Thai Buddhism and fear of the truth

Buddhism and democracy as practised in Thailand have little in common with their universally accepted meanings, but they do share one objective – money. In contrast, true Buddhism and true democracy have much in common, including honesty, integrity and morality.
I would suggest that not only is it time to reform Buddhism in Thailand, it’s time to address the principles of its inception. It’s time to return to the story from which the religion grew. Buddhism started with training the mind to self-awareness (self-assessment), general awareness, concentration and relaxation. It is self-assessment – being honest with oneself about oneself – which is found to be distasteful and is avoided. Siddhartha struggled with this trauma on his path to becoming the Buddha, eventually discovering the truth about himself and understanding his place in the world. By accepting the truth he became enlightened.
As the old saying goes, “You can’t kid yourself all the time.” The editorial asserts, “Novices who don robes ... remain distracted by the temptations of the secular world.” But surely Buddhism is secular. It’s about learning to live in the secular (real) world, not hiding from reality in the “contrived” environment of a temple. It is not, in fact, a religion, but the antithesis. Buddhism trains the mind to live happily with harsh reality while accepting reality for what it is. Albert Einstein found Buddhism attractive for this very reason, and dismissed religion as childish.
JC Wilcox