Between going up and going to work, I still chose incense.
Say it and you may not believe it.
Temples have become one of the most lucrative industries today.
In that case, why didn't you think of starting your own business and opening a temple?
Hold your horses.
Sir got the project plan for you——
Temple scam
amen
Very "Buddha" Thailand, with a very cool Netflix, this new drama takes off-
A story of making a windfall from a temple.
Interestingly, although the title of the film is a "scam", Sir looked at it and found that it seemed more appropriate to watch this drama from the perspective of "entrepreneurship"-
Temples are revered items.
Faith is a commodity that is sure to make money and not lose money.
Religion is a huge and long-lasting flow.
So, when a genius, a technical backbone, and a negotiator form a Thai version of the "I Am Not a Temple God" team, can they create miracles?
01
Those who sell Buddha do not believe in Buddha
There are more than 95% Buddhists in Thailand.
Whether it is a wedding, a funeral, or a solution to worries, the common people like to run to the temple, and even when they are sick, their first choice is not to go to the hospital for injections, but to go to the temple to donate money and accumulate merits.
It is the so-called "breaking wealth and eliminating disasters".
Where does the money end up?
No, it's the pocket of those who don't believe in Buddhism.
The male protagonist Ah Sheng (played by Pinaro Su Pan Pingyou) was just accompanying his mother to worship the Buddha, and he inadvertently glanced up at the donation flow on the electronic screen, and found the business opportunity of the temple's huge profits.
More than 20 million baht, equivalent to more than 4 million yuan.
There is no need for technology, no factories, no taxes, and thousands of people come to deliver money every day.
The poor seek peace, and the rich make atonement for their sins.
Ah Sheng thinks that if this traffic is operated, it will definitely make a lot of money.
So, he immediately contacted two friends-
The technical flurry of execution (played by Achillaya Nitiboone) and the negotiation and financing expert Game (played by Pachala Kirasivat).
New projects, temple start-ups, engage in it.
Why so fast?
Because the game company that these three people had previously co-founded went bankrupt and owed tens of millions of usury.
And now there is a small investment, quick money business in front of us, of course, just do it.
As a result, the story entered the stage of "entrepreneurial cool article":
In addition to basic product forms such as tickets, incense, bell ringing, and asking for signs, the temple also has chanting services at all stages of birth, old age, sickness and death, and at various prices.
Yes, donating merit is also divided into three, six, nine and so on-
30,000, 60,000, 90,000...... or buy a VIP package of 230,000 directly.
Isn't this the same as recharging a game?
What's more.
Where does this income go, the country basically doesn't ask too much, what is the concept?
The tax department hardly cares, and every cent is a net earning.
But such a good business, of course, also has a threshold-
Building a temple from scratch is too expensive and difficult to gain a foothold without government support, so few people have done so in the past.
But Ah Sheng is different.
Go straight to the Internet thinking.
You don't need to start, just buy the bottom.
Then contract operations.
Build a brand, expand channels, and become bigger and stronger......
But there are more than 40,000 temples in Thailand, how to choose?
The conscience of Netflix is also here, it is really ready to teach you to do this business
。
Come, start teaching:
First of all, this temple should not be too big, because the big temple generally has more people, and it is not easy for the contractor to make a profit in the middle.
Secondly, the site selection should not be too remote, and the consumption power of the customer group should be taken into account.
It can't be a place where temples are concentrated, after all, the competition is too fierce.
At the same time, the temple should not be too old, otherwise the renovation cost will be too high to be worthwhile.
Just such a family excluded, and finally on the side of the road at the junction of urban and rural areas, I met the Dream Love Temple-
Pulan Temple.
It's not popular, but the location is good, and it's good to drain traffic.
Although it is a little dilapidated, the area is not small, and all kinds of building facilities are also intact and complete, just a simple decoration, it is definitely a hundred times stronger than "Chengdu Disney" (bushi).
Once you've chosen a place, what's next?
Code people.
Because the three of them didn't know how to do it, they didn't rush to talk to the abbot of the temple about cooperation.
So he opened a high price and won over a volunteer uncle in Pulan Temple, who often made money by looting the temple's oil and water-Ah Tang.
He was in charge of the temple ledger and the keys to the donation box, and also worked as an assistant to the abbot.
Typical industry insiders.
So after Ah Tang blew the wind on his ears, the abbot agreed to cooperate.
So here's the problem.
How many steps does it take to run a temple?
The first step is to refurbish (pack).
A hornet's nest on the chin of a Buddha statue that looks like a pinch of beard.
Poked?
Wrong.
This hornet's nest is the highlight, to keep, adding a bit of mystery, this differentiation is also a kind of marketing point.
In addition, they have improved the user experience in terms of the ease of various project processes.
Where donations should be made in cash, and what services can be paid by scanning the QR code, are all very well designed.
The second step is the operation of new media.
