Showing 1 - 10 of 19
Abbot's dramatic fall from grace
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 01/09/2025
» Faith built his empire. Fraud destroyed it. Luang Por Alongkot's fall from grace leaves Thai Buddhism reeling, demanding long-overdue reform.
Corrupt monks have lost their way
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 14/07/2025
» Just as Thailand was about to celebrate Asalha Bucha Day and the start of Buddhist Lent, the nation was gripped by the biggest sex scandal ever to rock its clergy. How irony.
Bizarre temple practices under fire
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 27/12/2024
» Seventy-one corpses; that's what police found in two forest monasteries, thrusting them into the public eye for all the wrong reasons.
Monks caught in poaching scandal
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 03/06/2024
» Sex and money scandals among rogue monks are old news, barely raising an eyebrow any more. What's grabbing headlines now? Monks involved in wildlife poaching.
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.
Sex, money and monkhood don't mix
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 12/05/2022
» The latest sex scandal of a popular preacher "Luang Pi Kato" once again reveals how rotten the cleric system is.
Temple graft shows need for reform
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 11/04/2022
» The country's latest temple corruption scandal occurred at a first-class royal monastery; the centre of a sect founded by reformist monarch King Mongkut to clean up the clergy. What an irony!
Autocracy, not giggling, is the problem
Oped, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 15/09/2021
» When two influencer monks -- Phra Maha Praiwan Worawano and Phra Maha Sompong Talaputto -- were summoned to Government House last week for giggling too much in their dhamma talk shows, I expected intellectual duels between the conservatives and the liberals on the monastic codes of conduct and the clergy's need to catch up with times.
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".
Temples no longer safe for children
News, Sanitsuda Ekachai, Published on 30/10/2019
» News about monks' sexual misconduct has become so frequent that it no longer shocks. But the latest scandal involving a rapist, paedophile monk makes my blood boil.