Paiboon denies teaming with Buddha Isara in temple affair
National Reform Council (NRC) member Paiboon Nititawan says he did not collude with Phra Buddha Isara to attack the Dhammakaya Temple and its abbot Phra Dhammachayo.
Speculation has risen that a conspiracy is going on because recent moves by Paiboon and Phra Buddha Isara, the abbot of Or Noi Temple in Nakhon Pathom, seem to complement each other when it comes to the Dhammachayo controversy.
“I am just doing my duty,” Paiboon said yesterday. He chairs the NRC committee on religious affairs.
On Tuesday, Paiboon told the committee Phra Dhammachayo had seriously violated the monastic code and in 1999 the then-Supreme Patriarch had said he should be defrocked.
The issue became big news, prompting
the Sangha Supreme Council to discuss the matter on Friday.
Following the discussion, the council’s spokesperson Phra Phrom Methi said Dhammachayo seemed to have acted with no ill intent, given that he had already returned the land plots that put him in hot water to their rightful owners, and the issue was now old news.
On Saturday, Phra Buddha Isara called for a boycott of the Sangha Supreme Council over the decision.
Paiboon said his committee had been discussing problems related to religious affairs and some were related to money matters.
“We are exploring measures to ensure the transparency in fund management,” he said.
He said the Dhammakaya Temple was just a case study and everyone including Phra Buddha Isara should be free to express one’s opinions on the case.
PM’s Office ‘wants full report’
PM’s Office Minister Suwaphan Tanyuvardhana, meanwhile, said he had not received an official report on the Sangha Supreme Council’s decision on the Dhammakaya case.
“I’ve told the National Office of Buddhism to report the matter to me in detail,” he said.
According to Phra Phrom Methi, public prosecutors dropped the embezzlement case against Phra Dhammachayo. The move prompted an investigation by a monastic panel that concluded he was not guilty.
“Then in 2006, monastic investigators concluded that Phra Dhammachayo had no intention to embezzle any property, given that it had already been transferred to the rightful owners. The monastic order has ruled on each case based on the intent of the accused,” Phra Phrom Methi said.
