Forty-one bodies have been found inside a Buddhist monastery in Thailand where they were allegedly being used in meditation practices.
Police are now trying to identify the cadavers discovered on Saturday and whether they were obtained legally by the Pa Nakhon Chaibovorn monastery in the lower north province of Phichit.
Maj Gen Tadej Klomkliang, chief of Phichit provincial police, told the Bangkok Post he was investigating how the deceased had died.
The monastery claimed the bodies, which police said were accompanied with death and body donation certificates, were willingly donated by devoted followers.
Phra Ajarn Saifon Phandito, head of the monastery, said that the use of corpses was part of a “meditation technique” he developed.
“Many of the people who come to learn are abbots and all these monks… pass on the knowledge,” he told Thai PBS, the state broadcaster. “I don’t know how many have adopted my technique.”
The police raid came days after 12 mummified bodies were discovered at another remote monastery, in neighbouring Kamphaeng Phet province, on Wednesday.
Officers found the bodies, including that of a child, being used in meditation practices at the Siri Chan Forest Monastery. Followers believed dead bodies could provide supernatural powers, according to local media reports.
Ancient ritual
Corpse meditation is an ancient Buddhist ritual, largely limited to Thailand, where practitioners meditate next to cadavers at different stages of decomposition in order to increase awareness that death can strike at any time.
The corpse is often a child or young adult who died unexpectedly and whose body was donated to a temple by their family.
Thailand’s population is overwhelmingly Buddhist, but many hold beliefs outside the religion that include the worship of spirits and ghosts.
Phichit police said they were working with authorities in other provinces to investigate how widespread the practice of corpse meditation was.
Thailand’s National Office of Buddhism was also looking into whether the monastery’s corpse meditation practices conflict with Buddhist principles.
In May 2022, Thai police arrested Thawee Nanra, a 75-year-old suspected cult leader, whose followers worshipped corpses and consumed bodily fluids in an attempt to cure illnesses.
Police found 11 corpses inside the secret forest encampment, allegedly the bodies of former followers of Mr Thawee, who was later charged with illegally transporting corpses.
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