Monk stories

Went to see a monk at Chetawan Temple in Petaling Jaya about Hong Mei & Gary's wedding blessing that Gary wanted me to check up about.

The monk had just arrived in KL after a time in South Thailand. He was telling us his tale of being chased by possible ‘assassins’. He was in a pick-up truck driven by a devotee on his way to inspect a construction of a temple in another district when he noticed two motorcyclists suddenly revving up and chasing down their vehicle. He immediately instructed the driver to speed up. And if they couldn’t out run them, to actually run them off the road! They managed to evade the motorcyclist when one of them fell off his bike and the other lost the chase.

He said that his heart was pounding the whole time and he thought he may not make it that day. No shots were fired.

People living in the area incluing monks are very aware and vigilant about these matters and have in fact been advised by the military to act in that way, ie run them over or run them off the road if there is any suspicion.

He also related another event where there was a high profile ‘merit-making’ ceremony in Yala town. This town has been one of the main urban areas hit by the violence in far South Thailand. As it was an event attended by the Prime Minister to bolster support of the ‘success’ of curbing the insurgency, security was tight and all attendees, both lay-people and monks went through a security check. He was surprised that many of the monks had handguns in thier bags! He remarked that this is against monk Vinaya/rules but… even if it was ‘to scare off' attackers with a gun-shot into the air.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4696829.stm