Everyone knows that religion is a delicate subject but when an issue concerning Buddhism arises, not many of us look at it with sensitivity. The case in point is the controversy over the movie Arbat (which is now called Arpat), which threw a lot of Thai Buddhists into heated debate for weeks after the release of its trailer last month.
This movie features an unruly boy who is forced by his parents to be ordained as a novice at a remote temple. However, he continues his rebellious life and gets into a relationship with a girl in the village. While misbehaving, he encounters a series of events which lead to the revelation of misconduct by a senior monk in the same temple.
Due to the plot, the title (Arbat, or Arpat, meaning a breach of monastic codes of conduct) and some provocative scenes that appear in the trailer, several Buddhist groups came out to voice concerns that the film might tarnish the reputation of Buddhism as it portrays monks in a negative light. They demanded the Ministry of Culture have the filmmaker revise the content, saying it could lead to conflict.
But real conflict ensued once the ministry's censorship board decided on Oct 12 to ban the movie on the grounds that it is blasphemous. The ban prompted many people to lash out at the censors on social media.
However, the controversy was subdued four days later when the board approved the film's re-edited version which was immediately rolled out to the big screen last Friday night, only one day behind its original scheduled release. The new version has been renamed Arpat and attached with an 18-plus rating. Most importantly, many scenes that triggered the ban in the first place have been removed.
I went to see this movie and enjoyed it, too. I think it wouldn't have received such heavy criticism if we had known before that it's only a ghost movie which teaches us a lot about good deeds, bad deeds and the laws of karma.
This is quite a relief for many concerned Buddhists. However, what still worries me is certain opinion voiced by a majority of people who earlier shared their opposition against the movie's ban on social media and also in the press over the preceding weeks.
It's understandable to me when they say they don't mind seeing bad monks in a movie because they do exist in real life. But I can't agree when they say it's good to have this kind of movie because it helps to expose the ugly truth about monks to the public.
We can't deny that our Sangha community has long been plagued with many scandals. Reports about corrupt monks emerge on nearly a daily basis. This is a truth we have to face and a long-lasting problem those in power have to tackle seriously.
But we should not ignore the fact that there are still many good monks out there who have strictly followed in the footsteps of Buddha. They are a source of inspiration for many other monks as well as good men and we should, instead, pay more attention to their stories.
Buddhism is a religion of wisdom, though most of the lessons are not easy to decipher. But the more we get down to study them attentively, the higher level of understanding we are blessed with. This is quite important as it will enable us to look at the conflicts within our Buddhist community with a more profound perspective.
All Buddhist followers are bound to help preserve the religion so that newcomers have the opportunity to reap the spiritual benefits from Buddha's teachings, like we do.
So I see no point feeding them with any form of unconstructive stories about some bad guys in saffron robes, especially when their sense of the religion is still limited. I'm afraid this will only discourage them from getting closer to the religion.
You might call me over-sensitive but I think the Arbat controversy reflects a sad truth that many of our Buddhist fellows out there have taken this issue too lightly.
Honestly, I don't mind if they are happy watching a movie filled with awful accounts of rotten monks but they should, at least, think twice before they air remarks which might possibly do the religion more harm than good.
I don't mind, either, if a filmmaker wants to tell this kind of story.
I only wish that they know the limits and spare feelings for other Buddhists who just want to carry on their duty to protect the religion.
Patcharawalai Sanyanusin is a writer for the Life section of the Bangkok Post.