I’ve just returned from a two-week trip to Thailand, organised by RetreaTours for Tricycle magazine. There I visited temples, as well as meeting and meditating with monastics and lay Buddhists. It was informative, uplifting and inspiring. Here are just a few of my memories and observations:
Many lay people practise what might be termed popular or ‘magical’ Buddhism, with belief in amulets and incantations, along with worship of Brahminic or animistic deities and spirits. They do so in order to obtain good fortune in business, health, marriage, fertility etc. But even where this is most evident, there is a background heartbeat of reverence for the Buddha.
There are numerous temples in Thailand – more than three hundred in Chiang Mai alone. Many are opulent in their gilded splendour and beauty, reminiscent of baroque cathedrals in Europe. By contrast the Forest Tradition monasteries we visited tended to be situated remotely, and were more functional and restrained in their decoration.
In Wat Phra That Haripunchai we were fortunate to experience a festival to celebrate a senior monk’s birthday. The loud, rhythmical Pāli chanting of monks en masse was truly wonderful to hear as it resonated throughout the complex. It was a joyous occasion with generous hospitality to visitors.
Poor families may offer a son to become a novice and later an ordained monk, as a means for their child to obtain an education. At a ‘monk chat’ at Wat Suan Dok, which enables monks to practise their foreign language skills, one young monk told me that he became a novice at the age of 11, was now studying for a BA in English, and hoped to then attain an MA before serving for two years as a missionary monk in USA. And after that? He wanted to be a businessman trading in fish aquaria!
There are encouraging signs of women taking an equal place in the spiritual hierarchy, as evidenced by small but growing communities of fully ordained nuns (bhikkhunī ). A highlight for me was participating in a Q&A and meditation session with Ven. Dhammananda — the first Theravādin bhikkhunī in Thailand. She is an impressive, charismatic person who received full ordination in 2003 in Sri Lanka.
I saw a statue at Wat Chedi Luang of the precept nun, Bun Ruen, who is widely believed to have been an arahant. Also at Wat Doi Suthep I noticed a statue of Visākhā, the Buddha’s leading female lay supporter, who serves as a model for numerous lay women who play the more traditional role of providing indispensable support to the monk community.
One of the benefits of the trip was the opportunity to chat with the other western Buddhists in the party. I came back with a mind crammed with ideas, a refreshed meditation practice, a wrist bound with threads of blessings, and with a gladdened heart.