Aspects of Thai Buddhist Culture

Aspects of Thai Buddhist Culture CHAPTER V Thai Culture At the outset of this study I had intended to have two sections in the final chapter, one section detailing the Buddhist roots of all things Thai and the other showing Hindu / Indic influence. This idea has been abandoned by the author due to the limited solely Buddhist influence. There are many aspects of Thai culture that have combined elements of other countries such as China, Laos etc but I have chosen to limit the comparisons to Buddhist / Hindu wherever possible. The study will instead focus on detailing the aspects of influence and state whether they have a combined influence or whether they have been influenced by only one of the subjects. The reader will by now appreciate the massive scope of Hinduism and as such it will prove very difficult to find aspects of Thai Buddhist culture that do not have at least some basis in Hinduism. The common origin of the Indian sub-continent and the antiquity of Hinduism make such a subjective study difficult. For this reason I undertook a survey of many Thai people, including but not limited to, my friends, my students, neighbours, monks, etc. I asked them to make a list of 20 things that they considered to be Thai or that which they thought might be perceived by foreign visitors as representative of their country and culture. The answers were varied (and, at times amusing due to language) and from the answers they gave I have composed a list of the results. (shown on next page). The list has been arranged alphabetically and I have limited the list to the most common answers. The list may have been influenced by regional representation as many of the people gave regional answers such as Isan, or the rocket festival. The answers were unprompted by the author and I feel that the list is accurate for the purpose of this study. Almsround by the Monks Arts and Crafts Boat Races / Royal Barge Procession Buddhism Elephants Buffaloes Isan / Isarn Monuments Mai Pen Rai ! Offerings / Merit Making Rain Dance Respect for Royalty Rocket Festival Royalty Temples / Shrines Thai Smile / Friendliness The Wai ( Thai Greeting ) Thai Boxing Thai Festivals Ceremonies Thai Dance / Thai Dress Thai Food / Fruit Sculpture Thai language Thai literature Thai Massage / Traditional Thai medicine Thai music / musical instruments Thai Silk Tuk Tuk ( 3 wheel vehicle) Sanuk ! Sukhothai Kingdom The discerning reader will note that Hinduism is absent from the list. This was a little surprising to the author as I had distributed approx two hundred surveys and had about 60% returned completed and not a single reply had Hinduism or Brahmanism as an answer. Buddhism was on every single list returned to me and that was not in the least surprising. I had not thought to make my own list prior to asking the Thai people their opinion and I think this was a mistake or rather an oversight on my part. I am unable to remember exactly what I conceived of as Thai-ness, but the Thai smile and the Wai greeting would definitely have been included in any list. Westerners who visit the Kingdom generally know in advance about the Kingdoms Buddhist temples and the friendliness of the people. The Thai language appears to be very difficult for the average foreigner / westerner to master and for that reason I have chosen to begin my analyses by looking at the Thai Language / Thai Script. There was obviously a Thai language long before there was a written Script. By far the most interesting thing about the Thai script is that it was invented by a Thai king ! Not many countries can make such a claim, but is there any basis to the claim which is widely accepted by the majority of the Thai people? The sources I consulted all agreed that the Thai script has its roots in India. In fact, many of the South East Asian scripts are very similar as they all have the same root, namely the Brahmi script of ancient India. At the time of the Sukhothai Kingdom the country of Siam was under the control of the Khmer Empire. It is very likely that the Khmer alphabet had an influence on the Thai alphabet. A look at the first vagga/ varga of Khmer Thai consonants will show the striking similarities. Khmer Palm Leaf Script Modern Khmer Modern Thai The other Scripts which Thai has borrowed from are the Mon, Burmese, as well as the Khun, Tham or Lanna scripts which were existent prior to the first known Thai writing. Tham/Lanna Khun Burmese Burma Northern Thai Scripts Modern Thai Script The Tai Tham script, also known as the Lanna script is used for three living languages: Northern Thai (that is, Kam Muang), Tai Là ¼ and Khà ¼n. In addition, the Lanna script is also used for Lao Tham (or old Lao) and other dialect variants in Buddhist palm leaves and notebooks. The script is also known as Tham or Yuan script. The oldest Thai inscription dates from 1283. The Thai script is a syllabic alphabet based on the Brahmi script which was adapted to write the Siamese / Thai language. Its invention is attributed to King Ramkhamhaeng, who reigned over Sukhothai from 1275 to 1317. The Ramkhamhaeng Stele This stone, now in the National Museum in Bangkok, was allegedly discovered in 1833 by King Mongkut, who was a monk at the time, in Wat Mahathat. It should be noted that the authenticity of the stone or at least portions of it has been brought into question.