Vassa is the traditional Buddhist monk retreat time when monks do not venture from the local temple but spend their days in meditation, this coincides with the rainy season in Thailand. It is also seems a popular time for laity to join the mookhood which probably explains why I have recently attended two ceremonies where young Thai men took monastic vows.
I know Yong because last year I helped him with his English studies at the local community school. Yong is 20 years old and doesn't have a job, however he helps the family by looking after their large herd of cows. Since I am interested in Buddhism I thought I would take the opportunity to find out what life is like for a Thai monk who joins his fellow Buddhists by spending time at his local temple at this time of the year.
Due to my lack of conversational Thai and Yong's limited English I did not find out that much, although I did ascertain that he has his own room, and spends his days learning about the Buddha and cleaning the temple grounds. He plans to stay a monk during the lent period although if he enjoys the life he might stay longer.
The interview was a little frustrating since I had a lot of in depth questions on the Buddhist faith and his period as a Thai monk that I would have liked to have asked but clearly these were beyond either of our comprehensions.
I also wanted to know more about merit making and explain to Yong that to an outsider it might seem that by becoming a Thai monk for a short period of time was a way of avoiding other responsibilities since Yong's family will not benefit from his input into the family business for four months. Try explaining that in broken English and Thai!
Although I enjoyed my time visiting and speaking to Yong in his new role as a Thai monk I still have many unanswered questions.
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9 comments:
It is very popular in Malaysia for kid to be a "short-term" monk during school holiday. They can learn to tolerate, to behave, and of course, something about buddism.
Mike ,sorry I haven't been around for a while the ole computor went south and had to have a few more rams and the new windows xp 11 put in ,now good as new .
I've been to a few of them monk -making parties and always enjoy the music and food,I always give our bottle of wiskey and beers to the table beside us , If I'm not mistaken Lord Budda told them not to drink strong drink ,have yet to figure out all the merit making stuff and what they do while they are laying around the temples talking on their cell phones and drinking all that m-150 and giving all the school girls the smiles when they are down in the village , never can find a seat on the bus as they are always full of monks headed to tesco lotus to buy all the stuff they didn't get in the orange buckets .I know that sounds hard and cruel, but my mother -in -law lived close to the temple all her life and was up every morning to have rice for the monks that came around she took them lunch and according to Ciejay often times they got the best of the meal and the kids got what was left ,Mom made merit and tamboned all her life and when she had a stroke and was bed ridden and sick for a year or so, not one of the monks came to vist her are call are even came by. I have noticed that unless they get money and are paid for their services they do NOTHING FOR THE COMMUNITY, these village temples are nothing but bussiness run by Monks and a few local politicians, they charge for everything and do very little in exchange, I have never saw them give a helping hand to anyone , in this world there are givers and takers and all I can see is they are takers. SORRY, but thats the way I feel. Malcolm
Mike I'm sure next time you will take MTF along for an in depth interview like this. Between the three of you those unanswered questions would almost certainly have made some headway. I had similar problems interviewing Ying a hotel worker in Udon Thani and when Wi came along to help a few days later Ying was on her day off. A lesson learned by me I hope. Frustrating.
Hi Mike
Sounds pretty frustration with the communication for you. This no doubt will improve with more time thers. It just be hard getting time to practice with your vocation there. I can see you fascination with Bhuddism, there is something quite calming about it. I'd lean more to Bhuddism than Islam, but that's dangerous talk!
Take Care and Be Good
Martin
An interesting postbag on this one.
Malcolm I appreciate your views and I have to say that during my visit I observed a young monk cleaning a truck with an MP3 ear piece jammed in his ear!
Buddhism does interest me and I like the peaceful feeling I always get at the temple.
However the commercial aspect is worrying here in Thailand.
Martyn I did take MTF but she couldn't help!
Rainfield and Martin thanks for the contributions, I wasn't aware of the monk situation in Malaysia.
"Malcolms" comment is arguably one of the worst comments I have ever seen on your blog and shows a distinct lack of understanding into Thai, and Budhist, culture and borders on racism, a sad reflection of the writers religious bias.
Why is the commercial side of Budhism so worrying?
i like spending time in the wife's village you do get a good feeling of community with the temple being nearby
in issan villages they really do support their local and even distant temples whether you have a interest in Buddhism our not the peaceful side is a big attraction to a lot of folks like me
Lloyd by commercial side I mean the large amounts that are donated by the locals (who can ill afford it sometimes) plus the "business" of selling amulets and the like.
I am not sure how accountable the Abbott and his monks are.
I will have to leave it to Malcolm to come back and defend his stance.
John I don't pretend for one minute to understand Buddhism but I too enjoy the peace (most of the time).
Mike ,sorry if I caused a problem on your blog post in the comment section.
For all other readers and commenters please overlook my lack of complete knowledge of Thai Buddism. Malcolm
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