Hot debates on social media has prompted Buddhism’s highest body to seek middle-ground solutions, in a controversy over a 300-year-old Bangkok temple’s pre-dawn bell-ringing that led to a complaint being filed by a resident of a nearby condominium that was built less than a decade ago.

PHRA PHROMMEDHI, the assistant abbot of Wat Samphanthawongsaram, who was wanted for alleged embezzlement of National Buddhism Office (NBO) funds, escaped to Laos with assistance from a disciple and has since travelled to an unknown destination further north, a police investigation found.