge, but we do already have this thread going. I’m copying this to our WildAid-Tiger-Claw-Champion thread too, just to ttt that one.

Thu Jun 2, 2016 6:35am EDT Related: ENVIRONMENT, THAILAND
Three monks charged in Thailand as tiger potions, charms point to illicit trade
BANGKOK | BY PATPICHA TANAKASEMPIPAT


A Buddhist monk walks past a tiger before officials start moving them from Thailand’s controversial Tiger Temple, a popular tourist destination which has come under fire in recent years over the welfare of its big cats in Kanchanaburi province, west of Bangkok, Thailand, May…
REUTERS/CHAIWAT SUBPRASOM

Thai authorities charged three Buddhist monks on Thursday after they were caught trying to smuggle tiger skins and charms made from tiger parts out a temple which monks said was a tiger sanctuary but critics said was a money-spinning tourist trap.

The Buddhist temple west of Bangkok has long been popular with tourists who paid about $20 each to get in and pose for pictures with its tigers, and to feed cubs and walk among them.

But the temple had come under mounting allegations of abuse and illicit wildlife trafficking and authorities armed with a court order raided it on Monday to confiscate the 137 tigers found there and take them to a government wildlife sanctuary.

The discovery on Thursday of the tiger skins and charms, or amulets, made from skins in a pick-up truck, and jars containing the bodies of tiger cubs in the temple, pointed to an even more lucrative business than thought.

“The jars have labels, so I think they’ve made medicine here,” said Adisorn Nuchdamrong, deputy director-general of the Department of National Parks, who has been overseeing the raid to remove the temple’s tigers and search its premises.

Authorities found 20 glass jars containing baby tigers and tiger organs in a “laboratory” in the temple, reinforcing suspicion it was making folk medicine, he said.

Tiger parts are used in traditional Chinese medicine, a multi-million dollar business that has driven tigers in the wild to the brink of extinction and fueled the rearing of tigers in parts of Asia, especially in China.

“We will discover more as we search on,” Adisorn told Reuters.

Two temple devotees and a monk found in the pick-up truck, and two monks who helped load it, were charged under wildlife laws, Adisorn said.

Representatives of the temple were not available for comment.

The confiscation of the tiger products followed the discovery on Wednesday of 40 dead tiger cubs in a freezer.

Wildlife officials suspect the cubs were being preserved for use in potions.

Thailand is well known as a hub for illicit trafficking of wildlife products, including ivory.

Activists had for years criticized the temple and urged tourists to shun it, and complained that wildlife protection laws were poorly enforced.

The Department of National Parks had removed 84 out of the 137 tigers found at the temple by Thursday.

Workers have been using tranquilizer darts to sedate the animals before lifting them into cages and on to trucks for the journey to the government sanctuary.

(Additional reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Wonder what our freelance contributor Dax Howard has to say about this. He wrote Hit Tiger: No really, go hit that tiger in our MAY+JUNE 2015 issue which discussed when he worked at the Tiger Temple.

35

Dax commented on his facebook feed

Dax also posted this…and more.

Forty dead tiger cubs found in freezer at Thai temple
Officials have removed 61 live tigers from Tiger Temple in ongoing operation after allegations of wildlife trafficking


Adisorn Noochdumrong, the deputy director general of the Department of National Parks, stands by the carcasses of 40 tiger cubs and a bearcat found at the Tiger Temple. Photograph: Dario Pignatelli/Getty Images

Oliver Holmes in Bangkok and John Vidal
Wednesday 1 June 2016 08.36 EDT Last modified on Wednesday 1 June 2016 17.00 EDT

Wildlife authorities in Thailand have found 40 tiger cubs in a freezer during a police raid on Tiger Temple, a tourist attraction that has faced repeated allegations of animal trafficking.

The discovery occurred after officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), backed by police, closed the temple this week to relocate 137 tigers to government-run sanctuaries.

International pressure concerning illegal wildlife trafficking is also part of why were acting now, said Adisorn Noochdumrong, DNP deputy director general, who said that the cubs carcasses were found in a kitchen area.

They must be of some value for the temple to keep them. But for what is beyond me, he told Reuters.

The cubs, some of them bloodied and mangled, were laid out on the floor along with other animals, including a binturong, a small rare species also known as a bearcat.

Promoting itself as a spiritual sanctuary for humans and animals, Tiger Temple has been keeping the big cats and other animals for 15 years. It charges tourists to take photos of themselves stroking adult tigers and bottle-feeding cubs.

The tigers are cared for by staff and volunteers. Monks reside at the Buddhist temple, west of Bangkok in Kanchanaburi province.

