You know how monks are supposedly always calm and composed and not hitting each other with umbrellas and shouting swears in the middle of the road? Well, that’s what we thought too… until we saw this video that’s been making its way around Facebook of two monks, well, hitting each other with umbrellas and shouting swears in the middle of the road.
The short clip begins with the monks mid-argument, right before things get physical. One points at his friend(?) and shouts something about “You Rakhines,” which prompts the latter to hit him with what seems to be an umbrella.
The two then really get into it, as witnesses stand by half-amused and half unsure of what to do.
At the 0:52 mark, one monk pushes the other into the ground.
It’s difficult to make out what they’re arguing about, but it seemingly involves a driver, perhaps from a bus.
One monk shouts: “I know you were bullying others on the car. I know you were swearing at the driver.”
He then tries to walk away, but the other monk holds onto his wrist, and the two almost get into another fight. The first monk tells his friend to let go, and although it looks they’re about to start hitting each other again, the second monk finally acquiesces. Monk A shouts, “Don’t push it. You’re wearing a thingan [monk robes]” and storms away.
At this point, Monk B’s robes have completely come undone and are on the ground. As he puts them back on, he doesn’t take his eyes off his friend, perhaps in case Monk A comes back and tries to beat him from behind. Monk B then grabs his collection bowl and leaves in the opposite direction as Monk A.
As he’s walking, you can see another monk come into the shot, which is when the video ends. It’s unclear whether the third monk witnessed everything and was coming to talk to the second monk, or if he too was an innocent passerby just trying to get on with his day.
The comments under the video also express a mixture of shock and amusement at such a sight.
One person writes: “Well, this is depressing.”
Another echoes: “Aw geez, they’re disrespecting [Buddhist] teachings while wearing thingan.”
But in the midst of all the people shaming the monks for displaying such un-monklike behavior, one user pointed out that, well, you’re not a horrible person just because you get into an argument, explaining: “Sure, they faltered for a minute, but don’t you see that they regained control of their anger?”
While it is quite the scene to watch, we’re inclined to agree with the last commenter. After all, believe it or not (and even if they technically shouldn’t) monks do get angry too.
