OPINION

Dhamma bums

Re: "Senior monk arrested for B110m embezzlement", (Online, March 8).

The history of Buddhism is enshrined in every temple in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. Sadly, Buddha's "dhamma" teaching has been distorted to the extent that temples now look like plush museums or casinos. Instead of training the patrons to focus on mindfulness, they are infested with empty rituals, amulet selling, lotteries, caged birds and other animals. Many rituals labelled as "sacred" involve tonnes of money. Even a solemn cremation ceremony has turned into a spectacle.

Can Buddha's teaching be brought back to its purity? Unless the temples are turned into learning centres or community "ashrams", the corruption will continue.

I have seen Thai monks riding in Mercedes. As Groucho Marx said, "While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your misery."

Re: "Beyond belief", (PostBag, March 5).

I usually don't comment back, but Mr Barth, with your writing that you are not a fan (like, I am not a fan of football) of Mr Putin, and with your wording "he is not a nice man", you are mocking everyone who is suffering in Ukraine.

This "not a nice man" has attacked a nuclear power plant, bombed civilian targets and extinguished independent media in his own country.

Not surprising, then, those neighbouring democratic countries have desperately turned to Western democracies.

Somehow the trust in democratic systems seems to be bigger than in autocratic ones.

Re: "Asia-Pacific travel faces bumpy recovery: Booking.com", (BP, March 8).

No surprise why the famous tourism company made that statement.

Travel in places such as South America and Mexico seems almost back to normal while Asia seems stuck in pandemic mode.

For example, not until this week were the Philippines and Bali made quarantine-free for vaccinated tourists, while this has been the case for quite a while in many Western countries, with some not even requiring vaccination passes.

In this light compare the responses by countries such as the US and the UK at the beginning of the pandemic to, say, China and Taiwan.

The former countries imposed less severe restrictions and thus opened up to tourists sooner.

Re: "Gas supply options sorted", (BP, March 3).

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said he would keep coal-fired power plants in reserve should the Russia-Ukraine conflict lead to gas shortages.

Instead, Germany should re-emphasise nuclear power production over fossil fuel use.

It can be noted that nuclear power is a zero-emission system.

Re: "Govt aims to fast-track bill's passing", (BP, March 5).

A recent Public Health Ministry report said the cannabis plant "has also been developed into a variety of health products, generating more than 7 billion baht for growers nationwide".

So, for example, if there were 10,000 commercial marijuana growers in Thailand they will have already earned 700,000 baht each. Is that correct, Mr Anutin?

Perhaps a remedy for cognitive impairment should be administered to the authors of that report. Or could it already be a case of too much weed?