A prominent Cambodian Buddhist monk living in Lowell, Massachusetts,
has caused a scandal after a video was posted on YouTube earlier this
month that allegedly showed him having sex with a female layperson
inside a Buddhist temple in the second-largest Cambodian-American
community.
Hundreds of people have protested over the past two weeks in Lowell,
demanding that the woman and the monk—both of whom are on a committee
managing construction of a controversial new temple in the area—be
dismissed from their duties.
The protesters also called for the monk, the Venerable Nhem Kim Teng, to be defrocked in accordance with Buddhist law.
A video of the protests posted on YouTube shows several demonstrators
on a Lowell street outside the Trairatanaran pagoda, where the tryst
allegedly took place.
The video, which was also sent to the Lowell Sun Times, has
exacerbated anger in Lowell’s Cambodian community, where allegations of
misappropriation of funds have surrounded the $10-million project to
build the new pagoda.
Lowell City Councilor Vesna Nuon said on Friday by phone that the
local city government had urged the head monk of Trairatanaran pagoda to
drop the monk and the woman, Maya Men, from the new pagoda committee.
However, the head monk has refused to cut contact with Ms. Men, while
the monk, Nhem Kim Teng, who is a Cambodian national and currently on a
religious visa in the U.S., had been dismissed and is no longer at the
pagoda, Mr. Nuon said.
The whereabouts of Nhem Kim Teng are not known, and Ms. Men has
secluded herself in Trairatanaran pagoda since the scandal broke.
Attempts to contact Nhem Kim Teng and Ms. Men for comment were unsuccessful.
“We don’t know where he is, but his [religious] U.S. visa runs out on
April 22,” Mr. Nuon said, adding that Cambodian authorities had already
been notified of the monk’s behavior, and a formal complaint would be
made to the Ministry of Cults and Religion in Phnom Penh through the
Cambodian Embassy in the U.S. next week.
Mr. Nuon said that further investigations were also necessary to
determine if there is any substance to the rumors of financial
wrongdoing regarding the new multimillion dollar pagoda project.
The city councilor also called for restraint in Lowell, where the
Cambodian community has long been divided along political lines and has
bickered for years regarding the land on which the new pagoda would be
built.
Nhem Kim Teng also runs Santi Sena, a Buddhist environmental
education and reforestation NGO founded in Svay Rieng province in 1994,
which is based out of a pagoda in Svay Rieng City and is funded in part
by development NGO Terres des Hommes Germany.
Sam An, program director for Santi Sena and acting director while
Nhem Kim Teng is in the U.S., said he did not believe the allegations of
an inappropriate relationship with Ms. Men, whom he had met in Lowell
while visiting Nhem Kim Teng.
“They are just people who worked together to get successful results,” he said.
Yet echoing Mr. Nuon’s suggestion of Machiavellian forces at work in
Lowell’s Cambodian community, Mr. An insisted that whoever had posted
the video on YouTube had intended to divide the local community.
“There are rumors now that Venerable Kim Teng is a CPP spy, but I
emphasize that whoever is responsible is trying to ruin his reputation
for political benefit to break the Cambodian community abroad,” he said.
Chorn Iam, secretary of state at the Ministry of Cults and Religion,
said on Friday that he had not yet received a formal complaint
regarding the alleged events in the Lowell pagoda, but said that once
that happens, a monastic committee would decide what action to take.
“Then, the ministry will have the power to defrock the monk, or not,” he said.
4 comments:
សោតាបត្តិមគ្គ --- សោតាបត្តិផល, សកទាគាមិមគ្គ --- សកទាគាមិផល
អនាគាមិមគ្គ ---- អនាគាមិផល ...................
អ៊ំស្រី ម៉ែន មាយា មគ្គ --- តាគ្រាក់ ញ៉ែម គឹម តេង ញល់,
គឺបានត្រឹមតែ ញល់ ញល់ ទេ ញាតិ, មិនទាន់បានសម្រេច ផល ផងក៏បែកការណ៍ !!! ។
Will Nhem Kim Teng follow that line : " I smoked but not inhaled " ? !!!
New Khmer generations must think harder about the future fate of their
country,not just the fate of their personal soul after death.
We are facing the insatiable neighbors who want to swallow our
country alive. If we can not be like Israel, we have to be close to
Pakistan in term of defending our Nation. Do not let any religions
mess up your brain.
For me,I'm searching for the Salvation not any particular teaching.
I'm not sure whether there are any colors at all in the universe but
I'm sure there are Sub Particles rotate around themselves at different
high frequencies and travel at light speed. The spiraling trajectory of
each particle, when strikes visual organic receptors, induces the sensation
of colors according to the brain interpretation of each different frequencies.
Even then I'm not trust 100% to Science.
KPCS
The law of Karma is very simple. That is, There are atleast two fundamental laws that govern our behaviour, the good (bon) and the evil (bab). Of course, good particle and bad particle may be applied here. If you close your eyes, bab appears in your mind-eyes as darkness particles and bon appears as light particles and the law works this way:when you are thinking about hatred or unwanted things, you are generating darkness, and when you are thinking about happiness you are generating light, the light that shows you the way to reborn in a place where there is happiness similar to the thing that you have accumulated in the past. So, there are two things that we are accumulating every moment, good or bad. No body created theses laws, they are just there. It's your choice, do good or do bad, the result will be the same for everyone. Thinking bad generates darkness; thinking good generates light. Very simple!!!
ការ រួមដំណេក មិនខុសច្បាប់ទេ
ការថតរូបគេ យករូបថតគេ មកផ្សាយ ពុំមាន សេចក្តីអនុញ្ញាតិ ខុសច្បាប់ ពេញទំហឹង
ប្រយត្ន គេប្តឹង អស់ផ្ទះ អស់ សម្បែង
Nothing wrong when two individuals have mutual agreement to conduct their life in a way they like or prefer without hurting anyone. For instance, when a couple performed a sex act in public place such as park; then the police could issue some kind of citation or they can be arrested. So when two individual had sex in the temple which is a public place and supported by the public. Should the public has the right to take some actions if those individuals continued to act inappropriately in the public place such as temple. This kind of behaviors shouldn't be tolerated but instead should be condemned the public opinion; especially Khmer people who have devoted and dedicated their life to a noble cause.
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