…and it doubles as a tent in wet weather.
A health study of Buddhist monks in Thailand has found that nearly half of them are obese.
A study of 246 monks from the Dhammayuttika Nikaya and Mahayana movements in 11 Thai provinces revealed that nearly half of them are clinically obese and suffering from lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.
Tag Archives: Thailand
Thailand: Buddha? Try substituting margarine…
Thailand: Face the wall, my darling, when the Climate Police go by..
“You have the right to remain unsustainable. Any carbon dioxide you emit may be taken down and used against you.”
PHETCHABUN – Early one Thursday morning, a gun was pointed at Ms. Kwanla Saikhumtung, a 34-year-old mother, because she was farming.
The man who pointed the gun was one of ten armed officers from Phu Pha Daeng, the local wildlife sanctuary in Lomsak district. After observing the villagers for three days, the officers finally informed Ms. Kwanla and twelve fellow villagers from Huay Kontha that they were trespassing on wildlife sanctuary land. They demanded that the villagers come to the police station to talk with them….
This incident was the beginning of a seven-year-long legal battle, pitting Ms. Kwanla against the Thai government. She and the other twelve villagers — the youngest only sixteen at the time — were first charged with trespassing.
The real shock, however, came when they were slapped with a 470,000 baht fine for contributing to global warming under the charge of causing environmental damage.
Thailand: Love the King! …or else
They were going to hire doubles to protect the King, but it was cheaper to just buy waxworks
An American has been jailed for two-and-a-half years in Thailand after posting excerpts from a banned book about the country’s monarch online – while living in the U.S.
Joe Gordon, 55, who was born in the Southeast Asian kingdom but has lived in the U.S. for 30 years, translated pages from The King Never Smiles – a critical biography of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej – while living in Colorado five years ago.
But when he visited the country of his birth in May to seek medical treatment for arthritis and high blood pressure, he was arrested and charged under Thailand’s strict lese majeste laws.
Thailand’s lese majeste laws are the harshest in the world. They mandate that people found guilty of defaming the monarchy – including the king, the queen and the heir to the throne – face up to 15 years behind bars. Last month, 61-year-old Amphon Tangnoppakul was sentenced to 20 years in jail for sending four text messages deemed offensive to the crown.
Thailand: People CAN be just as silly without religion…
…they just have to work at it a whole lot harder.
Troops are withdrawing as tensions have eased between Thailand and Cambodia over the disputed ancient hill top temple, Preah Vihear. But a new irritant has emerged that is stirring nationalist sentiment in both countries: ownership of a graceful hand position that is part of traditional dance and shadow plays.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is likely to consider the origins of the jeeb – a hand position where the thumb touches the index finger and the three other fingers are fanned out.
Thailand’s new cultural minister, Sukumol Kunplome, has made ownership of the jeeb a priority….
Thai officials have advised Ms Sukumol that Thailand can also register the jeeb, and other shadow plays, with UNESCO. ”This is the first mission and we will proceed urgently because people are interested,” Ms Sukumol told reporters in Bangkok.
So hand gestures can be copyrighted? Who knew?
Boy, are the Italians going to be in trouble!
US: Catholics take heart!…
…Buddhist priests rape children too.
A Tribune review of sexual abuse cases involving several Theravada Buddhist temples found minimal accountability and lax oversight of monks accused of preying on vulnerable targets.
Because they answer to no outside ecclesiastical authority, the temples respond to allegations as they see fit. And because the monks are viewed as free agents, temples claim to have no way of controlling what they do next. Those found guilty of wrongdoing can pack a bag and move to another temple — much to the dismay of victims, law enforcement and other monks.
“You’d think they’d want to make sure these guys are not out there trying to get into other temples,” said Rishi Agrawal, the attorney for a victim of a west suburban monk convicted of battery for sexual contact last fall. “What is the institutional approach here? It seems to be ignorance and inaction.”
Sound familiar…?
Indonesia: Temple dispute disrupts ASEAN meeting
SMH.
The credibility of the Association of South-East Asian Nations and its aim of becoming a European Union-style security and economic community by 2015 was damaged this weekend as Thailand and Cambodia openly brawled over their deadly dispute over ownership of an 11th-century temple complex.
The sporadic military conflict in the border area where the temple is located has claimed 29 lives and displaced 85,000 people. Despite not being on the formal agenda, it dominated the ASEAN summit in Jakarta.
Peace, harmony, and improving the lives of millions? Sure, but first there’s this magic building we have to sort out..
Australia: ‘Cured’ cancer patients died, court told
SMH.
Mr Sartori replied that 50 per cent of the cure for cancer was positive thinking by the patient. He conceded he had exaggerated about the efficacy of his treatments, insisted he could cure cancer and admitted lying to Australian authorities. ”If any treatment has proved benefits, it is this treatment,” he told the court. ”And I have not violated my Hippocratic oath.”
Five patients died in Perth when Mr Sartori, who at the time was in Thailand and had been barred from entering Australia, directed two registered nurses, via email and telephone, to treat seven cancer patients.
All were given intravenous infusions of caesium chloride, magnesium and potassium, various vitamins and other chemicals. Coffee enemas were administered and there was a dietary regime of juices.
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