Monks, be good
Re: "Don't limit monks," (PostBag, Oct 16) and "More Meditating, Less Talking Please", (PostBag, Oct 18).
Nowadays monks especially those living in the cities, live as monks like another occupation, such that we don't feel like offering alms because we don't know whether they are genuine monks or not.
We see monks shopping for mobile phones, buying amulets, buying lottery tickets, etc. Monks study just to get the title "Phra Maha" There are so much indulging in desire, so much attachment which is not supposed to be as a monk.
They can't even understand the most basic teachings of the Buddha -- The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path.
Don't argue about now we are in the modern era. If you really have the intention to be a monk, be a good one and be enlightened and teach lay people to understand what the Buddha taught.
There are many good monks around. Don't smear others.
MILLIE TAN
Meditating MPs?
Re: "No, Buddha wouldn't," (PostBag, Oct 22).
Michael Setter's explanation on Zen Buddhism has enlightened me somewhat. I now understand why, when seeing pictures of our leaders in parliament with their eyes closed, they are meditating, not sleeping. Whether their minds have been "confounded" and their thinking stopped as well I'm not sure. But some of the announcements and ideas they've put forward makes me think they are very good practitioners of Zen Buddhism.
RON MARTIN
Covid paranoia
Re: "'Swab hubs' for arriving tourists," (BP, Oct 16).
When will Thai officials abandon their misguided paranoia over the potential for foreign visitors to introduce additional Covid-19 cases to the country? Perhaps those obsessed with screening, swabbing, testing, probing, monitoring and tracking foreigners should look around and recognise that Covid-19 is already ubiquitous in the kingdom. The risk to Thais lies within the country already, not with the visit of a few fully vaccinated foreign tourists. The only thing that the multitude of checks and complicated requirements thrown up for foreign travellers serves to accomplish is to drive them to holiday in more visitor-friendly destinations.
SAMANEA SAMAN
Climate solidarity
Re: "Spirit of climate cooperation faces test in Glasgow," (Opinion, Oct 20).
A fundamental question to be asked before the global climate change negotiations in Glasgow is: Do wealthy countries really mean business and are they sincere in their solidarity? A meaningful, effective global cooperation on climate change is impossible without global solidarity which cannot be spontaneous even in cases of planetary crises.
Yet, we may express the hope that acting in a spirit of global solidarity the 120 members of the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 and China will manage to reach a win-win situation in their negotiations on the matter with the group of developed countries. In this regard, an encouraging sign can be expected from an informal UN diplomatic event scheduled in New York on 26 Oct on climate action and focused on capacities at country level. This event, titled "Delivering Climate Action -- for People, Planet & Prosperity", will highlight best practices and achievements in renewables, in climate finance, and in adaptation.
The value of global solidarity cannot be promoted and enhanced without robust diplomatic action at the bilateral, regional and universal levels.
IOAN VOICU
Sentiency is key
Re: "Life is precious," (PostBag, Oct 21).
In his letter, Paul asks the right and yet also difficult questions. If a human being is not in fact a person, either because it has never reached that point in development, or because something has happened to remove the personhood that had once obtained, then it cannot be murder to kill that person. If those responsible for the human being who is not a person make decision for best interest to painlessly end the life of the human who is not a person, how could that be wrong?
Paul points out that "more medical evidence is coming out showing that the unborn child can feel". This is true. The evidence shows that the foetus can feel pain or has senses such as touch and hearing from an early point in development, as do the foetuses of rabbits, sheep and goats. Paul's wilful vagueness is because the evidence for any characteristic of a person remains zero.
If merely having a heartbeat, more accurately, a detectable murmur in the gestational sac, is evidence of being a person, then there can be no doubt whatsoever that every pig, cow, chicken or fish with a strongly beating heart that we kill to turn into a tasty meal is every bit equally a person and fully deserving of the same legal protection as the six-week old human foetuses of Texas.
There is no slippery slope that so worries Paul. Such talk of slippery slopes is a scare tactic by those who have no sound reasons to back up their unreasoning assault on the rights of actual human persons.
