Latest news with #Sangha
Perth Now
23-07-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Jason Sangha pushes Test case with unbeaten double ton
Jason Sangha has given his Test prospects a massive boost after striking an unbeaten double century for Australia A in their drawn first-class clash with Sri Lanka A in Darwin. In reply to Sri Lanka's dominant 6-485 declared, Sangha posted 202no off 379 balls as Australia A reached a monster 4-558 before the game was declared a draw on the cusp of tea on day four. Opener Jake Weatherald (183) led the way for the hosts on Tuesday in a knock that gave his own Test hopes a boost. But it was the Sangha show on Wednesday. The 25-year-old began the day unbeaten on 121, and the skipper continued to pile on the pain on the way to his maiden double century in first-class cricket. Sangha's previous highest score in first-class cricket was 151, but he blew that away on the batter-friendly deck at the Marrara Cricket Ground. Only 10 wickets fell across the four days, with the two-match series finishing in a dull 0-0 draw. Sangha's star is well and truly on the rise. He struck an unbeaten 126 to lead South Australia to a tense four-wicket victory in last season's Sheffield Shield final against Queensland, helping the Redbacks break a 29-year title drought. Sangha averaged 78.2 across six Shield games last season, and he looms as part of generation next for the Australian Test team. Eighteen-year-old Oliver Peake is also part of that next generation, with his 92 off 178 balls against Sri Lanka A on Wednesday further showcasing his talents. It came after Peake scored an unbeaten 55 off just 38 balls during Australia A's series-opening one-day win over Sri Lanka A on July 4. Meanwhile, Weatherald's century on Tuesday came at the perfect time, with the opener a real chance to be called up into the Test arena for this summer's Ashes if he can keep his form going. Australia's current opening pairing of Usman Khawaja and Sam Konstas flopped badly in the recent Test series against the West Indies, raising questions about whether it's time to inject Weatherald. Weatherald led the Shield run charts last season with 906 runs at an average of 50.3, and his scores of 54 and 183 across his two first-class hitouts against Sri Lanka A will further bolster his cause.
Bangkok Post
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Bangkok Post
Clergy in need of control, not reform
After a long silence during Thailand's biggest sex scandal in the clergy, the Ecclesiastical Council and the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) have finally spoken out. Their big idea? A new law to imprison the offending monks and women involved in the scandal. This move misses the mark. It treats monk misconduct as isolated and perpetrated by a few bad apples, with the rot at the heart of the structure left largely intact. More worrying still is how the clergy is using this scandal not to clean up the system but to tighten its grip on power. The proposal to punish rogue monks and their sexual partners is part of a bill initiated by the NOB and the clergy, saying it's a timely tool to protect Buddhism. A close look at the draft law reveals otherwise. For starters, the move will offer legal aid for monks facing criminal charges. This signals a move to shield wrongdoers instead of ensuring justice and accountability. If passed, the clergy would also gain sweeping powers to punish anyone accused of harming Buddhism's image. This power could easily be abused to go after whistleblowers and critics calling for Sangha reform. This is censorship to protect the clergy, pure and simple. Under the proposal, critics would face the same jail term as monks and their partners in sex scandals -- up to seven years and/or fines up to 140,000 baht. Monks who seek to profiteer from blessing amulets or predicting the lottery are also liable to similar legal penalties. A new national committee will implement the law. This bureaucracy means more funds, positions and patronage for the NOB and the clergy, without solving the real problems. Another move from the Sangha is to limit temples to keeping no more than 100,000 baht in cash. The rest must go into bank accounts. But will it work? Who monitors these accounts? Who gets to see where donations go? Not the community; not the public; not donors. Sex scandals, temple corruption and widespread misconduct all stem from structural decay. At the core is a clergy steeped in authoritarianism but starved of spiritual discipline. First of all, the clergy's management structure is outdated and dysfunctional. The Ecclesiastical Council consists of frail, elderly monks who lack a professional clerical secretariat to carry out reform. Proposals from younger monks to set up this secretariat are blocked because change threatens the old guard. Monks' education also bypasses spiritual training. When status and power come without self-discipline, abuse follows. Also, there is little effort to make the teachings resonate with today's world. The focus remains on absolute obedience to the autocratic, feudal system. Meanwhile, monks freely handle money despite the Buddha's explicit ban. Temples hold vast assets. Yet abbots