Man Claims He Was Sexually Groomed By A Buddhist Monk In S'pore At 14

Falling prey to the people you trust the most scars you in ways one cannot imagine.

Recently, local content creator, Lee, 28, opened up about getting "sexually groomed by a Buddhist monk" when he was 14 years old. 

He, however, stressed in his video that he is not in need of "sympathy or justice". 

"Grooming happens without you even knowing," he said, adding that he came from a pretty troubled background and was hence "always looking for love outside of home" as a kid or teenager.

A Buddhist monk took Lee, who was actually going to become a monk, in as a disciple. He then stayed at the monk's temple for three months.

"He knew a lot of powerful and very rich people in Singapore and so at 14 years old, you can imagine, being exposed to the outside world, he brought me to meet a lot of wealthy people," he recalled.

"Being exposed to that kind of environment, it makes you so grateful and you feel like that's love, that's nurturing, that's mentorship."

That was how Lee grew to be "very grateful" towards the monk because he was, at that point, going through some personal troubles.

"He taught me a lot about meditation and imparted a lot of wisdom to me," he said, adding that he grew "very intimately close" to the monk.

Every night, the monk would invite Lee into his room. 

"I would be sleeping on different beds but on one of the nights, he asked me to go up on him and he would began massaging me. Slowly the massages got more and more sensual and sexual," he recounted.

As a 14-year-old kid, Lee didn't know what was right or wrong. 

"Part of me, I was curious," he admitted. "When you're groomed, you won't even know that you're being groomed. A lot of times you'll just accept everything in the name of love, in the name of gratitude."

Lee went on to explain explicitly that he engaged in multiple sexual acts with the monk during that period.

"That whole experience has taught me about how saints and monks aren't all that good. They're still humans at the end of the day," he said.

"That was when I started going out of religion," added Lee.

When 8days.sg reached out to Lee, he explained that he decided to open up now to share his story because it's "long overdue". He also made it a clear that he does not wish to disclose the identity of the perpetuator. 

"Mainly to inspire consciousness and awareness that everyone, despite their rank, status, or how high up they are on the pedestal are still humans," said Lee.

"I do not [need] to seek justice. I do not wish for a national witch hunt to commence with me surfacing this story," he said.

Lee told us that it took him about five years to "let live and let go" after the traumatic episode, though it "remains a healed scar". 

At that time of the incident, Lee did not seek help from anyone else in the temple and "kept [the experience] a hundred per cent" to himself.

But once it struck him that he'd been groomed, the former Buddhist, who's now a spiritual free thinker, packed and left the temple immediately.