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A Crime caused by Buddhist Monk
佛教僧侣犯案
In June 2020, a woman was traveling in a van with her boyfriend when a pickup truck deliberately collided with them head-on at high speed. As she climbed out of the van and scrambled to escape the scene, she was chased down by the 59-year-old driver and stabbed repeatedly with a knife.
2020年6月，一名女子和男友乘坐面包车旅行时，所乘面包车与一辆皮卡高速迎头相撞。当她爬出面包车，挣扎着逃离现场时，59岁的皮卡司机下车追赶她，并刺了她数刀。
The truck driver later told the police in Buriram province, northeastern Thailand, that he had an affair with the woman, and had hunted her down after she allegedly blackmailed him, threatening to reveal their clandestine relationship. The woman—eight months pregnant—died with her baby at the scene. Their murderer was an abbot at a local Buddhist monastery.
后来在泰国东北部的布里兰姆省，这名皮卡司机告诉警方，他与这名女子有婚外情。据称，这名女子曾威胁要曝光他们的私情，之后他便一直寻找她。这名怀孕8个月的妇女与她的孩子一起当场死亡。这位凶手是当地一所佛教寺院的住持。
Buddhist crimes not so uncommon
佛教僧侣犯案并不罕见
The chilling case of the renegade monk grabbed national attention. But this wasn’t the first time members of the clergy had been caught committing a heinous crime in Thailand—nor is it as uncommon as one might think.
这名僧人犯下的毛骨悚然的案件引起了全国的关注。但这并不是泰国的第一例神职人员犯罪案件，这种情况也并不少见。
In Thailand, where Buddhism is the official religion and followed by about 93 percent of the population. But the monkhood’s pious image has been increasingly eroded in recent years with a series of high-profile arrests and scandals.
在泰国，佛教是官方宗教，约有93%的人口信奉佛教。近年来，随着一系列引人注目的丑闻，寺院的虔诚形象日益受到侵蚀。
Barely a week goes by without reports of monks charged with money laundering, drunk driving, drug trafficking and even murder—rocking the clergy’s reputation in Thailand with each new headline. With these scandals shining a light on the underbelly of monkhood, experts say that the sacred institution of Thai Buddhism is confronted with whittling public trust and legitimacy.
几乎每周都有僧侣被指控洗钱、酒后驾车、贩毒甚至谋杀——这些案件动摇着泰国神职人员的声誉。专家表示，随着这些丑闻暴露出的佛教的阴暗面，神圣的泰国佛教机构正在失去众信任，合法性也有所降低。
“Monks committing crimes is often reported in Thai media outlets, but it isn’t a recent social trend,” Katewadee Kulabkaew, a Thai Buddhism politics scholar and former visiting fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, told VICE World News.
泰国佛教政治学者、新加坡东南亚研究所前访问学者Katewadee Kulabkaew告诉VICE世界新闻:“泰国媒体经常报道僧侣犯罪，这种社会趋势并不是最近才出现的。”
Criminality within the clergy has also been a region-wide issue for years. During the mid-2010s, Cambodia saw a wave of sexual assault and drug trafficking scandals related to monks, and similar cases have also been reported in Myanmar. In Thailand, many, including monks themselves, have spoken out about the criminality found within the walls of its Buddhist temples—from embezzlement to sexual misconduct against minors.
多年来，神职人员的犯罪行为是一个区域性的问题。在2010年代中期，柬埔寨发生了一波与僧侣有关的性侵犯和毒品贩运丑闻，缅甸也报道了类似的案件。在泰国，许多人，包括僧侣，已经开始公开谈论在佛教寺庙内发现的犯罪行为——从挪用公款到对未成年人的不当性行为。
But despite calls to overhaul the system and government crackdowns to “purify” Thailand’s Buddhist institutions, the problem of renegade monks remains a prevalent one.
但是，尽管有人呼吁彻底改革体制，政府也通过镇压“净化”泰国的佛教机构，僧侣的不正当行为仍然是一个普遍存在的问题。
Monks are a victim of the society
僧侣犯罪背后的社会原因
Such criminality isn’t limited to the lower ranks of the Thai monkhood. While regular monks tend to make the news for violent and debaucherous offenses, those at the top of the Sangha leadership are more often embroiled in financial crime.
这种犯罪行为并不只发生在较低层的泰国僧侣中。普通僧人更多是因暴力和放荡行为出现在新闻中，僧伽高层则常常卷入金融犯罪。
Although temples in Thailand are estimated to receive a whopping $2.8 billion in total donations every year, the majority lack proper accounting and are notoriously opaque about how those finances are distributed. And while monks are not allowed to accumulate personal wealth, it’s an open secret that some are rich—apparently having profited from the generous donations of temple goers.
据估计，泰国的寺庙每年收到的捐款总额高达28亿美元，其中大多数没有经过核算，对这些资金的分配也不够透明。虽然僧侣们不被允许积累个人财富，但一些僧侣家财万贯已是公开的秘密——他们通过寺庙常客的慷慨捐赠而获利。
The reasons for this apparent deterioration of monastic behavior are manifold, and experts point to the modernization of Thai society as an ideological culprit. Some note that in addition to the fact that mass and social media have made it easier to find out about and report on crimes, the rise of materialism and consumerism among the Thai people has also infiltrated Buddhist temples.
专家指出，僧侣行为明显恶化的原因是多方面的，泰国社会的现代化是意识形态的罪魁祸首。大众媒体和社交媒体除了让人们更容易发现和报道犯罪，也让在泰国人民中兴起的物质主义和消费主义渗透到了佛教寺庙中。
重点单词
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renegade n. 叛徒, 变节者
The renegade is the first cousin to a rattlesnake.
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embezzlement n. 盗用，挪用
Allegedly involving fraud and embezzlement of tens of millions of dollars.
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overhaul v.彻底检查；大修；赶上；超越
A mechanic overhauled the car’s motor with some new parts.
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deterioration n. 恶化，变坏；退化；堕落
Heat greatly accelerates the deterioration of perishable foods.
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Infiltrated v.使渗透
The organization was infiltrated by the police.
原文链接：
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4aw8b9/buddhist-monks-arrested-thailand
文案 | 陈诺 王雅菁
排版 | 黄培莹
