Early this month I came across an interesting news story about a school in Ubon Ratchathani that was accused of forcing its students to join the activities of a Chinese religious sect presented under the guise of dhamma training.
According to the report, the school hosted a one-day camp to promote dhamma for its Matthayom 5 students. It turned out to have nothing to do with Buddha's teachings but was more of a cult-like ritual.
The students were given a talk about death before they joined what the lecturer claimed to be a ceremony to eliminate their names from the list of the "angel of death".
In the process, each of them had to write their name on a piece of paper said to be their passport to heaven, then it was burned to suggest that their names were taken from the death list and they would be protected by sacred spirits.
During the ceremony, curtains were pulled down on all windows and doors were locked. The students had to crouch on the floor, recite five sacred words and repeatedly prostrate to an altar in front of them.
The lecturer also told them not to reveal the mantra to anyone, saying it was a secret from heaven. Even though some students cried out of fear and wanted to leave, they were cajoled to stay.
The ceremony ended with an anointment on their foreheads, and then students had to give their home addresses to the lecturer who claimed it was meant to help protect their families.
Once the story was exposed on social media, the school director was heavily criticised. However, he claimed that he wasn't aware of the activities and would set up a committee to look into the matter.
That was the first time I learned that this practice belonged to Yiguandao, known as Latthi Anuttaratham in Thai. It is a Chinese salvationist religious sect that worships the Infinite Mother, also known as the Eternal Venerable Mother, believed to be the primordial force of the universe.
The story caught my attention because I myself once joined the same ritual 30 years ago. At that time, I was still in my teens and my aunt, who had a strong faith in Chinese deities, took me to a group of worshippers at a house not far from hers to perform what she said was a ceremony to pay respect to God.
From my faint memory, the ceremony there was similar to that at the school. But at that house we lit a lot of incense, filling the room with smoke.
However, one thing that I still remember is the mantra that we were told to recite whenever we wanted to achieve something. We were warned not to say it out loud or it would bring us a disaster. That mantra comprised the very same set of five Chinese words that were taught to the young students in Ubon Ratchathani. That was when I realised this eccentric group still existed in our country.
Back then, I didn't feel scared nor impressed. Still, I was fortunate that my aunt didn't push me to go back to the group after I told her I wasn't interested.
The incident at the school made me wonder how the teacher dared make the students undertake the strange ceremony.
Personally, I have nothing against any spiritual belief and I respect everyone's decision to adopt a faith of their own choice. But I think pushing cult beliefs that are clearly unreasonable on young students is dangerous.
There are many weird sects in this world and stories of their crazy acts, and in many cases gruesome behaviour of the leaders, have been exposed in the media from time to time.
According to psychologists and therapists in the West, low self-esteem, isolation, fear and life dissatisfaction are among the reasons people join a cult. Even though not all cults are bad, many are destructive and can inflict a dangerous and lasting effect on the victims.
Our regular religions have long been a spiritual refuge for people around the world. They give us constructive guidelines and support to live better lives. We might not be able to stop adults from swaying to other deviant beliefs but we can at least protect our children -- and schools must play a role on this.
As a Buddhist, I believe that if we can cultivate Buddhist teachings in our children, they will be able to grow up to be happy adults who can master their sense of reasoning in leading their lives.
Then, we won't have to worry they might fall under the influence of any cults.
Patcharawalai Sanyanusin is a writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post.