Wildlife authorities have removed 61 animals so far and vowed to close the temple for good. The site has been accused of illegally breeding tigers and some visitors say the animals appear to be drugged. A handler was recently filmed smacking a tiger on the head.

The temple denies accusations of abuse and trafficking and other visitors have lauded the conditions and the care taken over the animals.

The raid is the culmination of a battle that has been going on for years between the government and the temple, which says the tigers will be worse off in the care of the DNP.

Responding to requests for comment, the temple said on its Facebook page that a vet had requested the cubs be frozen and preserved six years ago. He made that decision probably to keep as proof against the allegations of selling cubs, the temple said.

It added that Thai authorities were fully aware the cubs were being kept frozen. The temple pointed to a post dated 4 March that directly referred to the preserved cubs.

In 2010, the ex-vet of Tiger Temple changed [the] policy. Instead of cremation, the deceased cubs were preserved in jars or kept frozen. We have documented all the deaths from 2010 and have photographic evidence of them still being within the temple, it added.

Thailand is a central route for illicit wildlife trade through south-east Asia, including ivory and rhino horn. Tiger parts, including bone and *****, are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Raids often find the tigers cut in half with their organs preserved on ice.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species banned the trade in tiger parts and products in 2007.

Two weeks ago, a 26-year-old man from the central province of Ha Tinh in Vietnam was found with four frozen tiger cubs at the border of Laos. He said he had bought the carcasses from a Laotian at a border market for 2 million Vietnamese Dong (£62). He was caught while delivering them to the buyer.

The move to shut down the temple has been widely praised by animal rights groups.

The Tiger Temple has been involved in the illegal trade for years and animal and conservation groups have long tried to have it closed, said Debbie Banks, campaigner on tigers and wildlife crime at the Environmental Investigation Agency in London.

The charity People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said this week that the temple was hell for animals and called on tourists to stop visiting any animal attractions.

The WWF (formerly the World Wide Fund For Nature) also commended the DNP for the raid.

This weeks actions to remove the tigers from the Tiger Temple are long overdue and we strongly encourage the Department of National Parks to make the removal of the tigers permanent, said Yowalak Thiarachow, country director of WWF-Thailand.

The Tiger Temple has been posing as a sanctuary for tigers while secretly acting as a tiger farm and selling tigers and tiger parts on the black market for an enormous profit, he added.

Thailand has an estimated 1,200-1,300 captive tigers in at least 33 facilities, he said.

36

:slight_smile: Thanks, Gene ! I couldn’t locate this thread but now I know it’s in the Shaolin forum.

37

Killer taking refuge

This reminds me of the old Shaolin creation myths, how criminals, warlords and political refugees allegedly took refuge at Shaolin and added their martial skills to the curriculum. Of course, in this modern-day context, it’s totally different. I doubt Zhang contributed his stabbing method to the monks of Longxing (if they even have a martial tradition there).

Monk on the run: Chinese ‘killer’ becomes temple abbot
AFP 8h


A Chinese man who lived on the run as a monk for 16 years after allegedly killing three people was discovered when he applied for a passport to travel and submitted his fingerprints © AFP/File Manan Vatsyayana

Beijing (AFP) - A suspected murderer on the run for 16 years in China found refuge in Buddhist temples, eventually rising to become an abbot, state media said Wednesday.

Zhang Liwei was detained by police earlier this month on suspicion of stabbing three people to death with accomplices in 2000, the Beijing News reported.

After the killings in his home province of Heilongjiang, deep in northeastern China, Zhang fled nearly 2,000 kilometres (more than 1,000 miles) south to Anhui, changing his name and finding work as a temple cook and ticket-seller, it said.

Later he moved to the Longxing temple in Fengyang county, shaving his own head and proclaiming himself a monk.

He became a member of a local political consultative congress – an organ of the county government – and two years ago the monks elected him abbot on the recommendation of his predecessor, according to the report.

He was only unmasked when he applied for a passport to travel abroad and submitted his fingerprints – which allegedly matched those of the wanted man.

The monks appreciated his efforts to improve their living conditions and buildings, the report said, adding that the temple had donated around a million yuan ($150,000) to charitable causes in recent years and Zhang was supporting two rural orphans financially.

But a neighbourhood nun was unmoved.

“The Buddha tells us to be contrite,” the report quoted her as saying. “He should have turned himself in if he sincerely repented of what he did.”

38

Slightly OT

Not sure if this is ‘Buddhists behaving badly’ because their soundsystem was so loud of if the tourist deserves 3 months hard labor for pulling the plug - talk about your draconian karma. :eek:

Myanmar Gives Tourist Who Pulled Plug on Buddhist Chants 3 Months in Prison
By SAW NANGOCT. 6, 2016


Klaas Haijtema, a 30-year-old from the Netherlands, said that an amplifier broadcasting the chants had disrupted his sleep. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

MANDALAY, Myanmar — A Dutch tourist who unplugged an amplifier that was broadcasting Buddhist chants, which he said disrupted his sleep, was sentenced to three months of hard labor in prison by a court here on Thursday.

