Monk chops off own head for good luck in the afterlife

Thammakorn Wangpreecha, 68, had been planning the ritual for nearly five years

Visitors tour the Temple of the Emerald Buddha at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Thailand (file picture) (EPA)

A Buddhist monk in Thailand reportedly cut his own head off with a guillotine in the hope it would lead to being reincarnated as a “higher spiritual being.”

Thammakorn Wangpreecha, 68, had been planning the ritual for nearly five years and constructed the home-made decapitation instrument next to a religious statue at his temple.

His body was found on April 15 at the Wat Phu Hin temple in Nong Bua Lamphu province, in the north-east of the country by his nephew Booncherd Boonrod, as reported by the IB Times.

Boonrod said his uncle had left a note detailing his plans. He said: “In the letter it was stated that chopping his head off was his way of praising Buddha. In the letter 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 is understood that Wangpreecha had been serving as a monk for 11 years but recently told other priests he would be leaving. However he did not share his plans about the guillotine.

Following his death last Thursday more than 300 devotees arrived to help prepare funeral rites for the monk. His remains were carried to a forest in a coffin and burned.

One of his followers, called Yu, said he had “fulfilled his goal and met enlightenment.”

However the National Office of Buddhism has said that the practice was not being encouraged in the religion.

Followers are instead encouraged to give money or free captive birds as a sacrifice.