2324. Alms to 2700 monks in Hinthada. Funeralof Buddhist abbot in Jun 27, 2025

Oct 7 and 8.
Benefactors Drs Thein Tun Aung and Thin Thin Soe donates food and rice to 2700 monks, the 25th year of donation from the family.  

 

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Misbehaving monks: Sex scandal shakes Thai Buddhist faithful
Straits Times 18 July 2025

Thai Monks traditionally survive on alms, food offerings and a modest US$170 monthly stipend.

donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation.

their vows of celibacy

Theravada Buddhism has been the spiritual backbone of Thai identity for more than two millennia.

 

National laws banning alcohol on religious holidays and protecting sacred objects.

 

Thai men are traditionally expected to ordain as monks at least once in their lives for a period lasting as short as a few weeks or as long as decades.

 

 

The clergy are bound by 227 strict rules such as a ban on masturbation, touching women and handling objects directly from them.

 

Monks traditionally survive on alms, food offerings and a modest US$170 monthly stipend, but some pocket fees for lectures, blessings and ceremonies – blurring the line between faith and fortune.

 

Scandals 
Laundering money from donations
Embezzling money
Sex scandals in senior monks

Whether donations are used for spiritual significance or personal desire

 

Proposal:  mandatory donation disclosures and laws treating monk misconduct as a criminal offence.

 

 

In Buddhist tradition, monks are viewed as the Buddha’s spiritual heirs, entrusted with preserving and passing on his teachings.

 

But at Wat Bowonniwet in Bangkok – one of Thailand’s most revered temples – only 26 monks were ordained in 2025, a steep drop from nearly 100 before the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

 

temples are increasingly being treated as “a garbage dump” – where families send drug addicts or LGBTQ youth to be “corrected”.

 

“Temples are no longer seen as the sacred spaces they once were,” he told the press.  “People send their problems to the temple and hope they’ll go away.”

 

 Buddhism is about the teachings, not the individuals who fail it.

 

 Because of corruption scandals, he now avoids giving money to monks – preferring to donate only food. But his devotion remains steadfast. “You can lose faith in monks,” he noted. “But never lose trust in Buddhist teachings. They still teach us how to live a good life.”

 

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 Mourners attend the funeral of popular Buddhist abbot Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa in Myanmar's south central Bago region on June 27.2025

 

 

BAGO, Myanmar - Thousands of mourners on June 27 attended the funeral of a popular Buddhist abbot shot dead by Myanmar security forces in an incident that drew a rare apology from the junta.

 

Prominent teacher Sayadaw Bhaddanta Munindabhivamsa, 78, was an author on Buddhism who headed a monastery that had publicly opposed the military’s 2021 coup that has plunged Myanmar into turmoil.

 

 

In heavy rain, senior and junior Buddhist monks, nuns and residents walked for hours alongside the coffin from the abbot’s monastery to the cremation ground.

 

Some knelt on the ground in homage and others recited Buddhist sutras or played traditional drums.

Police and soldiers stood guard around the cemetery, although there was no sign of any protest or violence

 

 Fireworks shot up into the sky as the abbot’s funeral pyre was lit.