Thailand’s Aids temple offers life lessons in death

From AFP

Ice Wepawadi has not told her parents she has Aids, even though she is only days from death at this Buddhist temple hidden away on a Thai hillside.

The emaciated 25-year-old lies in the bed she has occupied for the past month at the Wat Phra Baht Nam Phu temple, a hospice founded 17 years ago by a monk to care for those living with a disease that is still considered taboo in Thailand.

“My family, my dad, my mum – nobody knows I came here. I just told them that I went to work. I don’t want to tell them. I feel they cannot take it,” Ice told AFP.

Beckhams upset monks

From Yahoo

David and Victoria Beckham have upset Buddhist monks in Thailand.

The monks are upset about a state-of-the-art mosquito exterminator installed at the couple’s recently renovated new home on the Thai island of Koh Samui.

The religious men – who believe all animals, no matter how small, are equal – have reportedly suggested the former Spice Girl and her soccer star husband find a non-harmful solution to the blood-sucking insects

Thailand’s three gems losing their gleam?

From UPI Asia

Thailand’s highest Buddhist organization, the Supreme Sangha, is one of the three jewels described in Buddhism. The three – the Lord Buddha himself, the Dharma doctrine, and the Sangha clergy – are the three pillars that practicing Buddhists found their faith upon.

That is, they used to.

Today, as Buddha warned over 2,000 years ago, “enemies” of Buddhism are creeping in from the inside.

Loss of direction is hardly a new issue to those of any faith around the world, and Buddhism is no different. Many adherents of basic Buddhism branch off, in practice and principle, to either found their own sect or to follow an already established one that does not adhere to original Buddhist teachings.

Buddhist temple builds refuge from refuse

From Reuters

A Thai Buddhist temple has found an environmentally friendly way to reach nirvana, using discarded bottles to build everything on the premises from a crematorium to toilets.

The Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew temple, about 600 km (370 miles) northeast of Bangkok, is better known as “Wat Lan Kuad” or “Temple of Million Bottles” because of the glittering from countless glass containers on the walls.

Religious Rebirthing – Buddhists Pay to ‘Die’ in Pink Coffins

From Trend Hunter Magazine

Offering the ultimate in second chances, a Buddhist temple in Thailand is offering believers an opportunity to ‘die’ in a pink coffin. For a fee of around $5, they can rise up newborn, and make a fresh start in life.

Nine big, pink coffins dominate the grand hall of the temple, and every day hundreds of people take their turns climbing in for a few moments while monks chant a dirge. Then the visitors clamber out again cleansed of their past.