Showing 1 - 10 of 23
Breaking gender barriers in the clergy
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 22/07/2023
» Can queers be ordained as Buddhist monks? The question sparked intense debates on social media when Pataradanai Setsuwan, a well-known openly gay celebrity, entered the monkhood late last month.
Last-ditch fight against forest tyranny
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 01/02/2021
» After two decades of hunger and hardship -- and a life without dignity in a prison-like resettlement village -- a group of indigenous forest dwellers decided to return to their ancestral home deep in the Kaeng Krachan jungle in Phetchaburi province.
When education supports rape culture
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 18/05/2020
» School rapes in Thailand happen so frequently they no longer shock. But not this one. Not when underage schoolgirls were repeatedly gang-raped by their teachers. Not when other teachers callously defended the rapists and paedophiles as "good teachers and family men", dismissing the heinous crime as consensual sex and blaming the victims as "bad girls".
Historic ruling offers pro-choice hope
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 21/02/2020
» This is historic. This is final. Abortion is no longer illegal in Thailand. Women and girls now can end pregnancies without risking arrest, imprisonment, and even death, thanks to the Constitutional Court's ruling on Wednesday.
Billy's death should not be in vain
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 09/09/2019
» Last week, the mystery was over.
Mixing monks with money corrupts clergy
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 20/06/2018
» Fear and fury is gripping the clergy. Following the arrest and defrocking of high-profile monks for temple corruption, temples nationwide are fearful of financial inspections while monks are up in arms against the idea of prohibiting them from receiving money from the laity.
Buddha's path must guide reform of clergy
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 07/06/2018
» The recent crackdown on the Sangha Supreme Council elders is long overdue. Corrupt monks in high places have escaped the law for far too long. But abuse of power will not go away as long as the clergy remains a closed, feudal autocracy under state patronage.
Defrocking bad monks just part of reform
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 27/04/2018
» When a group of senior monks in Thailand's highest governing body of clerics faced corruption scrutiny earlier this month, there was no public shock, only a stamp of approval. That says volumes about public discontent with the clergy.
Clergy's monopoly over Buddhist teachings is over
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 03/02/2018
» The controversy surrounding a new religious group called Techo Vipassana led by a self-proclaimed enlightened woman should remind the clergy that, short of Sangha reform, it is fighting a losing battle in the modern faith market.
Racism blinds monks to Rohingya plight
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 03/10/2017
» An abbot at a Buddhist temple in Bangladesh has a very simple reason for helping the Rohingya Muslims who fled for dear life from the atrocities they faced in Myanmar.