By Rosalio Ahumada
rahumada@modbee.com
Modesto Bee (California, USA)
CERES -- A Buddhist monk died today after he inhaled smoke as he and others tried to put out an accidental electrical fire at their temple, fire officials said.
The monk was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said Fire Battalion Chief Bryan Hunt. The victim's name was not available early this evening.
No one else was harmed in the fire, which was reported about 3:40 p.m. at the Cambodian Buddhist temple in the 3800 block of Roeding Road, just east of Mitchell Road and the Ceres Christian Church.
The fire was apparently smoldering in the room for hours before temple members noticed the smoke.
Hunt said the fire was caused by an electrical overload in a back room. The room was used for temple members to worship and was filled with religious items.
Temple members, including several Buddhist monks, grabbed garden hoses and sprayed water on the burning room.
Hunt said it appeared the monk who died was attacking the fire from outside the room when he collapsed. He said the man inhaled a lot of smoke.
Temple members had extinguished the fire by the time firefighters arrived, Hunt said. The flames did not spread to any other areas of the temple.
It appeared that most of the religious items inside the burning room were not damaged. Hunt said the fire caused an estimated $2,000 in damage.
The monk was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, said Fire Battalion Chief Bryan Hunt. The victim's name was not available early this evening.
No one else was harmed in the fire, which was reported about 3:40 p.m. at the Cambodian Buddhist temple in the 3800 block of Roeding Road, just east of Mitchell Road and the Ceres Christian Church.
The fire was apparently smoldering in the room for hours before temple members noticed the smoke.
Hunt said the fire was caused by an electrical overload in a back room. The room was used for temple members to worship and was filled with religious items.
Temple members, including several Buddhist monks, grabbed garden hoses and sprayed water on the burning room.
Hunt said it appeared the monk who died was attacking the fire from outside the room when he collapsed. He said the man inhaled a lot of smoke.
Temple members had extinguished the fire by the time firefighters arrived, Hunt said. The flames did not spread to any other areas of the temple.
It appeared that most of the religious items inside the burning room were not damaged. Hunt said the fire caused an estimated $2,000 in damage.
4 comments:
Venerable Ma Sarin Visothea is the victim someone called me.
My sincere condoleance to the dead monk and his family and friends. But why Cambodian build too many Pagodas in and outside the Country.
Sometime they dissagre one some matters, divide themselves in 2 Clans or more and for this reason, build each own pagoda. Is that their real faith in BUDDHISM?
A Khmer from PPenh
May your soul rest in peace.
2:00PM,
I agree with your comment to some extent about the matter why Khmers keep building some Watt ouside of the country? It's OK for them to build a Watt outside of the country where they are living because they need to traditionally practice their Buddhism. But collecting money to build a Watt in India where 99% of Indian people, especially its government is no longer honoring Buddhism as their main religion is, to me, not wise at all. Why don't they collect the money to help Dr. Venerable Hok Sovann to finish the Buddha Mundul in Cambodia, half of which is already done?
I'm a Buddhist, but I found that sometimes a belief leads some other Bddhists to go far beyond just practicing "Buddhism". If you are also a Buddhist, you should know the limit of Buddhism: Do not believe anything before you yourself examine it or beyond truth.
In some city , Buddhist temples were built just a few miles away from each others.The reason is those monks did not get along with each others.The trouble makers usually are the new arrivals from Cambodia who love to spread politic .People name them the January 7th monks.
Post a Comment