Dhammajayo stripped of monastic rank by His Majesty the King

Will Phra Dhammajayo be forever beyond the reach of the law? The monks rise to power & wealth seems to be coming to an end.

LAW ENFORCEMENT & RELIGION

Dhammajayo stripped of monastic rank by His Majesty the King

6/03/2017

His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun has stripped the monastic rank of Phra Dhammajayo, the Royal Gazette said on Sunday.

The symbolic step of removing the monastic rank came after the monk refused repeatedly to appear to answer legal charges,.

The monks refusal to cooperate with authorities eventually led to a two-week siege of the Wat Dhammakaya temple compound by thousands of military and police personnel.

The Royal Gazette article said His Majesty had agreed to the government's request to demote Phra Dhammajayo because he had fled from the charges against him.

"Thus he does not deserve to hold his monastic rank any longer," the document said.

The move has not defrocked the founder of the Dhammakaya sect.

Only the Supreme Sangha Council (SSC) can take that step.

But the monk no longer has or can use the title Phra Thepyan Mahamuni Sri Dhamma Kosol.

The Dhammakaya temple declined to comment on the measure.

BACKGROUND: EVENTS THAT LED TO STRIPPING OF RANK

In Thailand's decade-long highly polarised political situation, it is often hard to get at the truth of what is actually happening.

First, some raw facts from the news.

1. First, a financial institution, the Klongchan Credit Union, collapsed leaving depositors without their hard-earned savings.

2. The credit union collapsed because funds had been siphoned off as religious "donations" to Wat Dhammakaya.

The person who embezzled the funds was both chairman of the credit union and also temple treasurer for Wat Dhammakaya Supachai Srisupa-aksorn who is now serving time in prison (see here & here).

In what might be likened to a culture of corruption, even the DSI law enforcement officers investigating the case were caught up in the corruption (see here).

3. Finally, when Wat Dhammakaya founder Phra Dhammajayo was called in for questioning in the case, he refused repeatedly to cooperate with authorities.

This is in itself a violation of the law and of the principle of "rule of law" in which all people receive equal treatment under the law.

4. After showing much forbearance and patience, authorities eventually made their way to the grounds of Wat Dhammakaya itself, in an attempt to arrest Phra Dhammajayo.

Because temple followers threatened to protect the monk with their lives, authorities took a cautious approach in their efforts to track down and arrest the monk.

The stalemate has dragged on for weeks with no end in sight.

5. Happening in parallel to these events, the next Supreme Patriarch and head of Buddhism for all of Thailand was to be appointed.

The new Supreme Patriarch just happened to be the teacher and mentor of the wealthy and powerful Phra Dhammajayo, founder of Wat Dhammakaya.

Though apparently no one could prove this was rigged beforehand, it certainly looked rigged.

The appointment was based on automatic rules of appointment that apparently could be gamed by those seeking an advantage (see here).

In the end, a much more humble and deserving senior monk without powerful connections was appointed Supreme Patriarch (see here & here).

But before his appointment, the faction of monks that backed the appointment of Phra Dhammajayo's mentor held protests and came very close to clashing with the army (see here).

WHY THIS CASE IS NOT A NORMAL CRIMINAL CASE

These are facts from the news.

Many would agree "just go ahead and arrest him."

There are several factors, however, that complicate the case and have even led to biased news reporting and analysis of the case.

5. First, Phra Dhammajayo is a monk and Thai society treats monks with great reverence and respect. 

6. Thailand has been a politically polarised state for almost a decade with continual street protests from 2006 to 2014.

Polarised Thai politics has a pervasive effect on every aspect of Thai society including news reporting and religion.

As a result of this long-running political conflict, some commentators seem unable to break out of polarised habits of interpreting the news (see for example the analysis by an academic at ANU's New Mandala here). Even the most widespread news article today reporting on the stripping of the title by international news agency Reuters does not provide enough background information for people to know what is really going on in an unbiased fashion (see here).

7. The Dhammakaya sect does not practice mainstream Buddhism and has its own set of iconoclastic teachings and beliefs originating from its founder Phra Dhammajayo.

These teachings run counter to established to mainstream government sponsored Thai Buddhism (see article outlining many of the strange beliefs in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics here).

Dhammakaya's strange teachings and suppression of them by religious institutions seeking to enforce religious orthodoxy seems to be a logically separate issue from involvement in a criminal fraud and embezzlement case. 

However, under conditions of polarised politics passions rather than logic often reign supreme, but what will happen in the future?

Will Wat Dhammakaya and its religious practices continue on after its founder is gone?

Where did Phra Dhammajayo go?

Will authorities ever find him?

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1209349/dhammajayo-stripped-of-monastic-rank

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/king-strips-wanted-monk-phra-dhammachayo-rank/

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2017/03/05/hm-king-strips-dhammachayo-royal-title/

http://www.newmandala.org/perplexing-case-wat-dhammakaya/

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