Scandals involving misbehaving monks have become so common they are no longer shocking.
Still, the latest allegation against a young man, who appears to be in the monkhood but has posted images and messages on his Facebook page suggesting he lives an alternate life as a lay transvestite, raises some pertinent questions that deserve wider discussion.
The allegation was made by the People's Network against Attempts to Sabotage the Nation, Religion and Monarchy, which filed a formal complaint with police on Thursday.
The network's chairman, Songkan Atchariyasap, said he received complaints from his members against a Facebook page which displays photos of a man wearing what appears to be a Buddhist monk's robe paired with others which show a person of similar appearance wearing revealing women's clothing.
Messages on the page suggest the man serves as a monk by day, while going out at night as a cross-dresser.
Many messages on the page which appear to be conversations among monks and novices are also sexual in nature, which is a breach of monkhood discipline, the complaint said.
Some posts on the page suggest misbehaviour, such as tales of fighting amongst novices or about monks earning hundreds of thousands of baht through ambiguous activities.
It's true that the case is not as damaging as that of Wirapol Sukphol, better known as Luang Pu Nen Kham, last year.
That so-called high-flying monk, whose fraudulent activities and sexual debauchery, including the alleged rape of a minor, were exposed after photos of him with luxury items on a private jet were spread online. Although he was defrocked, the former monk remains at large despite being wanted on eight criminal charges.
What the case of the alleged cross-dressing monk has provoked, however, are issues that are closer to home and perhaps more relevant to contemporary living.
The first thing to take into consideration is that this particular case should not be used to forge bias against homosexual monks as a whole.
Since Theravada Buddhism as practised in Thailand is heterosexual in nature, in the sense that it recognises only male or female as human genders, issues such as the right of gay men to enter the monkhood or what would be considered acceptable behaviour for gay monks have remained unexplored.
As a result, they remain unresolved, with no clear guidelines on how to proceed when a challenge does arise, and judgements are simply left up to individuals.
Mr Songkan showed an admirable attitude when he emphasised that he did not take issue with gay men entering the monkhood.
His objection was rather based on how in this case, the men who had sought ordination failed to follow an appropriate code of conduct, he said.
The question remains, however, as to what should be considered "appropriate" for homosexual monks.
It's obvious that to indulge in sexual activities, dress up like a transvestite while partying at night or engage in fights or income-earning activities are not appropriate, but how about speaking or acting in a feminine way? Can homosexual monks remain venerable while openly identifying as gay?
The Facebook page at the centre of Mr Songkan's complaint is not the only one that belongs to a homosexual monk or novice. There are hundreds out there. One study claimed many gay novices and monks took to posting inappropriate images of themselves online because they are forced to enter the monkhood out of a belief it will "cure" them.
Suppressing one Facebook page won't resolve the issue. Society simply needs to understand these people better.