Scandal: Buddhist monks indulge in Poker, drinks in hand

Sunday, July 15, 2012

In South Korea, a video posted on the Internet has created an enormous scandal. It shows Buddhist monks playing Poker in vulgar fashion, smoking cigarettes and consuming alcohol to excess. In the span of several hours, the eight men appearing in the video literally desecrated the code of conduct of the Buddhist religion.

Is the temptation of the game responsible?

The entire County of Janseong has had to submit to the inquisitive regard of its neighbors, so compromising was the video published on the Internet. One can clearly see on it eight Buddhist monks from that county taking immense pleasure in playing Poker, with cigarettes and liquor bottles galore. They even blew several thousand euros in the course of a single evening! This quasi-theatrical demonstration of excess of every kind is going to entail heavy penalties, given that the community of the wise Buddha does not tolerate such taboos. Indeed, as in every religion, to indulge excessively is to sin.

"While the eight monks who probably gave in to the temptation of gambling, tobacco and alcohol harm were wrong, they also risk losing their status." 

While the eight monks who probably gave in to the temptation of gambling, tobacco and alcohol harm were wrong, they also risk losing their status. Indeed, religious precepts are not the only thing to come into play in this terrible affair. The government itself also has the right to be heard. One may recall that in South Korea, gaming circles and casinos are accepted only within tourist areas. It is thus officially forbidden to play casino games like Poker, Blackjack or slots outside these zones; the County of Janseong is not one of them.

Monks turned outlaws

Of the eight monks with intolerable behavior, six are members of the executive committee of the Order of Jogye. They have decided to relinquish their duties, being aware of the gravity of their actions. While the penalties they will have to incur are not yet known, it should be noted that South Korea is not a country that easily grants its forgiveness. The French Press Association all the same relayed information to the principal journalistic organizations in France, even though not a single fact about the sanctions taken against the Buddhist monks was known.

After the Orthodox priests and American Anglicans who bet money on the pursuit of slot machines, the South Korean Buddhist monks themselves also seem well on their way to demonstrating that the human being decidedly remains extremely weak, regardless of its attachment to religion.