Buddhists behaving badly

[GeneChing]

....but oh so worthy of posting here. Plus it's not from Thailand.

That's not very zen! Buddhist monk is jailed for 162-car tyre-slashing rampage after he accidentally stepped on an insect

Julian Glew, 45, who lives in a tent in the woodlands, went on the rampage
The Buddhist monk became angry when he accidentally killed an insect
Has now been jailed for 11 weeks after going on the run for three months
Judge said his actions were 'not those of a person who lives for a peaceful co-existence'

By THOMAS BURROWS FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 03:51 EST, 21 January 2016 | UPDATED: 06:31 EST, 21 January 2016


Julian Glew, 45, who lives in a tent in the woodlands, went on the rampage because of his religious beliefs

A Buddhist monk slashed the wheels of 162 cars after he became angry when he accidentally squashed an insect.
Julian Glew, 45, who lives in a tent in the woodlands, went on the three-day barefoot rampage because of his religious beliefs.
He has now been jailed for 11 weeks after the judge said his actions were 'not those of a person who lives for a peaceful co-existence.'
Glew became frustrated and upset after inadvertently squashing the insect in September last year.
The 45-year-old, who has lived in the woods for almost 20 years, was arrested several days later following a CCTV appeal by Humberside Police.
At court, he pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal damage. He was originally due to be sentenced on October 14, but failed to show up in court.
Instead, he went on the run for three months and was finally tracked down by officers in West Yorkshire earlier this month.
Joanne Markham, for the mitigation, told Beverley Magistrates' Court that Glew had suffered some mental health issues in the past.
He was described as being 'detached from society' and having previously lived in a Buddhist monastery.
She said accommodation had been found for him at a hostel in Princes Avenue, west Hull, following his first court appearance, but it 'didn't work because of how he was used to living'.
Miss Markham added: 'He has indicated that he feels he should go to prison for what he has done. He has no previous incidents on his record and he lives without means, not claiming any benefits.'
Sentencing him to 11 weeks in prison, Judge Fred Rutherford said: 'I have noted the facts of this case, but I am still left here with someone who says he did not want to hurt anyone but went out of his way to affect 162 people by causing them massive financial inconvenience.
'He targeted vehicles randomly and slashed the tyres. That is not the actions of a person who lives for a peaceful co-existence.'
Most of the tyres were not obviously wrecked, but the irreparable damage was discovered when they were inflated and the pin-***** was found.
CCTV shows Buddhist monk Julian Glew in Pocklington driveway


The barefoot 'Pocklington *****er' walks away after slashing a tyre on one of the 162 vehicles he targeted


Glew, who lives in the woodlands, walks away after puncturing a tyre on a parked car in Pocklington


Jailing Glew at Beverley Magistrates' Court, District Judge Fred Rutherford expressed incredulity at his claims not to want to harm anybody 'but nevertheless went out of his way to affect at least 162 people'

MECHANIC WAS INUNDATED WITH JOBS BUT MOST TYRES WERE BEYOND REPAIR
Motor mechanic John Galley was inundated with jobs following the slashing spree, but said many of the tyres could not be repaired.
In an interview with ITV, he said: 'Most weren't obviously damaged, but were deflated and flat.
'You had to inflate them to find the damage that was usually a pin-*****, but it was damaged in such a way that the tyre wouldn't repair.
'There was only certain types of repair that you can conduct on the tyre and generally speaking these were sidewall damage that meant it was a new tyre.'

Inspector Joanne York, of Humberside Police, welcomed the sentence.
She said: 'Sentencing Julian Glew to 11 weeks in custody is good news for the residents of Pocklington and justice has been seen to be done.
'Vehicles were damaged over two nights in Pocklington in September 2015 which caused widespread upset and concern to the residents of Pocklington at the time. The incidents caused great inconvenience and financial loss to all those victims.
'Following his initial arrest in September he was bailed to appear in court but failed to attend and spent several weeks avoiding arrest. Mr Glew had left the Pocklington area after he failed to appear at court.
'I am very grateful to the people of Pocklington for their assistance and their support while we have carried out our investigations.'
Detective Sergeant John Burrell of Humberside Police said the case had been unprecedented in the 'pleasant and peaceful' town and had caused upset and financial loss to many.
He described Glew's excuse as 'drivel', adding: 'His is not a particularly coherent theological view and I don't think adherents of Buddhism would share the view that it was OK to inconvenience hundreds of people on account of an accident.'

