When Venerable Dr Anil Sakya left his home in Nepal as a novice at the age of 14, he thought he was in for an adventure involving the then-unknown thrill of a plane ride to join a training programme in Thailand.
Venerable Dr Anil Sakya was born into the Sakya clan of Lord Buddha and studied at Cambridge before becoming an assistant secretary to the late Supreme Patriarch.
The adventure is still ongoing after 37 years. Phra Anil, or Phra Sakyawongwisut, who was born into the Sakya clan of Lord Buddha, has risen in the Thai Buddhist hierarchy and served as assistant secretary to the late Supreme Patriarch.
Phra Anil is also the first Buddhist monk to have received a scholarship from His Majesty the King to pursue a social anthropology degree at Cambridge University in the UK, and a PhD in the same field from Brunel University in Middlesex, from 1993 to 1999.
As a deputy rector for foreign affairs at Mahamakut Buddhist University and lecturer on religious and cultural studies at many leading colleges in Thailand and overseas, Phra Anil represents the modern face of Thai Buddhism, a bridge between the Sangha's principled authority and the ever-changing realities of lay people's existence.
One common complaint that has surfaced over the past several years is that Buddhism in the Kingdom seems to have lost its way. Wats have become centres of commercial activity instead of places where people can seek solace for dhamma studies.
Many Buddhist monks have also been accused of dereliction of faith, and even illicit activities, instead of serving as moral leaders. The latest scandal involving former monk Luang Pu Nen Kham, alleged of having amassed billions of baht in donations and charged by the Department of Special Investigation for having sex with a minor, tax evasion, drug taking, manslaughter, money laundering and making false claims about possessing supernatural powers, among other offences, is a case in point.
It is one among many such religious scandals that have proliferated, while the centralised governing authority for monks _ the Sangha Supreme Council _ appears powerless to stop them.
"It's true there are problems within our Buddhist community. We simply have to face the truth or we end up becoming the problems ourselves," Phra Anil said.
The monk, who was ordained in the Dhammayutti tradition by the Supreme Patriarch in 1980, cautioned against making a judgement against Buddhism without putting the problems into context, however.
He said that if people claim Buddhism has significantly degraded, what would they use as a benchmark for religious deterioration?
"If you read about the state of Buddhism during the early Rattanakosin era, you might think that what we are witnessing these days is nothing. I studied what went on during that time and I wondered, how could Buddhist monks be that vile?" Phra Anil said.
He cited examples of people calling for a law to be enacted to prevent monks from groping women during temple fairs and another in which monks from different temples were caught dressing up their fellow monks as beauty queens and sent them into a contest.
"Complaints about religious degradation have always existed," Phra Anil said. "It is partly human nature to aspire for a utopia in our time. Realities out there, however, are never ideal."
For Phra Anil, the biggest challenge for Buddhism is simply how to preserve the Buddha's teachings.
He refrains from passing judgement on an increasing diversification of dhamma teachings, including an emergence of more lay dhamma teachers or the controversial Wat Phra Dhammakaya, which teaches that people can buy boon, or merit, and even nirvana.
"People sometimes say that if you want to fix a computer, you should ask a monk. But if you want to learn about dhamma you should ask lay teachers," Phra Anil said with a smile.
Observations are often made in online chatrooms that saffron-robed monks are frequent visitors to computer stores such as Pantip Plaza. Meanwhile, more meditation and Buddhism courses are being taught by lay people.
Phra Anil said the present world is borderless. It is thus impossible to try to stop people from interpreting what dhamma is or what it means to them.
"In the past, there was one school of Buddhism. At present, however, we have so many categories and sub-categories. Unlike the Vinaya, which carries a clear definition and penalty, dhamma is open to interpretation and there are plenty of interpretations out there," Phra Anil said.
Besides, Buddhism is not a commandment. The Buddha never exerted control over anybody's decisions. He only pointed to the need to study things, to see their pros and cons and to develop wisdom, the monk said.
"Buddhism is a global product. The religious facts can be applied to suit different practitioners, however. The localised versions are the many forms of Buddhism that we have seen," Phra Anil said.
While the late Supreme Patriarch made two major decisions _ excommunicating the unorthodox Santi Asoke group in 1989 and ruling that the Wat Phra Dhammakaya and its controversial abbot Phra Dhammachayo distorted the Buddhist canon and embezzled public money in 1999 _ there are many other things that he couldn't push through, according to Phra Anil, who served as his assistant secretary for more than two decades.
The Supreme Patriarch's two unfulfilled dreams were to have dedicated universities for monks to study up to doctorate level and to build a foundation that would serve as a bank to manage the assets of Buddhist temples.
At present, each Wat handles its own donations and assets, which gives rise to criticism of over-commercialisation and possible exploitation of public money.
Phra Anil said he had thought about going back to Nepal after finishing a master's degree at Tribhuvan University in Nepal in 1987. The Supreme Patriarch, however, asked him to further his studies in England.
He noted that people often say that he was very lucky to have received a scholarship from His Majesty the King to pursue his studies overseas, but the blessing put a lot of pressure on him and there were a couple of times during his stay in Britain that he thought about giving up.
"I learned my English from tourists visiting Wat Bowon back then," Phra Anil recalled.
"My 'Khao San' English was definitely not good enough to fully understand the lectures or to write academic essays. I felt very pressured." He was not just the only Buddhist monk in his class at Cambridge, but also the only one in town at that time.
"I was the alien everywhere I went," Phra Anil said jokingly.
Asked why he chose to stay at Wat Bowon and what would he do now that his patron and mentor the Supreme Patriarch is gone, Phra Anil paused before saying that he has never made any decision regarding the course of his own life since childhood.
"I have led a life that is aimless," Phra Anil said. "Ever since I was a novice. I did what I was told to do. At this point, I have no desire for my own life. I only have to know what I am doing now and what I will have to do in the next moment. That is enough."
