Moral corruption

re: "Toon and Pai, the tale of our two Jesuses" (Opinion, December 23)

Dear editor,
It was, as always, a joy to read Kong Rithdee's thoughtful opinion piece on the lessons provided by two modern Thai saviours, the selfless Artiwara Kongmalai (Toon Body Slam) and the moral hero Jatupat Boonpatararaksa (Pai Dao Din). As Kong notes, they are Buddhists, but some reflection on their saving graces is appropriate at the season that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. The parallels between Jesus's life and that of Pai are worth exploring a little further for the light they shed on modern Thai society and its fractured politics, parallels which also intersect with the wise teachings of the Buddha.

Christmas is the prelude to the life and death of Jesus, which are what matter more than the accidents of birth. Jesus remains Jesus whether born of a virgin or not: unlikely ancient myths need not be taken literally to serve as powerful narratives that help us make sense of today. The story of Jesus's ministry and death offers insight into modern Thailand. Like Pai, Jesus was born into humble circumstances, his family having to flee the despotic King Herod who would "seek the young child to destroy him" (Matt., 2:13, KJV). As with Pai Dao Din, the traditional leaders of the nation saw their perks and privileges threatened as Jesus's teachings, as much as his acts, showed the nakedness of their hypocrisy, which he publicly denounced (Matt. 23). What did the social  leaders do? They hatched a plan to "to take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him" (Matt. 26:4) in strict accord with the rule of law that had been made up to enable such a ruthless clinging to power by old men.

To be fair, it is certainly possible that "the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people" (ibid.) truly believed themselves good: they were wrong. They may truly have believed that they were protecting valuable traditions: they were wrong. They may have thought they were protecting the national security of the state: they were wrong. They may have believed that acting in accord with the letter of the law made them morally right: they were grievously wrong.

In turning Jesus into a criminal who was executed in strict accord with the law, they but proved the law to be morally corrupt. In using the brute force of the state to silence dissent that threatened traditional perks and privileges of the status quo, they but proved that status quo and its laws to be morally corrupt. In refusing to listen to healthy dissent, they but but proved themselves in love with inherited moral error.

And so it is with the morally exemplary Jatupat Boonpatararaksa, who is also "not without honour, save in his own country" (Matt. 14:57). But the criminal Jatupat has done nothing wrong; he has, on the contrary, set an example of seeking right understanding that comports perfectly with the wise teachings of the Buddha: it is his deluded and deluding oppressors who reject the wisdom of the Buddha in corrupting the rule of law to serve their ends.

 Felix Qui

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The above letter to the editor is the text as submitted by Felix Qui to the Bangkok Post.

The text as edited was published in PostBag on December 25, 2017, under the title "Moral corruption" at https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/postbag/1385126/moral-corruption