[[1]] Piriya Krairiksh, an academic at the Thai Khadi Research institute, notes that the steles treatment of vowels suggests that its creators had been influenced by European alphabet systems; thus, he concludes that the stele was fabricated by someone during the reign of Rama IV or shortly before. The matter is very controversial, since if the stone is in fact a fabrication, the entire history of the period will have to be re-written.[[2]] Scholars are still divided over the issue about the steles authenticity.[[3]] It remains an anomaly amongst contemporary writings, and in fact no other source refers to King Ramkhamhaeng by name. Some authors claim the inscription was a complete 19th-century fabrication, others claim that the first 17 lines are genuine, that the inscription was fabricated by King Lithai (a later Sukhothai king), and some scholars still believe very much in the inscriptions authenticity.[[4]] The inscription and its image of a Sukhothai utopia remains central to Thai nationalism, and the suggestion that it may have been faked in the 1800s caused Michael Wright, a British scholar, to be threatened with deportation under Thailands strict lese majeste laws .[[5]] Phra Lewis, a western monk who has lived in Thailand for the past 8 years, went to great lengths to explain the construction of the Thai language and demonstrated that while the spoken language has evolved over time, ie the sound of the consonants changing, their position in the surd/sonant grid has not altered accordingly. This was very helpful to my research work in this study as I had encountered some difficulty researching Thai words due to the many different spellings I encountered. There is in fact a Royally approved system of translation, but it is not always followed and there are numerous informal systems in wide use. For example, the Sanskrit word Dharma is the Pali word Dhamma but the Thais call it Tam, another example is the Thai word Bangsakun which is actually Pamsakula in Pali. Written Thai is very structured and follows simple rules with no ambiguity as to the pronunciation like there is in English. The Thai language is tonal and that is where most problems arise for the foreigner. The old style of pronunciation was no doubt altered when the capital moved from Sukhothai in the north, to Ayuddhya in the central region. The letter ? (K) became G, the ? (C) became J and the ? (J) became CH, and so on. The vowels were also altered slightly. Unless consonants are otherwise marked they carry an inherent vowel. In Indian languages this is normally an a but in Thai the rules are slightly different. The inherent vowel is an o but if the word has more than one syllable then the first inherent vowel is an a and the second inherent vowel is an o. The example below shows the word for road Thanon Before moving on to examine festivals and ceremonies I would like to look at a remarkable feature of the Thai language. For this information I am indebted to Phra Lewis who not only pointed it out but explained it to me as follows :- The above 44 consonants of the Thai alphabet have been shown with their modern phonetic sounds. Some letters change sound change depending on where they are in the syllable. They have been shown horizontally in vaggas dependant upon where the sound is made. The first vagga is guttural, made in the throat. The last line are not shown in their vaggas. The first vertical column should show the surd, the second column the surd aspirate, the third column shows the sonant and the forth shows the sonant aspirated. Column five is the nasal sound made. In the first vagga of the diagram we can see that the G and K sounds of modern Thai have switched positions and if one looks at the next vagga ie the palatal vagga, we can see the J has also moved. The monk has speculated that this happened when the Thais moved their capital to Ayuddhya. The letters M, L, H in the chart indicates the class of consonant ie middle , low and high. This should not be confused with the tones of the language. Looking down the first column we see all the letters are middle class, the next column are all high class and the remaining letters in the 5 vaggas are low class consonants. The consonants in the last, longer, line can also be placed