AsiaPundit has decided against joining that Cambodian monastery he was accepted at earlier this year. Being a monk no longer sounds like any fun.:

Wayward, womanizing monks face arrest and expulsion

By Sam Rith

Regulations announced jointly by the Ministry of Cults and Religion and the Supreme Patriarch of the majority Mahanikaya Order have restricted the activities of Phnom Penh’s more than 3,000 Buddhist monks.

From December 1, monks may not beg for food in crowded places such as markets. Nor are they allowed to solicit donations with loudspeakers or stroll with women along the riverside. Violators face arrest and re-education for a first offense, and expulsion from the monkhood for a second.

According to the new guidelines issued on September 13 the directives will guide monks to behave as the Buddha intended

Chhoeng Bunchhea, cabinet chief for Patriarch (Sangharaja) Tep Vong of Wat Ounalom, said the regulations were aimed at the small number of monks observed during the past four or five years whose unacceptable behavior was bringing Buddhism into disrepute….

Among those critical of some monks’ behavior is 47-year-old Chea Chamroeun who lives under a banyan tree on the riverside in front of Wat Ounalom. He said he respects only those monks who have good Buddhist discipline - and reckons that would be only 10 percent of the monks currently in Phnom Penh.

“Since I was born [in Kampong Chhnang province], I never saw monks tickling girls, and climbing trees to whistle and wave at girls as the monks in Phnom Penh do,” he said.

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