Photos of a half-robed monk masturbating was shared across social media this weekend. The image was taken in Chiang Mai, according to the man who took the photo, in the Sansai area, and showed a man between the ages of 30-40 wearing a saffron robe with what appears to be his penis in his hands.
The person who took the photograph said that they were so shocked to see this masturbating monk standing by Chedi Mae Krua temple on the Chiang Mai-Phrao Road, that they had to drive around again to make sure, and take photos. He told police that upon circling around and still seeing the man apparently masturbating, he scolded the monk before he immediately walked back into the temple. It was around 1.30am in the morning when the incident happened.
The abbot of the temple has since come out to say that the man in the photo was indeed a monk who goes by the name Jane, 35, and had showed signs of being of a ‘third gender’, though what that meant the abbot didn’t explain. However, the abbot insisted that prior to this incident there had been no inappropriate behaviour seen before and that Jane was a very hard working and diligent member of the temple, even being tasked with caring for many administrative duties. He said that he was shocked and need thought that he would see him behave this way.
The abbot went on to say that Jane had left the temple suddenly following the exposure of his, exposure. He said that the temple would not take him back but whether he was defrocked or would suffer from other consequences will have to be determined following an investigation.