A Buddhist monk in Thailand chopped off his own head – on his birthday – hoping the gruesome sacrifice would bring him good luck in the afterlife, according to reports.
Thammakorn Wangpreecha, 68, a monk for 11 years, built a guillotine near a religious statue depicting the god Indra doing the same, the British Metro reported.
The monk’s nephew, who found the headless body, said he left a note.
“It said cutting off his head was his way of praising Buddha, and he had been planning this for five years now,” Booncherd Boonrod said.
“His desire was to offer his head and soul so that the Lord could reincarnate him as a higher spiritual being in the next life,” added the nephew.
Hundreds of the dead monk’s devotees later descended to Wat Phu Hin Temple in Nong Bua Lamphu to prepare his body for burial – placing him in a coffin, with his head in a separate coffin, to be in a forest to be burned.
“He has achieved his goal and achieved enlightenment,” one of his followers, Yu, told the news outlet.
The National Office of Buddhism has asked the local government to help spread the message that people can give money or release captive birds as sacrifices, rather than chopping off their heads.
“Temple administrators and abbots need to review their practices and take care of other monks in their temples. This incident is possible evidence of failure to do so, ”said office spokesman Sipbowon Kaeo-ngam, the International Business Times reported.
“We must prevent such unpleasant situations from happening again,” he added.