PHATTALUNG: Wat Na Tom temple, hitherto a landmark of the devoted in Phattalung’s Muang District, last week spawned one of those scandals which, after hitting newsstands, has elicited sighs and maybe uncharitable tittering. In this case, risk of the latter is high: some 70 full-color pictures support allegations by unidentified local folks that the abbot of Wat Na Tom not only engaged frequently in fornication, but had as lovers two canine and three ladies. Senior monks from the provincial Buddhist Governing Board, its Muang district counterpart, and Phattalung’s Office of the Buddhist Religion, after inspecting the photos, introduced they have been actual and enjoined the press to “beware of publishing them and casting Buddhism in a nasty gentle,” which is a felony matter beneath Thai law. The chief of Thailand’s Mental Health Department also warned in opposition to publication of the photos, saying they have been evidence of psychological illness and will have evil effects on kids incapable of deciphering them properly. Eye-opening got here too late, however, as two of the photographs had already been revealed in a mass-circulation every day. The whereabouts of Wat Na Tom’s abbot were not reported; senior clergy urged him to resign immediately from the monkhood. The erring abbot was apparently caught utterly unawares by villagers who climbed as a lot as the roof to spy on him and photograph his lurid activities. The story surfaced on the morning of June 21, when unidentified local persons contacted reporters with pictures showing one of the province’s greatest known and most respected monks in flagrante delicto. “People dwelling around the temple have been conscious of his actions for months,” reporters discovered, “but they lacked proof with which to eliminate his toxic influence…Two or three ladies have been sneaking in at night time to sleep with him, prompting local folks to climb up and spy via a crack. “They found that on nights when no women got here to sleep with him, he had sex with the dogs.” “Were the pictures unclear or concocted, evidence could be insufficient for an arrest,” Deputy Provincial Chief Abbot Pra Kru Methi Ratanakorn was quoted as saying. “But right here they are unmistakable.” “It is certainly him,” mentioned provincial Buddhist Office Director Koonapoongs Taharn-Thai. “He is kind of well-known; villagers in the area have at all times accorded him a excessive diploma of respect. We’ve long had dealings regularly; but I by no means may have guessed such evil may have an result on a Phattalung monk!” Provincial Deputy Police Commander Pol Col Torsak Chukam Thursday ordered detectives to trace down and arrest the abbot, recognized as Phra Kru Sopit Tamapimol (phra kru denotes a senior teaching monk; the remainder of the identify means “Beautiful Enlightenment comes undefiled”). The suspect is described as aged about 61 years, having joined the monkhood in 1957. He grew to become abbot in 1994, and was commissioned phra kru in 2005; until fleeing he also operated a school instructing Buddhism on Sundays. One “fluffy-haired” white canine, and one black canine, both females, were found loc