[Buddha-l] Fake Monks in Thailand

[Lidewij Niezink]

I don't know if this hobotraveler entry is an exaggeration but i have
encountered the same problem in Hong Kong last March. The first time, a monk
came up to me, offering me a little golden colored, plastic, Chinese picture
of the Buddha. Smiling friendly he then asked for money. While pulling my
wallet, a Hong Kong business man walked up to me and told me "Do not give
this man money, this is not a real monk." The monk turned around and
disappeared. After that incident, during the subsequent four weeks i was
there, many monks kept doing the same type of thing.

It sounds like a nice way to make a quick buck.

What has been surprising me too was the amount of money donated to, -and
accepted by- Tibetan monks in Kathmandu, Nepal. I was doing my khoras during
Saka Dawa in Boudhanath, early in the morning. The place was overcrowded
with Tibetans walking their turns and monks holding their begging bowls.
Thousands of rupees disappeared in those bowls by the people qeueuing to
donate. When i donated the monks and nuns tibetan bread and coconut cookies
i got the weirdest looks from them. What is it with money and monastics
these days?

Lidewij


2008/11/19 Curt Steinmetz <curt at cola.iges.org>

> I think this entry in the Hobotraveler blog looks like an exaggeration
> or even a hoax being perpetuated to discourage tourists from giving
> donations to Buddhist monks and temples - and encouraging tourists to
> generally view Buddhist monks with suspicion. Or it could just be some
> publicity stunt designed to drive traffic to the hobotraveler website.
>
> The "hobotraveler" entry cites "stickmanweekly.com" as a source. That
> site, in turn, appears to be primarily devoted to promoting the
> sex-trade business in Bangkok. Here are a few of the other "stories"
> featured at stickmanweekly.com site:
>
> "The Bargirl's Ten Commandments"
> "Naughty Boys and Digital Cameras"
> "The advantages of being white"
> "Drug & Alcohol Rehab in Thailand"
> "The 10 Biggest mistakes western men make with Thai women"
> "The dangers of drug smuggling in Thailand"
> "Meeting Thai women: back to basics"
> "The adventures of an online voyeur"
>
> The other link in the original post is to "prweb.com" which is site that
> will publish absolutely anything - it's basically just a random
> selection of unrelated junk from the internet.
>
> In July of 2007, there were two articles that appeared in the "Straits
> Times", a Singapore newspaper, about fake monks *from* Thailand plying
> their trade in Singapore. According to those stories this had already
> been going on for at least two years. Here is a link to an article from,
> of all people, the "Gay Buddhist Fellowship" of Singapore:
> http://heartlandsg.org/2007/07/15/fake-monks-in-singapore/
>
> Can you imagine anyone in the US pretending to be a Buddhist monk as a
> way to make money?
>
> Curt
>
> BP wrote:
> >   Report Released Warning Tourist of Fake Monks in Thailand by Andy of
> >   HoboTraveler.com Travel Blog
> >
> > /Andy of HoboTraveler.com released a video and photo report showing how
> > fake Monks from China are collecting money donations in the Khao San
> > Road tourist area of Bangkok, Thailand./
> >
> > Bangkok, Thailand (PRWEB <http://www.prweb.com/>) November 19, 2008 --
> > Andy of HoboTraveler.com released a video and photo report showing how
> > fake Monks from China are collecting money donations in the Khao San
> > Road tourist area of Bangkok, Thailand.
> >
> > The report explains how normal Buddhist Monks from Thailand do not
> > collect money donations, then explains the differences between a real
> > Monks and a fake Monks in photo and video expose.
> >
> > Read full post with pictures and video by Andy of HoboTraveler.com
> > Travel Blog on this link:
> >
> http://www.hobotraveler.com/2008/11/mafia-of-fake-monks-prey-on-thailand.html
> >
> >
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-- 
Lidewij Niezink, PhD
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lniezink