Been to Thailand a couple of times and I always thought Buddhist monks were holy lifelong devotees that never did any wrong. Turns out that there is parts of the country where reformed prisoners have the option to join a monastery as a monk to serve their sentence. So in many places, those tough looking monks you see are actually gang members and criminals serving out a sentence … some of them are honestly reformed, some are working on it, and some are just gaming the system.
Been to Thailand a couple of times and I always thought Buddhist monks were holy lifelong devotees that never did any wrong. Turns out that there is parts of the country where reformed prisoners have the option to join a monastery as a monk to serve their sentence. So in many places, those tough looking monks you see are actually gang members and criminals serving out a sentence … some of them are honestly reformed, some are working on it, and some are just gaming the system.
You can also avoid military service in Thailand by becoming a monk, but you gotta be one for a good while.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41263073
Lol “hardline Buddhist monk”
Previously my gender identity was a brindle french bulldog, but I think I just changed genders again.