A 68-year-old Buddhist monk, Thammakorn Wangpreecha, has beheaded himself as an offering to Buddha hoping it would bring him good luck in the afterlife.
Thammakorn, who was abbot of Wat Phuhingong monastery in northern Thailand, has been planning the bizarre ritual sacrifice for more than five years until he finally ended his life last Thursday.
According to TheSun, the monk beheaded himself with his makeshift guillotine next to a Buddha statue so it would appear the deity was holding his severed head.
His nephew Booncherd Boonrod, who found the body, said there was also a slab of inscribed marble nearby explaining his plan.
“In the letter it was stated that chopping his head off was his way of praising Buddha,” Boonrod told the media.
“He said that he had been planning this for five years now. His wish was to offer his head and his soul so that the Lord could help him reincarnate as a higher spiritual being in the next life.”
It was learnt that before making the sacrifice, Thammakorn informed his followers he was leaving the monkhood but did not tell them about the guillotine.
Following news of the grisly the death, more than 300 local devotees arrived at the temple to prepare the dead monk’s body for funeral rites.
Police intervened and took the body to a hospital for a post-mortem to ascertain the cause of death before returning it to his family.
Followers and family members then carried the monk’s remains to a forest where they were cremated. His body was laid inside a coffin while his head was displayed in a jar.
Yu, one of the abbot’s followers, said: “He had been planning this for five years now. He fulfilled his goal and met enlightenment.”
Buddhists believe that carrying out good deeds is a way of praising the Lord Buddha, and will bring them good karma in the next life.
KanyiDaily had also reported how a man slaughtered his 9-month-old daughter Benue State , saying he was directed by God to use her as a sacrificial lamb.