A Buddhist monastery in Thailand is under investigation after authorities discovered more than 40 bodies on site which were allegedly used for meditation practices, police said Sunday.
Forty-one cadavers were found at Pa Nakhon Chaibovorn monastery in Thailand's Phichit province on Saturday, a senior police officer told AFP.
"The bodies were accompanied with death and body donation certificates," he said, adding that so far no charges have been filed.
He said police were reaching out to relatives of the deceased to confirm that the bodies were donated willingly.
...
The search came days after police discovered 12 bodies at another monastery in neighboring Kamphaeng Phet province on Wednesday, according to Thai local media.
The head of the Phichit province monastery, Phra Ajarn Saifon Phandito, told Thai PBS television channel that the use of corpses was part of a "meditation technique" he developed.
"Many of the people who come to learn are abbots and all these monks... pass on the knowledge," he said. "I don't know how many have adopted my technique."
He also told another local TV station that "practitioners meditate in pavilions that hold coffins with the human remains."
Kom Pattarakulprasert, director of the Phichit Office of Buddhism, told the Bangkok Post that the inclusion of bodies in meditation was unusual.
"I asked Phra Ajarn Saifon Phandito if there were any cadavers and was told that there were none," Kom told the outlet. "But when journalists discovered the 41 bodies, I was taken aback by the conflicting stories. I will discuss whether this practice is appropriate with the local head of the clergy."
Ok, how the hell do you use a dead body for meditation??
Rubber duck method
I could see it working as a stand in for a Catholic confession, but I’m struggling to see the use case here. Please elaborate.
Sometimes you need a focal point for meditation. https://blog.calm.com/blog/focused-meditation the juxtaposition of a silent meditation method with a programming method where you explain the problem to an inanimate object tickles my brain.
Tips on staying still and quiet
It doesn't say who the bodies belong to. There are quite a few mummified Buddhist monks that are venerated, some having undergone self-mummification as an ultimate form of meditation. So I could see a situation where a monastery has a number of such revered monks lying around. 40+ seems like a lot though.
40 does seem excessive. Maybe some have been repurposed as benches or something for those meditating to sit on. That’s the only way my brain can make that headline work.
The only thing I could think of, is if you can clear your mind with a dead body smell around you're probably doing pretty well with meditation. Though they mention certificates and all so they sound like they may have been passed that time, so who knows.