Monk develops dhamma doctrine for ring tones

Phra Phayom Kalayano hit on the idea of composing a "dhamma doctrine" for ringtones and will be flogging them on Bangkok's mobile networks from next week.

The ringtones consist of more traditional Buddhist mantras such as "Anger is stupidity; fury is madness" mixed with some odd new ones such as "Compose yourself before answering this call" and "Don't let mobile phone conversations lead to premature sex and pregnancy."

According to the Nation newspaper the profits from the sale will go to the Wat Suan Kaew Foundation, which provides charity for the poor.

Phra Phayom who lives at the Glass Garden Temple, outside Bangkok said he was driven to develop the ringtones after hearing some "distasteful" tones on teenagers' phones.

He said that some ringtones seemed designed to provide unwholesome thoughts, such as the sound of a woman moaning in a sexual manner rather than the calm stillness of one hand clapping.

Now we are not sure what is unwholesome about someone moaning in a sexual manner, still monks of any persuasion tend to be a bit attached to what they can't get. The sound of one hand clapping is a little hard to hear on the 8.15AM Midland's Mainline train to London, however we have to admit that anything is better than Crazy Frog.

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