Originally published at: Buddhist temple empty after monks test positive for meth | Boing Boing
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They’re still looking for Brother Heisenberg.
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Maybe they thought it would speed up their path to nirvana.
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Monks already get a lot of swipes per round, casting Haste on them can make them pretty formidable.
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Does giving them meth count as merit-making?
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It’s my understanding that Kurt Cobain was into heroin, not meth.
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“Officials did not say what had brought the temple to the attention of police.”
The report I read said that earlier this month, a “drug-addled” monk from a different monastery was arrested after stealing a car and leading the police on a wild and reckless chase. Admittedly, that came from the NYPost, not the BBC.
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The country is a major transit point for methamphetamine. The drugs flood into the country from Myanmar - the world’s biggest producer of methamphetamine - via Laos.
The pills are then sold on the streets with a value of around 50 Baht ($1.40; £1.17).
Last month, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha ordered a clampdown on drugs after a former police officer who had been dismissed from the force for methamphetamine possession killed 37 people during a shooting at a nursery.
Phetchabun is closer to the border with Laos than Shan State.
From February:
Authorities in Laos, Thailand and Myanmar seized at least 90 million methamphetamine tablets and 4.4 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine last month, most of it manufactured in the remote border areas of Myanmar’s Shan State, according to the UNODC.
In neighbouring Thailand, a traditional conduit for illicit drugs produced in Myanmar, 520 million methamphetamine tablets were seized in the fiscal year from October 2020 to September 2021, up from 361 million in the previous 12 months, according to data from its Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).
In recent weeks, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) - one of Myanmar(sic) best-armed ethnic minority forces that controls large areas from the north of Shan State - has moved forces south along with smaller, allied militias, expanding their territorial control of the state, three sources familiar with the incursions said.
Territory controlled by the UWSA has long been used for illicit drug production, although other armed groups are also involved in the trade, Douglas said.
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this is the saddest story i’ve seen today.
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It’s worth noting that in Thailand, monks aren’t necessarily religious people who’ve chosen a lifetime of religious devotion. Many – most? – males will spend at least some time as a monk during the course of their life. As I understand it, there’s no fixed period: it can be as little as a few weeks, or up to a year or more. Some do it only once, others may return at various points in their lives.
What this means is that a lot of monks in Thailand are essentially civilians who are only living a monastic life temporarily. There are periodically reports of “monk-involved” crimes up to and including, on rare occasions, rape or murder.
My assumption, though, would be that most temporary monks would go to larger temples, and that a temple as small as that would be more likely to be home to “career monks”. So maybe they were indeed committed holy men who strayed from the Eightfold Path just a little.
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… perhaps the next sequel to Breaking Bad will be entitled Right Concentration 
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methamphetamine seems counter to a meditative samadhi.
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Not just “Breaking Buddha”?
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Making Merit
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”Better Call Shaolin”?
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The older I get the more I come around to thinking “who the fuck cares if a person does drugs?” What matters is what they do in relation to others. What harm were these hopped up monks doing? If there was something material like stealing then sure, nail them for stealing. If it’s seen as a drain on society, work on compelling rehab programs. IDK.
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I remembered Steve Huynh talking about something similar about his view on Buddhist monks in Vietnam on the Asians Represent! podcast. Episode 17 was the one where he went into the D&D 5e adventure he wrote for Unbreakable.
Monks are just people… Not everyone’s seeking the purity of mind and body. Some of them just need some time.
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