Dharma Documentaries

Dharma. Culture. Ecology.

Menu
  • Dharma
  • Culture
  • Ecology
  • Archives
  • About
Menu

The Tiger and the Monk

Posted on December 25, 2015June 30, 2016 by Dharma Documentaries
A film about the Tiger Temple in Thailand and its abbot, and the interaction between the animals and the monks.

The Tiger and the Monk

This is a very interesting documentary from the Secrets of Nature series in 2011 about the famous – some say infamous – Tiger Temple (Wat Pa Luangta Maha Bua) in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand.

The film interviews the Abbot (his Pali name is Phra Vissuthisaradhera, and he is better known as Luangta Chan), which it only identifies as Phra Ajahn (respected teacher), about how the temple got started along, what his aims are, and where they go from here.

There are other monks involved in the care of the tigers, including one small novice, and exactly how they manage to live so close to the tigers without being hurt for the most part is hard to know.

(This year there was a case of one of the tigers apparently attacking the Abbot, but it then turned out that the Abbot had slipped, pulling the leash on the tiger, which had startled him, and he inflicted a scratch on the Abbot’s face. Other wounds sustained were from the fall: news story here.)

Besides the Tigers, which are, of course, the stars of the show, the Temple also houses many other animals including peacocks, water buffalo, cows, goats, horses, banteng, porcupines, boars, civet cats, lions, and various species of birds, all of which the temple provides a sanctuary for, and many of which it feeds.

The film reports that the Abbot had a plan to set up a Tiger Island when he could raise the funds, in which the tigers would be free to roam around more like in the wild, and this year that project was completed and there are now around 120 tigers on the island. It should be noted that Thailand is only reported to have around 200 tigers in the whole country, and the authorities have proved negligent in protecting them.

There are questions around what has been happening at the temple, and I am aware of that, but it is hard not to be impressed by the way the monks interact not only with the tigers, but with all the animals, and definitely leaving them to the poachers – or park rangers – seems not be a better solution.

 

if this video is no longer available please leave a comment so I can update the page
(the comment is not published)

 

to see an album of stills click here

 

TAGS:
Ecology, Animals, Temples, Thailand, Theravada

1 thought on “The Tiger and the Monk”

  1. Christopher Valade says:
    September 3, 2016 at 5:53 pm

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160121-tiger-temple-thailand-trafficking-laos0/

    Seems what’s been going on may not be any better than leaving the cats to poachers after all–very sad, and very shameful! There are some indications that the cats are drugged, thus peaceful interaction with them wouldn’t be what it would seem. I haven’t watched this doc yet and am curious to see what it reveals.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

Subscriptions

Follow our Facebook Page Follow our Tweets Subscribe by Email Subscribe to our Feed

Shortlink and QR

https://dharma-documentaries.net/b/3CV

Donations

This site has taken 10 years to build, and has 700+ documentaries on it. If you would like to support the expenses involved, you can do so here. Even small amounts help.

choose amount:  

Copyright

If anyone has any copyright claims please contact me at dharmadocus@gmail.com and the posts and films will be immediately removed.

Top Ten Tags

Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana

India
Silk Road
China
Tibet

Arts
Lectures
Rights

Popular Posts

  • The Freedom of being a Buddhist Nun
  • Bright and Shining Mind in a Disabled Body
  • The Leshan Giant Buddha Statue
  • The Silk Road Series 7/16: Khotan-Oasis of Silk and Jade
  • David Eckel: Buddhism 3-4 of 24
  • The Tibetan Oracles
  • Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: The Untold Truth
  • The Mountain Yogi, Lama Govinda
  • Indian Roots of Tibetan Buddhism
  • The Journey of Xuanzang: An Introduction

Recent Posts

  • Hermits, Modern Chinese Practitioners
  • Our Only Home, a Climate Change Film
  • The Kingdom of Nature (in Cambodia)
  • Fire in the Blood
  • Sowers of Joy (Nuns Travel across India)
  • Life Beyond 2, The Museum of Alien Life
  • Life Beyond 1, Alien Life
  • Bhutan, Change Comes to the Happy Kingdom
  • The 108 Lokesvaras in Nepal
  • Survive (the Khmer Rouge)

Related Posts

  • Si Satchanalai, Thailand (Expoza)
  • Thailand's Rehab Temple
  • Khru Ba Sriwichai, the Thai Engineer Monk
  • Blue Eyes in Saffron Robes
  • Stop Over: Bangkok and the rivers of Thailand
  • The Sukhothai Dynasty (Folkways of Indochina)
  • Nourished by the Mekong River: Lasting Faith
  • Nourished by the Mekong River: Eternal Celebrations
  • Nourished by the Mekong River: Colourful River System
  • My Brother, Buddhist Monk
© 2021 Dharma Documentaries | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme