Monk chops off his own head for good luck in the afterlife

A Buddhist monk in Thailand chopped off his own head — on his birthday — in hopes the gruesome sacrifice would bring him luck in the afterlife, according to reports.

Thammakorn Wangpreecha, 68, a monk for 11 years, built a guillotine near a religious statue portraying the god Indra doing the same thing, the UK’s Metro reported.

The monk’s nephew, who found the decapitated body, said he had left behind a note.

“It stated that chopping his head off was his way of praising Buddha, and he had been planning this for five years now,” Booncherd Boonrod said.

“His wish was to offer his head and soul so the Lord could reincarnate him as a higher spiritual being in the next life,” the nephew added.

Hundreds of the dead monk’s devotees later descended on the Wat Phu Hin temple in Nong Bua Lamphu to prepare his body for the funeral — placing him in a coffin, with his head in a separate casket, to be burned in a forest.

“He fulfilled his goal and met enlightenment,” said one of his followers, Yu, accord to the news outlet.

The National Office of Buddhism has asked the local government to help spread the message that people can give money or free captive birds as a sacrifice, rather than lopping off their heads.

“Temple executives and abbots should review their practices and look after other monks in their temples. This incident is possible evidence of neglecting to do so,” office spokesman Sipbowon Kaeo-ngam said, the International Business Times reported.

“We have to prevent such unpleasant situations from happening again,” he added.

via: https://nypost.com/2021/04/20/monk-chops-off-his-own-head-for-good-luck-in-the-afterlife-on-his-birthday/

Photo Credit: ViralPress