Sawadee krup TBF
Travelers!
One of the simple pleasures for me
on each and every trip to Thailand is the visits I make to Buddhist temples or
Wat as they are called in Thai. The population of Thailand is 95% Buddhist and
on your travels through any part of the country you will see numerous Wats,
distinguished by their prominent and elaborately decorated multi-colored roofs
of green, blue and orange tiles. The green represents the rice fields of
Thailand that feed the people, the blue represents the King and the Monarchy
that looks over the people, and the orange represents the robe of the Buddhist
monk that enshrouds and protects the people. Each community will have a Wat that
supports the local people and is supported by the local community. All Wats –
except for one in Thailand , have Buddhist Monks that live, teach and work
there. Ceremonies such as weddings and funerals, blessings and holy days,
birthdays, anniversaries, and merit making all take place at the local Wat with
the work, efforts and blessings of the Monks. Some Wats will raise funds for
community and temple building projects by offering amulets for sale that are
specially made with sacred ingredients and blessed by the Abbot or elder Monk of
the Wat. The majority of the funds to build and operate the Wat come from
donations.
Each Wat is similar in the buildings
that are in the grounds of the temple: there will be the main temple building or
‘Ubosot’ where ordinations and main ceremonies take place, there will be a
high-peaked building with an elaborate main entrance called the ‘Mondop’ that
will house an image of the Buddha and other sacred relics and will be used as a
building for prayer and ceremonies, a large open building called a ‘Viharn’ with
sometimes several Buddha images and lots of room for meetings or prayer, and
there will often be a ‘Chedi’, which is a bell-shaped large object usually gold,
that is used to house and contain Buddha relics or other famous historical
objects and remains. But each Wat will be different and unique. Each Wat will
have its own beautiful decorations and its own exotic trees, plants and flowers.
Each Wat has its own history and often you can see some of the history by
walking around the grounds of the Wat and observing the older buildings and
looking at the older painted murals, teak wood carvings and 17th and
18th century statues. Each Wat will be a reflection of the people
that live in the area that frequent and affect the Wat and during your visit you
are bound to see local people at the Wat during the course of their normal daily
activities. At most Wats you can receive a blessing of health, happiness and
prosperity – along with other individual grants and benefits I am sure, from one
of the Monks that live there.
In Thailand it is customary for Thai
men to become a Monk at least once in their adult lives. This is usually done at
their local Wat and is viewed as a way for men to earn ‘merit’ for their mothers
– merit meaning good karma that transcends to your next incarnation or life. In
older times it was common for a man to become a Monk for the 8-10 weeks of the
monsoon season, nowadays men will choose a time when they can become a monk
around their school and work schedules which usually reduces the length of time
from what it used to be. Thai Buddhist Monks follow a detailed and rigorous
discipline of thought and behavior that is the school of Theravada Buddhism .
These countries of Southeast Asia: Thailand , Burma , Laos , and Cambodia along
with Sri Lanka all practice Theravada Buddhism. The rest of the Buddhist world:
Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Nepal, and Mongolia all follow a
different school called Mahayana Buddhism, which has been updated and expanded
over the centuries to include more recent beliefs and practices, reflecting the
many different cultures of Asia and their people, while Theravada Buddhists have
adhered to the more ancient beliefs and doctrines. On one of my first trips to
Thailand I was instructed to look for the Monks that were always barefooted as
the Theravada Monks and the ones that wore shoes of the Mahayana school. All
Buddhist Monks must eat their two meals of the day before 11 am and only drink
beverages after this for the rest of the day. And they cannot buy anything or
use money so all of their food must be given to them each day. This is done
early in the mornings as the Monks walk through their local communities with
their bowl and the local people stop them to offer ‘alms’ – meals, food,
beverages, and sometimes gift baskets with daily essentials, and receive a
blessing from the Monk.
