THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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New Supreme Patriarch has mountain to climb

New Supreme Patriarch has mountain to climb

Thai Buddhism, which he now supervises, is deeply flawed and has many issues to deal with

Just a few days ago, one of Thailand’s most potentially explosive controversies came to a peaceful conclusion. The appointment of the country’s new Supreme Patriarch was met with vast acceptance, belying a vociferous showdown that toed political lines and threatened to tear the religious landscape apart. But the fact that we have averted a major disaster doesn’t mean all is now well with our national state of Buddhism. 
The confrontation was an immediate danger. The issue of appointing a new Supreme Patriarch has become deeply politicised, raising a resounding question whether worse things were likely to happen in the name of “protecting Buddhism”, a religion that really promotes the turning of the other cheek. The showdown reeked of everything that was the exact opposite of the religion – greed, anger, ego and the urge to control.
But at long last, the new Supreme Patriarch has been appointed, without any untoward incident. The new head of Thai Buddhist monks is well recognised, respectable and compassionate. He has all the qualities needed for the post, and his appointment had a calming effect on what was a fragile situation.
After the immediate danger has been taken care of, the new Supreme Patriarch’s real task looms. He has inherited a Buddhist landscape fraught with serious religious flaws, some of which have become all too common to be considered great deficiencies. Real Buddhist scholars, though, are calling for those flaws to be addressed before Thailand’s Buddhism becomes a version that even Lord Buddha would wholeheartedly veto.
Thailand has been too easy on the questionable practices of its monks. That might have stemmed from a good intention to boost Buddhism and thus its image as the religion’s centre in today’s world. The leniency has flooded the clerical community with bad monks. Some of them are “obviously” bad, such as those caught drinking alcohol or having sex. This group of monks is easy to deal with, unlike another group of bad monks who are better at exploiting the saffron robes.
The malpractices of this group of bad monks are more subtle or have morphed into widely acceptable acts, some of which are warranted by social demands. The thin line between being a social guiding light during dark hours and violating a key prohibition of Lord Buddha has become terribly blurred. While Lord Buddha unequivocally banned proclamation of magical powers, many Thai Buddhist monks have breached the rules through various acts, which, in most cases, are repaid with money or worldly accessories.
These major violations of the Buddhist essence have pervaded the Thai religious landscape. Most of them are looking quite normal now, but that is exactly why the religion is facing a real threat. When the worst malpractices in the context of true Buddhism are widely accepted, the religion is in genuine danger of becoming its own worst enemy.
The new Supreme Patriarch has the power to halt the slide, or bring the problem to social attention, but he needs all the help he can get. The Thai public must also acknowledge that what seems currently normal in their eyes are signs of a major decay. Many malpractices are required, supported, funded and advertised by Thai 
society, which makes a true reform impossible if the ecclesiastic authorities have to act alone.
Genuine reforms will trigger 
nothing short of an upheaval, but the longer we wait, the harder it will become to change anything. A rude awakening is needed, and the time is now.

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