(THAILAND)
Global Post [Boston, MA]
March 23, 2026
Last month, a prominent Buddhist abbot in Thailand was defrocked after a video of two women physically fighting over him outside his temple went viral.
Soon after, investigators divulged that the abbot of the ancient Wat Bua Kwan temple near Bangkok had maintained long-term relationships with at least six women, regularly sending them explicit messages and spending lavishly on them – for example, paying for their expensive plastic surgeries. Officials are now investigating whether those funds were stolen from his temple.
That incident followed one in late January, when Thai police raided the Phrom Sunthon Monastery in Chonburi province on Thailand’s Gulf coast following complaints that the monks were in possession of drugs and guns. Police found at least one firearm, but also a stash of porn, sex toys and a list of contact details for prostitutes. They arrested four monks, removing them from the temple and banning them from practicing Buddhism. Three of them tested positive for methamphetamines.
Buddhist monks, like other clergy, have been misbehaving since the time of the Buddha more than two millennia ago. However, the sheer scale of cases over the past year has caused an uproar in Thailand, creating headaches for the king and the political and business elite, as well as discrediting a key societal institution.
Some commentators say this reckoning has been a long time coming.
“In Thailand’s deeply feudal clerical system, these monks live in privilege, surrounded by wealth and deference…People prostrate before them…Few dare question them,” wrote Sanitsuda Ekachai, a former editor at the Bangkok Post, in the newspaper. “And let’s be honest – this is not about a few bad monks.”
“Monks must ask themselves: Why did they enter (the) monkhood?” she added. “For spiritual training, or to climb the social ladder and gain wealth and power through the saffron robe?”
The furor kicked off last summer when the abbot of the renowned Wat Rai Khing temple near Bangkok was accused of diverting almost $10 million from the temple’s accounts. Soon after, a scandal erupted at another prestigious temple, Wat Tri Thotsathep Worawihan, also in Bangkok, when investigators divulged that its abbot was being blackmailed by a woman who had extorted millions from more than a dozen monks in exchange for withholding compromising chats, photos and videos. Police found thousands of such files in her possession.
As the scandals involving the so-called Mafia Monks kept coming, Thai officials took action.
In August, police raided more than 200 temples, arresting 181 people including one abbot and 154 monks on charges ranging from drunk driving, embezzlement and money laundering to drug trafficking and transnational crime.
A few months later, the Sangha Supreme Council, which oversees Buddhism in Thailand – including more than 200,000 monks and 40,000 temples – introduced stricter financial reporting requirements on earnings and limits on cash holdings at temples. The National Office of Buddhism called for a law criminalizing damage to the reputation of Buddhism, including through sexual misconduct. Legislators also began considering tougher penalties for monks who commit crimes as well as measures that would make sex with a monk illegal, sparking controversy among women who say monks, not their partners, should be held accountable.
Many Thais say it’s about time.
There has been criticism about the lack of disciplinary measures and accountability for Thai Buddhism for years, especially following a huge scandal in 2017 involving Wirapol Sukphol, a jet-setting monk known for his lavish lifestyle, who was sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for sex offenses, fraud and money laundering.
The problem, say analysts, is that there has been little change because of the institution’s strict hierarchy and close relationships with the king and the Thai elite.
The issue is now creating problems for Thailand’s ruler, say analysts. Thai monarchs are constitutionally bound to protect Buddhism, and the king appoints abbots and other clerics. The current king, Rama X, who is less popular than his father, who died in 2016, has become closer to the clergy to improve his bad-boy image with the public, about 90 percent of whom are Buddhist.
At the same time, members of the business, political and social elite who want to improve their karma sometimes “get a famous monk in their pocket,” Duncan McCargo of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore told the Economist. Digging too deeply into the monks’ behavior could hurt the image of these elites as well.
But some see ongoing investigations, both by the police and the Sangha council, as a key step in rehabilitating the reputation of the institution.
“The important thing is to reveal the truth so that the public can ease their doubts about the innocence of the Sangha,” Prakirati Satasut, a sociology scholar at Bangkok’s Thammasat University told the BBC, referring to the council that oversees Thai Buddhism. “It depends on whether the Supreme Sangha Council will cut off some arms and legs to save the organization.”