Launched the official social account of Pulan Temple, personified the temple, and released news from time to time in the tone of the Buddha to shorten the distance with the incense guests.
Yes, the Buddha told you to burn incense.
The third step is welfare drainage.
First wave of benefits.
But the people who came only wanted to receive free holy water, and none of them made donations, but the three of them lost a lot, and the bills for expenses were one after another.
No way, the temples in Thailand are too saturated, and it is difficult to attract people to take the initiative in the absence of differentiated products.
Unless.
can invite a monk with his own traffic to come as a spokesperson.
Temple, also a brand.
The temple economy is probably also the earliest fan economy.
The story begins to go to strange places.
02
A large-scale "fan circle culture"
If there is a temple, which Buddha should you offer?
In other words, you have to be able to create an "icon".
The three temples operated by young people are also young in terms of user positioning.
Therefore, from the perspective of user positioning, the spokesperson of Pulan Temple naturally cannot choose a mage who is too old, at least in terms of image.
But you can't be too young, otherwise you won't be convinced.
For example, the Internet celebrity monks on the self-media now, they are hammered to sleep at every turn, and they are easy to collapse.
After searching for several days, Ah Sheng and Game finally found a perfect candidate in a temple in the countryside -
Master Dole.
Look at this European-style big pair of peach blossom eyes, look at this delicate face, and under the ascetic appearance, there is a faint ...... Sexy vibes?
It's no wonder that there are so many fans.
All the men and women in the hall were fascinated by the Buddhism he spoke in his gentle voice, and even Ah Sheng and Game could afford goosebumps when they heard it.
The director's shot here is subtle:
Two people who do not believe in Buddhism may have felt the charm of Buddhism for the first time.
They decided to dig up Mage Dole.
But headhunters are not so easy to do, if you want to poach people from other temples, you have to offer better conditions.
Continue to start a business and teach (digging version):
First, let's see what Mage Dole's current career dilemma is.
Ah Sheng interviewed a grandmother on the spot and found out that Venerable Dole had wanted to build a Dharma retreat pavilion, but the temple was put on hold for several years due to lack of budget.
The pain point is often the breakthrough.
So they made a blueprint for the refinement pavilion overnight, and on this condition, they threw an olive branch to Master Dole.
But they forget that the other party may be a true cultivator who will no longer be shaken by material gains.
What to do at such a time?
Sincerity is the only nirvana, and altruism is the best starting point for cooperation.
Under the banner of wanting more young people to believe in Buddhism, Ah Sheng once again implored Venerable Dole to go out of the mountain, because his sermon was something that the younger generation would be interested in.
Venerable Dole was so impressed by the brand vision that he agreed to go to Pulan Monastery for a short three-month retreat.
Soon, the entrepreneurial trio tasted the sweetness with the charm of the spokesperson.
The image of Master Dole is indeed very convincing, and the photographer takes promotional photos for him for free, because collecting money seems to be blasphemous.
Moreover, as soon as this set of image photos was released, it attracted a lot of attention.
The temple took this opportunity to launch its first spiritual activity, and those who came to listen to the sermon praised this handsome and beautiful teacher.
The online synchronous live broadcast also received a good response, and the fans were rising all the way.
Like most internet celebrity events in this era.
Pulan Temple, on fire.
Just like chasing stars, whether everyone really believes in Buddhism or not, they all come to Pulan Temple to check in to "support".
Coupled with the publicity of various garden activities such as grassroots music festivals and flea markets, the money earned by the temple finally allowed the three of them to pay off the first usury interest.
Even a local politician came here and sponsored 16 monks in one go.
(Yes, monks can also donate.) ）
This lonely and nameless Pulan Temple was instantly revitalized into the largest flow pool within a radius of ten miles.
But the temple red is also jealous.
Like all businesses, there is competition among peers, and there is competition, and there are various "means" on and off the table.
For example, the abbot of a temple who traveled with him found that the customer was robbed, and actually found a group of motorcycle parties to go to the Pulan Temple at night to sabotage.
That's right, not everyone who cultivates is really free from the world and has six pure roots.
The dojo is also like a battlefield.
Some people are true practitioners.
But some people use spiritual practice to satisfy their greed and desires.
Game, a veteran Internet person, quickly found the mastermind behind the scenes, he dug up the black material of these pseudo-monks on the Internet, and then went to the Internet café to find a water army to post, and used public opinion to discredit this peer.
Why is he so skilled?
Because the real "religious wars" are no more high-end than the fan wars.
At the same time, the entrepreneurial trio is beginning to realize.
The faith of the masses is solid, but the dependence on the temple is not.
It's not enough to have a spokesperson for the Buddha.
What they needed most was to perform a "miracle."
03
A game of human nature
Speaking of the story, the audience can also see:
A lot of religious business is a game of human nature.
For example, the same style of glass bracelet, no one buys two strings of 10 yuan on the evening.
