Three Buddhist monks are facing expulsion from monkhood after they have been caught ingesting alcohol on New Year’s Day, which is a violation of their rules. Apparently, locals gave rice whiskey to the temple as an providing to their ancestors, however a monk says they drank the alcohol as a way to “deliver the alcohol to the dead folks.”
Residents known as the local police in the central province Kamphaeng Phet, concerned that the monks had been partying and consuming alcohol. Although no alcohol bottles have been found, the police sensed a strong smell of alcohol. Officers say alcohol was also detected throughout alcohol breath tests.
A monk, recognized as Arpat, denied consuming alcohol, however police say he later admitted, saying they drank the whiskey to deliver the alcohol to those that had died and didn’t assume it will be towards the monastic norms.
“ ติดตั้งโซล่าเซลล์บ้าน drank this whiskey so as to ship alcohol to these dead individuals, we were doing an excellent thing by blessing their ancestors and thought this may not violate the principles of being a monk.”