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| Dried flower bud of "kush," potent cannabis |
(DW News) Buddhist monks arrested in Sri Lanka for smuggling an s-load of cannabis weed (potent "kush") that would have likely addicted many Sri Lankan youths had they not been caught and stopped at the border, the international airport (BIA) in Colombo.
- (10 News Late) 22 Buddhist monks (novice trainee monastics who have not been fully ordained) arrested at airport in giant drug bust, returning from Bangkok, Thailand (that experimented with legalizing cannabis for recreational use but discovered it was a mistake)
- (NewsX) Buddhist
monksnovices shock the Theravada Buddhist nation with cannabis smuggling scandal - (WhyItsTrendingDaily) 22 Buddhist
monkstrainees just got caught with 242 pounds of potent weed at the airport
First, in defense of these Buddhist monastics, it is important to note that they (most) were not "monks" (bhikkhus) but rather novices (trainees, samaneras) during a probationary period that can last years as they learn and put into practice the Buddhist Monastic Code (Vinaya and Patimokkha).
Second, of all the rules to break, drug dealing cannabis -- as horrific and condemnable as it is -- is not the worst thing they could have done. The four worst things they could have done are "defeat" (parijika) offenses: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying about spiritual attainments. Or they might have committed one of the five heinous acts (anantarika-karma, deeds that bear bitter fruit in the very next life):
- killing one's mother (matricide)
- killing one's father (patricide)
- killing an arhat (arahant, fully enlightened being)
- Wounding a Tathāgata (a buddha, silent or teaching)
- Creating a schism in the Monastic Community (Sangha).
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| We stayed behind in the monastery sweeping. |
Did the "businessman" sponsor put them up to it to gain financially, and will they say they knew nothing about it?
There are Five Precepts all Theravada lay Buddhists vow to maintain:
- abstain from killing
- abstain from stealing
- abstain from sexual misconduct
- abstain from lying
- abstain from intoxicants that occasion heedlessness.
The very minimum precepts for monks-in-training (samaneras or "baby samanas") are the Eight Precepts or Ten Precepts, abstaining from harming, taking what is not given or handling "gold and silver" (money), sex (all erotic activity), lying, intoxicants, eating before dawn or after noon, using high and luxurious seats or beds, dancing, singing, self-beautification, viewing lowbrow entertainments and shows...
If one were to follow the major rules and the minor (etiquette) rules, it would never come to this unless, as we say, they were cynically used by the businessman drug kingpin as "mules" to unknowingly transport drugs into the very uptight and traditional island Buddhist country of Sri Lanka (Ceylon, Serendib) with a sizeable Tamil Hindu population and significant number of Muslims and Christians.
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