Bollywood actor Gagan Malik who played Prince Siddhartha entered monkhood at Wat That Thong with his monk name “Asoko” meaning the one who is free of sadness.
The well-known actor was ordained at the Buddhist temple at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. He planned to stay in the monkhood for 15 days until Feb 24.
People close to him and fellow Buddhists who earlier visited India were present at the ordination ceremony.
Before the ordination, the actor said although India was the origin of Buddhism, Buddhists in India formed only 1-2% of the Indian population nowadays.
He said he entered monkhood to study the code of conduct of Buddhists because he planned to later share the experience to Indian people.
He said he did not want to convert Indian people to Buddhism but he only intended to bring Buddhism back to the homeland of Lord Buddha. (TNA)