Susan M. Darlington,
"The Ordination of a Tree: The Thai Buddhist Environmental Movement",
Sunny Press
p.209
.......
Four months later, in April 1998, Luangta Maha Bua began his “Help the Country
Project.” His aim was also to help build the nations’s foreign reserve, but
his targets were more ambitious than Phra Payom’s. He requested his supporters
to donate at least Bt 4,000 each for his fund. By July, his fund gave U.S. $1.2
million and 400 kilograms of gold to the Bank of Thailand, with reportedly
another 563 million baht and 191 kilograms of gold collected to be handed over
at a later date. In a controversial move, that October Luangta Maha Bua
threatened suicide if his followers didn't raise an additional 336 million
baht by the middle of the month. In response, the Government Lottery Office
donated 100 million baht to the fund, and the head of Krating Daeng,the popular
drink company, promised another large donation.
The question that emerged was whether this is an appropriate role for monks.
Particularly through threatening suicide, Luangta Maha Bua changed the terms of
giving from one of dana, a selfless act of generosity, to one of coercion. Even
while funds came in, the monk was criticized publicly for devaluing the true
meaning of Buddhist teachings and dana. People raised the concern of the
potential for misuse or corruption, drawing further criticism toward the sangha
for potential mismanagement.
..............
註：：
Susan M. Darlington, Dean of the School of Critical Social Inquiry and
professor of anthropology and Asian studies, received a B.A. in anthropology
and history from Wellesley College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from
the University of Michigan.
Her research, based on extensive fieldwork in Thailand, examines the work of
Buddhist monks engaged in rural development, environmental conservation and
other forms of social activism. The broader questions she addresses in her
research and teaching include understanding the changing social, political,
and historical contexts of religion, environmentalism and human rights, and
the creative use of ritual for social change.
She also teaches about socially engaged Buddhism, religious movements, and
Southeast Asian studies. She is actively involved in the struggle for human
rights in Burma.
達靈頓教授跟摩訶布瓦無冤無仇。達靈頓教授跟摩訶布瓦無冤無仇。
達靈頓教授沒必要抹黑摩訶布瓦。摩訶布瓦做了威脅自殺來脅迫自己的信徒佈施