Showing 1 - 9 of 9
Forests doomed by power and prejudice
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 02/04/2020
» After nearly two months of being blanketed by a thick toxic haze with zero national attention due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the city of Chiang Mai last week became like a "gas chamber".
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.
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.
Supreme Patriarch row won't help clergy
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 06/01/2016
» Amid heated disputes over who will become the new supreme patriarch, one thing is certain: whoever that may be, there is no way he can tackle the ills plaguing monastic society.
Abbot Nan knew power of local self-help
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 22/07/2015
» Back when his home village had no electricity or roads connecting it to the outside world, abbot Nan Sutasilo of Samakkhi temple believed he could change that to improve the villagers' lot. He succeeded. Then he realised he had made a big mistake.
Nuns show us what merit really means
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 29/10/2014
» Whenever the issue of female ordination pops up, we hear two standard lines from our clerical elders.
Bridge saga shows public still left out
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 10/09/2014
» When the country's longest wooden bridge in Kanchanaburi's Sangkhla Buri district collapsed last year from torrential rains, the locals who had built the bridge wanted to fix it themselves. No, said the governor.
Truth about temple cash isn't pretty
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 31/07/2013
» Did the notorious Nen Kham really have sexual affairs with at least eight women while he was a monk? Did he buy a private jet and a mansion in the US which he showed off on social media? Did he sleep with a minor and father her child? Was he involved in drugs and money laundering? Were he or his brother lying beside a woman in a picture?