Indian actor Gagan Malik has been ordained at Wat That Thong in Bangkok to study Lord Buddha's teachings on spiritual enlightenment and inner peace in depth, after being cast in a biographical film based on the life of the Buddha.
Malik pocketed the Best Actor Award at the World Buddhist Film Festival organised by the United Nations for his role as Lord Buddha in the 2013 Sinhalese film Sri Siddhartha Gauthama.
According to a media report, he was ordained yesterday at 10am with a handful of close friends in attendance and will remain in the monkhood for 15 days until Feb 24.
Before entering the Thai monastery, Malik informed the Tri Rattanaphum Club he co-founded that he wanted to study the monks' practices and spread their teachings in India, to encourage more people to learn more about Buddhism.
Despite Buddhism having originated in India, Buddhists make up just 1-2% of of the country's population.
Malik said he believes in karma and Buddhism's view of the cycle of life. He said he may have performed some good deeds in Thailand in a previous life, which is why he was fortunate enough to come back here to study more about the Buddha's teachings and know himself better.
"With my career as an actor, it may help me to act as a role model for Indians to follow in his [the Buddha's] footsteps," he said.
"Afterwards, I want to teach people there the actual way of being Buddhist, as well as promote Buddhism."
"At least, I want to spread the instruction and bring the dhamma [the doctrine or universal truths] back to the country where the Buddha was born," he added.