Senior Thai monk told to cease fire-breathing trick

Thailand

Abbot of monastery said he wanted to demonstrate that breathing fire did not require any supernatural abilities

A senior Buddhist monk who blew flumes of fire from his mouth in public in front of worshippers in Thailand has been ordered by religious authorities to cease performing the trick.

Phra Tawatchai, the abbot of Wat Pa Sri Na Pang, a monastery in a rural area of the northeastern province of Khon Kaen, was shown performing the stunt during a village fair in a video widely shared on social media this month.

Last week several senior Buddhist clergymen visited the monastery and asked the monk to refrain from performing the fire-breathing stunt in public as many Thai Buddhists might ascribe it to supernatural causes.

Senior monks are often venerated and credited with magical powers in Thailand where beliefs in the supernatural are widespread.     

Phra Tawatchai denied that he had wanted to impress villagers with his powers and said he simply wanted to show them that breathing fire did not require any supernatural abilities.

Breathing plumes of fire is a trick commonly performed by illusionists and even laypeople by help of oil or alcohol held in the mouth and blown onto a flame.

“If you believe that fire breathing is a miracle, then you might as well burn all Buddhist teachings”

Phra Phayom Kalayano, the abbot of a popular monastery in Nonthaburi, next to Bangkok, has urged Buddhists to think rationally and not to be duped into believing in miracles.

“If you believe that fire breathing is a miracle, then you might as well burn all Buddhist teachings,” the respected monk said.

However, such pieces of advice often fall on deaf ears in Thailand where monks who claim to possess supernatural abilities by virtue of their holiness frequently attain devoted followings. 

Some monks in Thailand have claimed to possess a variety of supernatural abilities, including the ability to predict the future, communicate with the spirits of the dead and levitate.

These monks and the temples where they live can then draw masses of pilgrims who donate large sums of money to them in exchange for spiritual favors.

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