have total control under the current Sangha law. Without external audits or oversight, corruption thrives. The answer isn't to jail women. It's to ensure temple finances are transparent with regular audits and public oversight. Return to the Vinaya, the monastic code of conduct. By drafting laws to punish laypeople, the clergy violates both the Vinaya and the boundary between religion and the secular world, which is deeply troubling. The Vinaya lays down rules for monks only, not the public. The Buddha never gave punishments to laypeople; that's the job of civil law. If monks break the monastic code, such as by breaking celibacy or abusing temple funds, they are disrobed and banned from monkhood for life under the Vinaya. If they commit crimes, they are prosecuted under state law like any citizen. The clergy's power to punish laypeople -- critics or monks' sexual partners -- is a dangerous overreach. It intrudes on civil space and blurs the line between religious and state authority. This drive for control reveals the clergy's real priorities: image, power and impunity, not spiritual integrity. Right now, the government funds temples and protects their status. In return, monks stay silent on social injustice. This drains the clergy of its moral force. The clergy cannot win public respect through punishment or censorship, but by returning to the Buddha's path: a life of simplicity, service and spiritual depth. Punishing rogue monks is necessary. But punishing laypeople and expanding clerical power? That's not reform, but retreat.
India.com
18-07-2025
- India.com
Who Is Wilawan Emsawat? Thai Woman Who Trapped Monks With 80,000 Nudes, Social Media And Extorted Rs 100 Cr In Blackmail
Thailand is facing one of the worst and shocking sex scandals. Shocking because monks are involved. The accused is Wilawan Emsawat. The victims are monks and abbots among others. They were lured using social media. Then, their intimate videos were recorded. The same was used to blackmail them. Police have arrested the woman who was identified as Wilawan Emsawat. She lured Buddhist monks into sexual relationships to break their vow of celibacy and then used the videos/nudes to blackmail them and extort money. According to reports, at least nine abbots and senior monks involved in the scandal have been cast out of the monkhood. The Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau said that they found messages and intimate videos involving several Buddhist leaders on her phones. They also discovered that she had used the blackmail money to spend heavily on illegal online gambling. Who Is Wilawan Emsawat? Wilawan Emsawat, also known as "Sika Golf," was arrested at her upscale residence in Nonthaburi, just outside Bangkok. The woman, in her mid-30s, is now facing charges including extortion, money laundering, and possession of stolen property. Police allege that Wilawan had sexual relationships with at least nine Buddhist monks. Several of them reportedly confessed to these relationships, which allegedly began after she contacted them on social media. One monk said he had been in a long-term affair with her and had even received a car as a gift—until he discovered she was involved with another monk, after which she began demanding money, said reports. Authorities believe Wilawan earned roughly 385 million baht (about Rs 102 crore) over three years through blackmail. Investigators say they found over 80,000 explicit photos and videos featuring her and various monks, all recorded at her home. These materials were allegedly used to extort money from her victims. According to media reports, the scandal came to light in June when the abbot of a Bangkok monastery abruptly left the monkhood. Police say he fled after being blackmailed by Wilawan, who later claimed he fathered her child. A Senate committee has now suggested changing laws to criminalize women who have sexual relationships with monks—a proposal that has sparked backlash from critics who argue that men should be equally accountable for their actions. Scandals within Thailand's Buddhist clergy, known as the Sangha, often involve either sex or money. But the involvement of such senior monks in this case has made it particularly explosive.
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Farmers to hold padyatra to mark Martyrs' Day
Hubballi: Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha along with Hasiru Sene will organise a padyatra on Monday to mark the 45th Farmers' Martyrs' Day, said district president of Sangha Farooq Killedar. The padyatra will begin at Hubballi Kittur Rani Channamma Circle and end at the Dharwad DC's Office, Killedar said on Wednesday. Homage will be paid to farmers who laid down their lives, he said. Sangha's state president Kodihalli Chandrashekhar will join the padyatra and present various demands. These include the implementation of Mahadayi project, eight-hour power supply for farmers' pumpsets, Rs 4,000 support price for sugarcane, insurance coverage for sugarcane crops and immediate assistance for farmers affected by rainfall. Prior to its commencement, leaders and office-bearers will visit Navalgund and Naragund to pay respects at the farmers' martyrs' memorial.
