Thai Abbot arrested for roasting baby corpses

The Wanbao paper yesterday (01-12-2006) reported that a Thai abbot (pic shown above) from Roi Et province in Northeast Thailand (Isan) was arrested for roasting 2 baby corpses (indicated by the arrow) to make Lukkok. These Lukkok are then sold to businessmen as child spirits to attract wealth, for as much as 10,000 baht per corpse. This case reminded me of the necromancer Nain Ae, who was jailed years ago for a similar offence.

This abbot is around 60 yrs old & has been a monk for 30 years. He has 2 disciples living in the temple with him, 1 male & 1 female. According to the paper, the abbot does not beg for alms, chant & meditate like normal monks, but instead he had travelled widely to neighbouring countries like Laos, Cambodia & Burma to learn Black Magic. After the baby corpses were roasted, he would use his knowledge of the dark arts to transform them into Lukkok. This macarbe practice was discovered when the police visited their small temple for a routine check. Apparently the abbot has been doing it for some time, but his karma has finally caught up with him & now he has to face the legal consequences of doing things like that.

The Vinaya says:

"Whereas some priests and contemplatives, living off food given in faith, maintain themselves by wrong livelihood, by such lowly arts as:

..offering blood-sacrifices;
making predictions based on the fingertips;
geomancy;
laying demons in a cemetery;
placing spells on spirits;
reciting house-protection charms..

The Bhikku abstains from such wrong livelihood, from lowly arts such as these."

When a person puts on the saffron robe of the Sangha, yet practices such lowly arts such as black magic for a living, he is really without any sense of shame. Instead of training his body, speech & mind in the Dharma, he roasts babies to sell to foolish lay people. Mired in the swamp of wrong livelihood, does he not realize that the demons of Hell are also waiting to roast him after he dies? Woeful indeed!

In the Dharma Ending Age, the servants & children of Mara are everywhere, including those who have infiltrated into the Sangha and tries to destroy it from within. If we are ignorant enough to follow such imposters, we invite suffering upon ourselves for nothing. The importance of finding the right teacher in the Buddha Dharma can not be stressed enough.