[rett2]

There is no evidence in the above article to support the claim that he is a Buddhist monk. And a great deal suggests he isn't. Methinks the tabloids are telling fibs to juice up their headlines.

[David Jamieson]

There is no evidence in the above article to support the claim that he is a Buddhist monk. And a great deal suggests he isn't. Methinks the tabloids are telling fibs to juice up their headlines.

really? do you think so?

[rett2]

According to the article the person was upset about having accidently killed an insect.

That is not actually any kind of breach of ethics in Buddhism, even for monastics. Intention is key. Buddhists monks do try very hard not to hurt insects, but accept that accidents will happen.

Also, monastics have to live in a kind of parish, and meet up to recite the precepts regularly and confess mistakes. Even if they are hermits, they should have this kind of contact with their fellows. I believe that stepping on an insect by mistake doesn't even need to be confessed to another monk. (Please correct me if my memory is playing tricks on me). So if this person was trained in the rules and living as a monk in an extended community, he would not have needed to do more than to remind himself to be more careful in the future. And if he was unsure, all he would need to do is ask a fellow monk for advice.

I believe that Jainism is stricter here, and at least in some branches Jain monastics go to great lengths not to injure insects even unintentially.

[GeneChing]

Watch: Chinese Monks in Violent Brawl Over Temple Work
By Juliet Song, Epoch Times | April 27, 2016Last Updated: April 27, 2016 3:25 pm

A video showing Chinese Buddhist monks fighting each other at their temple was posted to Chinese social media, breaking with the serene and lofty perception conventionally associated with the ascetic cultivators.



The incident happened on April 24 at the Ningguo Temple in eastern China. In the video, three monks dressed in saffron-colored robes can be seen hitting and grappling each other, while tourists try to pull them apart. One of the bonzes carries a cell phone.

Peng Pai, a state-run social news outlet based in Shanghai, reported that the confrontation arose when three monks at the temple, all of middle rank, took their disagreements about temple administration to the physical level.

The three monks involved have been expelled.

“By fighting, the three monks disregarded the Six Dharmas of Harmony,” the temple abbot told Peng Pai. “They have set a bad example for society.”

Ugly. Just ugly.

[GeneChing]

Three monks expelled after video of them tussling in the temple goes viral



Three Buddhist monks were dismissed from a temple in Yangzhou after a video went viral earlier this week, revealing to the world that all monks do not in fact know kung fu.
In the video, the monks are seen fighting with less than expert timing in a 15-second-long scuffle, featuring a lot of what appears to be hair-pulling. Others monks are seen trying to break up the fight while their buddies help by filming it with their smartphones.
The tall monk seems to get the worst of the ordeal, getting bashed in the head a number of times, even with a smartphone, but by the end of the video seems well enough to at least check on his own smartphone.
Yesterday, the abbot of the temple revealed via WeChat that the three monks involved in the fracas had been expelled, never to return, sent to wander along in the wilderness, waiting for their chance at redemption, or at least that's how it seem to work in the movies.
ECNS reports that the monks were all mid-level managers at Ningguo Temple in Yangzhou and the fight was over some trivial management issue between rivals that had personal grudges against each other simmering for some time. Ah, the complicated world of temple politics.
Video of the fight went viral on Chinese social media, with many netizens believing it was representative of larger problems in Chinese Buddhism.
"Many monks these days are not sincere in their beliefs, eventually their true colors come out," commented one netizen.
"They have embarrassed all monks, especially with their poor fighting skills," wrote one Weibo user.
"I am not familiar with what type of kung fu this temple teaches," joked another.

By Alex Linder in News on Apr 28, 2016 11:00 PM

Not all Buddhists monks know Kung Fu...in fact, it's only a small percentage. Very small.

[BrotherLove]

I didn't see the hair-pulling but it would have had to have been below the belt.