Society is, on the contrary, coming to care more about both actual human persons and also about the suffering of sentient living beings that are not persons. That is why capital punishment is on the way out. That is why animal lives are being increasing protected by legislation to prevent abuse and suffering on factory farms. That is why we are encouraged to put our suffering pets and livestock out of their misery with a quick, painless death.
The lives of all sentient animals matter. The lives of actual persons matter the most. Respecting the right to legal abortion on request gives greater respect to the lives of human persons.
FELIX QUI
Abortion hypocrisy
Re: "Life is precious," (PostBag, Oct 21).
There is no evidence that a three-month old foetus has any mental awareness. (In most American states abortion is legal until the foetus is three months old). Most woman who want abortions are not going to wait until seven to nine months to get it unless there is a health issue involved. Since the "pro-life" people regard woman as baby machines they give zero consideration to the health and well-being of the woman. They also tend to support war and the death penalty, even though innocent people sometimes get executed, and scorn animal rights despite the fact that a cow is far more aware than a foetus. These hypocrites are anything but pro-life.
ERIC BAHRT
Leave it to women
Re: "Life is precious," (PostBag, Oct 21).
There has been much discussion on the subject of abortion, but the thing I find strange is that all of the correspondence appears to have been written by men.
Surely, the only worthwhile comment on this extremely emotive subject can be from a woman, who has taken the terrible decision as to whether or not, to abort the foetus.
MICK BARBER
Treat expats well
I fully agree with Khun Samanea. Covid-19 means everybody's starting off with a clean slate in attracting tourists. Let's use this crisis as a very rare opportunity to clean up our act -- starting with chopping red tape and arrival fees. Give tourists good value for money, treat them as we ourselves would like to be treated and don't be greedy.
Long-term residents are a particularly attractive market segment, for they have an affinity for us already, and are often retirees or have Thai spouses -- with stable incomes. After they've been here for, say, three years, I see no reason for them to have to keep reporting to Immigration every three months. Seeing Immigration only when there's a change, eg, of residence, should do, and if their police record's been clean for three years, we should allow them to own land for their residence. These people are a valuable but untapped source of talent to help us develop in languages and their professional skills as well.
Let's make it easy for foreigners to come help us recover -- for while Thailand has much to offer them, we also have much competition in the world market.
BURIN KANTABUTRA
Re-tests just fine
As a long-term resident who has just been through soft-quarantine, I have no issue with the policy of re-testing for Covid on arrival in Thailand. Why? Besides the positive "optics" intended to reassure the local population, double-testing should detect the extremely small number of fully vaccinated/tested visitors who may have contracted Covid within 72 hours, as well as catch fraudsters with fake documents (or inadequate tests) who may also happen to have active Covid.
But why not allow fully vaccinated/tested Thai nationals and expats with permanent addresses in Thailand to home-quarantine for 24 hours until the test result proves negative? Why oblige them to quarantine in hotels? Surely, it would not be difficult for the authorities to contract-trace these individuals with an extremely low probability of contagion, who are also highly unlikely to abscond?
Or would that option require too much brain power for the politicians calling the shots to consider? Come on guys, no one will even notice yet another policy flip-flop.
MR HOMEBODY, BANGKOK
Scribe nomination
Re: "A prize for Tanee?," (PostBag, Oct 20).
I thank Paul for fine-tuning and correcting the suggestions I made in "Prizes for letter writers", my letter of Oct 17. As my pen name suggests, I am an old geezer. So it is not surprising that I sometimes get things wrong.
I apologise to the revered Burin Kantabutra for inadvertently omitting his name from the list of frequent letter writers.
Letter writers deserve a loftier title. I propose "Scribe", with a capital S, and hereby nominate Khun Burin for the title "Supreme Scribe of the Year," and possibly for all time.
YE OLDE BLOVIATOR
Keeping it brief
Re: "Prizes for letter writers," (PostBag, Oct 17).
Will shortest letter win an award?
CHRIS JEFFERY
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