When entering a Wat you must be
respectful with your apparel. This means for women they must cover their
shoulders and for men they must wear a shirt with sleeves. At temples that are
Royal Temples, such as Wat Phra Keow at the Grand Palace in Bangkok ;
incidentally the one and only Wat in Thailand without its own Monks, where the
Emerald Buddha is, men and women must also wear long pants and skirts that cover
most of the legs. Before entering any Wat building and often times outside at
‘Salas’ or pavilions, your shoes will need to be removed. You will usually spot
the location to take off your shoes by the pile of others sandals. Respect
should always be shown towards the Buddha statues and images at the Wat.
Pictures can be politely taken of Buddha images and of Monks. Monks cannot touch
or accept anything directly from the hand of a female. When offering alms
females will place the items inside the bowl of the Monk or set it upon a cloth
the Monk is holding. At several of the temples we will visit we will have the
opportunity to make an offering, which consists usually of some orchids or lotus
flowers, lighting candles and small sticks of incense and making a small
donation to the Wat. We might even receive a blessing from one of the Monks and
possibly one of the string bracelets or ‘Sai Sing” that are given by the Monks
at some temples.
You never know what you are going to
see or find at a Wat you visit. There will likely be some temple dogs, and more
than a couple temple cats likely roaming around, more often than not they are
not looking for either food or attention but busy lazily soaking up the sun or
hiding in the shade. The many different architecture designs and styles of the
temples along with the landscaping is always something splendid to behold and
usually it won’t be long before you stumble upon something you have never seen
before at a Wat that will keep you transfixed in awe. But even more wondrous
than what I see at when I visit a Wat is what I feel. I always feel calmer, more
relaxed, and at ease when I walk onto the grounds of a Wat in Thailand . Is it
the air I am breathing or just my expected perception once I enter the Wat…I
don’t know but the feeling has been virtually the same for me every visit to
every Wat, so it is always welcome and enjoyable in my travel days spent in
Thailand . Thai people almost never pass up an opportunity to make merit –
whether by offering alms to Monks early in the morning, or buying a flower ring
to hang in their car for luck from the boy in the intersection on the way to
work, or pausing to ‘Wai’ – the gesture of respect made by placing your hands
together in front and above you, to a Buddha statue while walking down the
street – sometimes even made by drivers driving by, or by wishing something good
for a friend or family member and then going by the Wat to make an offering and
donation to bless the wish. In the old days before there were schools all
children were taught by the Monks at the Wat and the Wat was the literal center
of the community. In many communities in Thailand this has not changed much.
On our trip we will visit two of the
most famous and popular Buddhist temples in Thailand: Wat Phra Keow also known
as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha at the Royal Grand Palace in Bangkok, and
Wat Arun – or the Temple of Dawn in Thonburi on the other side of the Chaopraya
River from Bangkok. For those of you on the Thailand Beach Adventure who will be
staying at the Ibis Riverside Hotel while in Bangkok there is a local temple
called Wat Sawetchat just down the street from your hotel that has a huge
morning market each day. For those of you on the Beach Party Adventure one of
the most decorative and elaborate Hindu temples in Bangkok is just one block
down and across the street from your hotel. When you arrive from the airport you
will see it on the right hand side as you approach the hotel.
Once out of Bangkok we will
experience a different kind of Wat: “same same but different” as they say in
Thailand . They will still be grand, not so much less ornate as much as smaller
and less grandiose than in Bangkok . There will still be the three main
buildings that are at every Wat: the Ubosot, the Mondop, and the Viharn, and the
gold Buddha image, and a real old tree with beautiful orchids, and Monks in
orange robes followed by dogs, or cats, and when you enter the Wat you will
probably feel just as awed and at peace as you did while at the Royal Grand
Palace or Wat Arun – maybe even more so because there won’t be hundreds of other
people there creating a stir. Certainly the visit to Wat Tham Sua in Krabi is a
highlight stop on the trip with all of its features and spectacles, but there
are also some very interesting temples on Koh Samui: one with a Big Buddha
(really big), one with many big Statues (Wat Plai Laem), one with a real
mummified Monk, and one with a Buddha’s footprint hidden up a mountain. And I
know from experience that there is always a Wat to be found just down the road
when out and about on a free day on motorbikes and sometimes just one visit to a
Wat can make a day, make a vacation, or make a journey more magic and more
memorable.
Bill
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