Nakhon Phanom crime buster becomes ‘ghost buster’
A police captain in Nakhon Phanom has won praise from many Facebook users after they saw a video clip of him chanting a long and difficult to memorise Pali prayer to perform an “exorcism”.
The video clip of Pol Captain Phurithat Phurithattanon was posted by the Nakae police station on its Facebook page on Monday night. By Tuesday morning, it had received over 21,000 views. Phurithat is a deputy crime suppression inspector at the police station.
The post said the woman apparently suffered from hallucinations that she was haunted by a “pob” ghost, believed by northeasterners to be a parasite ghost that eats the internal organs of its host.
The policeman visited the family and talked in the Isaan or northeastern dialect and chanted the prayer to soothe her.
The Pali chant is called Paticcasamuppada, which was one of Buddha’s teachings to his disciples about why people suffer from sadness.
The policeman was heard in the clip telling the woman that the ghost was haunting her because of her refusal to let go. He said he was not afraid of the ghost.
He told the woman to take a deep breath and release as the ghost had become disoriented and lost, and he would chant a part of the tripitaka for her to listen to.
Some Facebook users said it was amazing that the policeman could remember the long Pali chant and that this indicated the officer might have been ordained as a Buddhist monk.
A Facebook user, Ratchanikorn Homsudjai, said the chant was not a prayer for busting a pob ghost but rather a chapter of Buddha’s teachings. She said if Buddhists try to understand it and follow it, they will become happier.