Blessed yantra clothes distributed to park rangers
The Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation has distributed over 100,000 sacred Buddhist-style yantra clothes - which were blessed by famed Buddhist monk Chao Khun Thongchai of Traimitr Temple - to park rangers nationwide to boost t
The move marked the department’s 14th anniversary on Monday.
The blessing ritual was held last week at the temple, where Chao Khun Thongchai, or Phra Prommangkalachan, and other senior monks blessed the clothes.
Also in attendance at the ritual were Natural Resources and Environment Minister Surasak Kanchanarat, Parks chief Thanya Netithammakul, and several other senior parks officials.
The assistant to the temple’s abbot shot to fame after he blessed Leicester City, which went on to win the English Premier League last year.
The department has claimed success in its move to suppress forest encroachment via the newly set up taskforce, Phaya Sua, with nearly 36,000 rai (5,760 hectares) of encroached area seized. It plans to step up the operation, and the yantra clothes are seen as a good item to help boost its officials’ morale to fight encroachers.
Awards have also been handed out to officials deemed the most successful in protecting wildlife, including the director of the Wildlife Protection Bureau, Soontorn Chaiwattana.
In response to the distribution of the clothes, Facebook users have called on the department to support the social security of park rangers, which falls short in many areas.
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