But when you change your religious venue and sell hundreds of bunches, people line up every day to grab them.
Because of this string, the raw materials are added with the incense ash of the blessed place, although the cost is not high, but the value of faith and spiritual sustenance is immeasurable.
Same principle.
Ah Sheng in "The Absolute Temple" also used the honeycomb Buddha statue in the temple as a reference to produce a batch of bee charms, and he planned to make up a miracle story as a selling point.
With miracles, cultural and creative peripherals will become "holy relics".
The story gets crazier.
The protagonists originally tried to put the bee rune together at the scene of the car accident, and then planned to buy off the survivors, so that the other party lied to the reporter that the reason why they survived was because of the protection of this amulet.
Isn't that false advertising?
But madness is madness—
Car accident survivors didn't lie because of the money.
However, when he miraculously regained consciousness in his leg injured in a car accident, he was convinced of the spirituality of this bee rune, and even took the initiative to promote it for them in front of the camera.
This is also the drama that also shows speculation:
Religious acts can be deconstructed and made into business.
But faith itself cannot be easily explained by logic.
This uncertainty may be the reason why believers are obsessed.
The episode fully presents this set:
With the endorsement of the "miracles" of the common people, the bee rune has become an Internet celebrity product in short supply, and it has even been fried to a sky-high price by scalpers.
can rely on the creation of gods and the sale of beliefs, and at the same time make a lot of money.
The created gods, the beliefs that were sold, also began to quickly counterattack the protagonists-
For example, because the "prestige" of the miracle deception is too great, their family members have also become leeks to be harvested.
Game's grandfather broke a bone in a fall, and instead of being hospitalized, he went to buy a bee rune and came back to worship.
Ah Sheng's father has been missing for many years, and his mother does not want to believe that the other party is dead, but goes to ask for a bee charm to bless his father with a safe return.
Even if they used rigorous scientific logic to prove that the miracles were fake, the family members were still obsessed.
He was even taught: Don't slander the gods.
Even more ironic.
When the story breaks apart religion and belief and talks about it.
You will be amazed to find:
For some true believers, they do not believe in the so-called "gods" and "miracles".
It is "cause and effect" and "retribution", which is the balance that measures the hearts of people in the world.
For example, long before the protagonists made holy relics.
Master Dole said that this is superstition.
Yes, a practitioner advises you not to be superstitious, which is a bit strange no matter how you look at it.
In the end, Master Kodor did not stop the three of them from "creating superstitions" and "promoting superstitions", and participated in them as a promoter.
Because his "sinking" is the deconstruction of faith from the other side.
It's not money, it's not about metaphysics, it's because of people's most instinctive emotions.
Having been a monk since childhood, he did not experience the adolescence of ordinary people, nor did he understand what sexual attraction was.
When he first met the lovely Bao'er, he subconsciously didn't regard the other party as an ordinary female benefactor.
Later, in the romantic atmosphere of pink sunset and flying fireflies, when the two talked about "the relationship between love and Buddhism", he realized that he had never loved.
And in the "Spring Dream" related to Bao'er again and again, he gradually clarified his feelings of love.
For the sake of love, Venerable Dole applied for a long-term transfer to Pulan Monastery to assist his beloved woman in anything.
He could not bear to debunk the trio's "superstitions" and repeatedly accommodated their blasphemy against Buddhism.
I even want to be vulgar.
Some netizens said: Master Dole's love is bigger than the scale of the temple scam.
But Sir believes that the two have always been secretly combined, and they both point to the same thing-
The weakness of human nature.
Why have religions and beliefs survived to this day?
Because every baby who comes into this world is an ancestor who came from time immemorial.
They carry with them primitive desires.
is also destined to go through the strange circle that the predecessors have walked from the beginning.
In the series, with the fall of the cultivators, and as the retribution of the reincarnation of the world appears, the entrepreneurial story of the trio seems to be the final victory of the metaphysical side.
But soon, the conspiracy emerges, and the so-called uncertainty is only part of a larger, higher-scale faith hoax, and the end leaves a tail for the second season.
But I believe that Sir's old fans can find a lot of familiar things from this story-
Fandom wars, idolatry, quarrels that renounce thinking, antagonisms, partisanism, and even anti-intellectualism and superstition brought about by misattribution.
It seems to be a stubborn disease of the moment, but if you think about it carefully, whether it is now or in the past, whether it is at home or abroad.
Even if it is deconstructed hand-in-hand, it still has an obsessive charm.
Human beings have not been freed from mental confusion because of the progress of science and technology.
All rationality may be taken advantage of in the hands of God.
This may be the most powerless part.
The so-called temple scam, the focus is on the money being cheated?
Is.
One is willing to fight, the other is willing to suffer.
There is nowhere to put human nature, but to find a sense of ease.
The picture in this article comes from the Internet