The tourist, Klaas Haijtema, 30, was found guilty of causing a disturbance to an assembly engaged in religious worship. He had been staying at a hostel in Mandalay on Sept. 23 when a nearby Buddhist center began broadcasting the recitations of religious devotees.

“I was really tired that night and woke up to the noise,” Mr. Haijtema told the court during a hearing last week. “I was very angry and assumed that children were playing music. I told them to lower the volume of the loudspeakers before I unplugged the amplifier, and they didn’t understand me. That’s why I unplugged it.”

Mr. Haijtema wept after the prison sentence was announced. He was also fined the equivalent of $80 for violating the terms of his entry visa, which require visitors to obey Myanmar’s laws and customs. Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country, and Mandalay is a relatively conservative city.

Mr. Haijtema’s lawyer, U Hla Ko, said that he would file an appeal and that the Dutch Embassy should ask for Mr. Haijtema’s release. Attempts to contact an embassy representative on Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.

Buddhist organizations in Myanmar often use loudspeakers at high volume to broadcast sermons, perform rituals or solicit donations, and many social media users took Mr. Haijtema’s side after his arrest was reported.

Two lawyers not involved with the case said the Buddhist center, or dharma community hall, that woke Mr. Haijtema appeared to have violated the law by using loudspeakers after 9 p.m. The law also bans their use before 6 a.m. and requires a permit.

“The one that broke the law is the dharma community hall, not the Dutch man,” said one lawyer, U Zaw Win.

The leader of the Buddhist center, U Kyaw San, said in court last week that Mr. Haijtema had worn his shoes into the center, which Buddhists consider an offense in a sacred place. Mr. Haijtema said that he was unaware that the building had a religious purpose and that he had seen no signs telling people to remove their shoes.

A resident who lives near the center, Ko Hla Myo Aung, said that there were six others in his ward and that all of them broadcast chants at high volume late at night and early in the morning.

“If the Buddha were still alive, he would go deaf from the noise from the loudspeakers,” Mr. Hla Myo Aung said.

Other Westerners have recently run afoul of laws against insulting religion in Myanmar, also known as Burma. Last year, a bar manager from New Zealand was sentenced to two years in prison for posting an image of the Buddha wearing headphones on Facebook. He was granted amnesty and released this year.

A version of this article appears in print on October 7, 2016, on page A12 of the New York edition with the headline: Jailed for Pulling Plug on Buddhist Chants.

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[QUOTE=GeneChing;1296885]Not sure if this is ‘Buddhists behaving badly’ because their soundsystem was so loud of if the tourist deserves 3 months hard labor for pulling the plug - talk about your draconian karma. :eek:[/QUOTE]

This is an example of a state co-opting a religion for national identity-formation purposes, and having a huge chip of resentment on its shoulders toward the west. It’s a show trial. They are looking for the occasional westerner to make an example of, and the Dutchman was the lucky one. If it hadn’t been him, they would have found someone else to parade around over a ridiculous and completely trivial offence. No true practising Buddhist monk or layman would wish prison on someone over this. Touchy, patriotic, corrupt officials who enjoy lording it over their communities on the other hand, often hide behind religion. My tc, ymmv.

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Phen Sokphanna

Here’s follow-up on the first post on this thread.

Judge Suspends Case For Monk Charged With Attempted Murder
Bay City News Service Published 6:09 pm, Thursday, December 15, 2016

OAKLAND (BCN)
A judge today suspended criminal proceedings for a Buddhist monk who’s charged with attempted murder and aggravated mayhem for allegedly trying to stab a fellow monk to death at an Oakland temple last year.
Acting after the monk’s lawyer questioned his mental competency to stand trial, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Paul Delucchi ordered that two psychiatrists examine 31-year-old Phen Sokphanna and report their findings at a hearing on Jan. 26.
Oakland police said Sokphanna grabbed two knives and stabbed 66-year-old Mahamonirath Pinn several times in the head and face at the Cambodian monastery at 624 Douglas Ave. on June 16, 2015. Officers who responded to the incident found Pinn suffering from stab wounds but Sokphanna fled before they arrived.
Pinn was shown a photo of Sokphanna and he confirmed Sokphanna was the man who stabbed him, according to court filings by Oakland police Officer Michael Troupe. A witness also identified Sokphanna as the suspect, police said.
After he was arrested Sokphanna admitted that he had carried out the stabbing, according to Troupe.