Temples never safe
Re: “Temples no longer safe for children”, (Opinion, Oct 30).
Thank you Khun Sanitsuda Ekachai for another brilliant opinion piece bluntly stating important truths that need to be aired. But I fear the reality is even worse: it is not credible that Thai Buddhist temples were ever a safe place for children. The blind respect for those accorded social prestige based on nothing but tradition backed by legal protection from the state effectively guarantees abuse, as it does in the similar Christian set ups and every other institution where dissent and critical review is socially sanctioned or actually criminalized by unjust law. Those with nothing to hide do not hide behind censoring laws and repressive norms. Horrifying though the truth be about traditionally revered Thai institutions like the religion known as Thai Buddhism, it is healthy progress that today the abused are starting to call out those monstrously ugly truths too long censored from public expression.
Neither the law nor social norms should give sanctuary to such vile abuse of the powerless that they should care for and protect.
Khun Sanitsuda’s concerns chime perfectly with those of Atiya Achakulwisut in “Time ripe to nip mob mentality of Thais in bud”, (Opinion, Oct 29). This reminded me of the recent furore when a creative young artist respectfully painted Buddha as Ultraman, only to have the mindlessly unBuddhist mob zealously baying for blood, while ignoring the reality that traditional Thai Buddhism perpetuates the hierarchical system that breeds paedophile monks, the misuse of donations, and other unBuddhist corruption in Thai society.
A foundational principle of the Buddha’s wise teachings is right understanding, which is fostered by mindfulness. This is why the Buddha explicitly encourages critical questioning of all received traditions, authorities, institutions and social norms, not excepting his own teachings. The mindless adulation of a traditional practice merely because it is traditional has no place in a right understanding of Buddhism, nor in any other right understanding. Such mindless respect for the merely traditional, socially sanctioned and legally protected has led Thailand to what it is today, with corruption rampant, injustice in the legal system, gross inequality in society, undemocratic government by intimidating force, and of course, paedophile monks wallowing in veiled sanctuary.
FELIX QUI