Scroll.in
16-07-2025
- General
- Scroll.in
‘At his feet I pay homage, cupping my hands in reverence': The Buddha as man, animal, and god
Homage to the Bhagavan, the enlightened one, the fully awakened Buddha. For many hundreds of thousands of births, immeasurable benefit to the world has been brought about by the leader of the world: the great sage. At his feet I pay homage, cupping my hands in reverence to the teaching, and bowing down to the Sangha, the vessel of all honour! I have cut through obstacles by the great power resulting from the merit of this homage to the three jewels: For the birth stories, starting with 'The True Story Jataka,' taught long ago by the brilliant sage, act by act, births in which, for a long time, the Teacher, the guide dedicated to the salvation of the world, brought the ingredients for awakening to ripeness – for acquiring all these birth stories, long recited together under the name of 'Jataka' by the chanters and compilers of the Buddha's teaching, the Elder Atthadassina approached me and inquired, hoping to preserve this lineage story of the Buddha. Atthadassina lives apart from the world, always in the company of other monks; I was also asked in the same way by the wise and calm Buddhamitta, who was born in the lineage of mahimsasaka, and is knowledgable in method; and in the same way by Buddhadeva, also a wise monk. So, this commentary on the birth stories, which illustrates the splendour of the inconceivable actions of a great man, I will recite, in the way those who live in the Great Monastery explain it. May good people grasp fully what I am saying! And this commentary on the birth stories will be comprehensible to listeners when I have explained the far origin, the near origin, and the recent origin – so long as they have understood it from its beginning. So, I will recount it, after explaining and making clear the three origins. The division into these three origins from the beginning should be understood as follows: The course of the story of the Great Being's existence, from the time that he made a resolution to become a Buddha at the feet of Dipankara to his appearance in the Tusita heaven after falling away from his life as Vessantara, is called the far origin. The course of the story from his falling away from the Tusita to his attainment of awakening on the ground by the Bodhi Tree is called the near origin. And the recent origin is found in all the various places at which he stayed on his travels, in this place and that. Now follows the far origin. The story of Sumedha They say that a hundred thousand eons and four incalculable epochs ago, there was a city called Amaravati. In that city lived a Brahman called Sumedha. He was respected, being of irreproachable birth, completely pure descent on both mother's and father's side for seven generations: a man of a noble line, of handsome appearance, good-looking, friendly, and endowed with an excellent, lotus-like complexion. He applied himself only to his Brahmanic studies, not taking on anything else. While he was still young, his parents died. Then, a minister who was in charge of his wealth brought the accounts book and opened the rooms filled with gold, silver, jewels, pearls, and other valuables. He said: 'Young man, so much belonged to your mother, so much to your father, so much to your grandparents and great-grandparents.' Pointing out to him the wealth inherited from seven generations, he said: 'Guard this well.' The wise Sumedha reflected, 'When my parents and all the rest of my ancestors passed on to another world, they could not take even one little coin with them. Is it right for me to try to take it with me?' So, after telling the king, he had a drum beaten around the city, gave his wealth to the people at large, and went out into homelessness as an ascetic. To make this matter clear, the story of Sumedha needs to be told. Although it is given in full in the Buddhavamsa, it is not so clearly explained because it is in verse. I will tell it here, with sentences at intervals explaining the verses. Four incalculable epochs and a hundred thousand eons ago, there was a city, resounding with ten sounds, called Amaravati or Amara, about which this is said in the Buddhavamsa: A hundred thousand eons and four incalculable epochs ago, there was a city called Amara – Deathless – beautiful and delightful. It was filled with the ten sounds and was abundant in food and drink combined: The trumpeting of elephants, the neighing of horses, drums, conches, carriages, and the shouting of offers of food and drink: 'Eat! Drink!'
