PHOTIRAK MAY HAVE THE LAST LAUGH
* Sanitsuda Ekachai

Former cleric Photirak of Santi Asoke lost another fight to be a monk. But short of religious reform, the winning mainstream clergy will eventually be the real loser.

Last week, the Appeals Court upheld the six-month prison sentence with two-year suspension on the former monk for violating Buddha's teachings and disobeying the Sangha Council's defrocking order.

I often wonder why the Sangha is so harsh with the Santi Asoke leader, who essentially is trying to inject simplicity and strict moral discipline back into our extremely lax and commercialised clergy. In fact, we could say the birth and popularity of Santi Asoke stems from the weaknesses of the mainstream clergy.

Buddha teaches simplicity, compassion and tolerance, prohibiting greed, anger and illusion of self. Buddha also makes it clear the monk community must be egalitarian with the Vinaya, or code of monastic discipline, being the ultimate mandate.

Look around and see how far our monks have strayed from Buddha's words. We repeatedly hear of junior monks selling morning alms to vendors. But this is peanuts compared to famous monks and temples who have made a big business out of religious symbols and preying on people's superstitions. We also see monks watching boxing on TV, living in posh quarters, travelling in luxury cars, and pocketing donations for themselves. So much so, that we've come to accept this as normal.

More often than not, it's the powerful monks who set a bad example. Those who disagree must keep mum for fear of persecution from the Sangha, although its feudalistic, dictatorial governing structure is an outright violation of Buddha's democratic principles.

What Photirak, 63, has done is offer dissatisfied Buddhists an alternative. In contrast to mainstream monks, Santi Asoke disciples follow strict moral discipline, eating only one vegetarian meal a day and living a Spartan life.They also reject object worship and superstitious rituals, a direct critique of the commercialisation of Buddhism by the clergy.

While the feudalistic clergy has lost touch with the world, Santi Asoke effectively attracts those disillusioned with materialism by offering them a sense of mission and belonging to a close-knit community.

Photirak's acumen also is reflected in Santi Asoke's work with natural farming and education reform, which stress the balance between matter and mind, man and nature.

The reformist cleric also has effectively used books and magazines to build a sense of community among his followers, while the wealthy clergy could not care less about its widening gap with lay Buddhists.

This is not to say Photirak is without faults. He's hardly humble and is proud of Santi Asoke's military-like strictness and uses it to attack others as morally inferior. Also, monastic rule requires a preceptor to be at least 10 years in the monkhood. Based on his own biography, he ordained followers when he was in the monkhood for only six years. He also asserts his extraordinary spiritual attainment and enrages Buddhist scholars by giving new meanings to ancient Pali words in his unconventional teachings.

Despite these flaws, believe me, the Santi Asoke leader wouldn't have had any problems had it not been for his fierce criticisms of the Sangha Council. His real crime is not in violating the discipline but in challenging the power.

Gnawing rust occurs from within, goes a Thai saying. By suppressing dissent without paying attention to its foibles, the clergy has only itself to blame for declining public faith. And eventually, Photirak may have the last laugh.

Bangkok Post
March 26, 1997

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