in their vagga, ie Y would belong to the palatal vagga, H in the guttural etc. This class of consonant feature is unique to Thai but the grid is the format of the majority of Indian languages. The king did not invent the grid but he may well have been the instigator for the format of the letters, a man in his position could no doubt summon the best minds in the Kingdom. Phra Lewis speculates that the need for a new script was prompted by the wish to write the Pali Canon. As the old Thai / Lao alphabet had only 18 consonants this would not be possible as Pali has 33 consonants. It was therefore necessary to add new letters for the sounds that did not exist is Thai. This is where the uniqueness of the script can show the root of the word for the Thai script was designed with this in mind. The king started with the basic grid and filled it with the letters existent in Thai. There were some gaps in the grid where Pali had sounds that Thai had no letters for, the aspirated G or the pallatal NY for instance. The first step taken was to add letters to fill in the gaps. These letters were (English letters give OLD pronunciation The ingenious part was the addition of letters where Thai already had a letter for the existing Pali sound. The Thais already had a letter for the aspirated K (KH), but they added an additional letter ? (KH) to be used in Pali / Sanskrit words. The practice has continued up until very modern times with foreign loan words being spelt in Thai using the new letters. This allows a person reading Thai to tell if the word is of foreign origin. Most ingenious, some modern English words may be able to trace their Greek or Latin roots from the spelling but this is not the norm as it is with Thai. Those wishing to delete obsolete letters from the Thai alphabet do not have a true understanding of its well thought out and practical design. The additional letters means that Thai has 44 consonants whereas Pali only has 33. The Thai letters used to write Pali in Thailand today should be pronounced differently from spoken Thai but most Thai monks do not do this. After this had been explained I found it a simple matter of looking at a grid chart in order to translate Thai words into roman lettering such that I could research the words online. All of this information was obtained from the monks personal notes and, after checking, I have found it to be correct though I wish to point out I have no linguistic training. The controversy over the Ramkhamhaeng Stele remains unresolved but that is of no concern to the study. The one thing that can be said for the inventor'(s ?) of the Thai script is that he or they were very intelligent and methodical in its design. I personally favour a single person as committees tend to mess things up and this system, in its original form, was perfect. ( and Indian influenced ) Festivals and Ceremonies The foreign visitors perception of Thailand and the Thais is not gained from the language but from the visual aspects of Thai culture such as festivals and ceremonies. There are some public holidays which have no Hindu or Buddhist roots such as days commemorating past kings or celebrating the founding of the constitution. The study has omitted these and others which may have there roots in other foreign countries ie Chinese New Year. To begin with I have chosen to look at three celebrated days which are definitely Buddhist in origin and are known as Puja days. Wisakha Puja Day Wisakha Puja Day is a very important day in the Buddhist tradition, for it was on this day that Prince Siddhattha Gotama was born, 35 years later became the enlightened Buddha, and in another 45 years, passed away into total Nibbana (Parinibbana). In each case, these events took place on the full-moon day in the Wisakha month (usually in May). Wisakha Puja Day is a great Buddhist holiday. It falls on the 15th day of the waxing moon in the 6th lunar month, i.e. full moon day. In Thailand, Wisakha Puja is celebrated throughout the country. On Wisakha Puja Day people put up religious flags outside their houses. They take part in ceremonies at temples and they make merit. They bring flowers, candles, and incense to pay respect to the Triple Gem, i.e. Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha (the community of followers). In the evening, people take part in candle-lit processions and walk clockwise around the main chapel of the temple three times. In the procession, each person carries flowers, three incense sticks and a lighted candle. The concept of walking clockwise around shrines etc is a Hindu / Indic practice clockwise for auspicious occasions and anti-clockwise for inauspicious ones such as death. Magha Puja Day Magha Puja Day is one of the most important Buddhist celebrations in the Thai Calander. This day, which falls on the full moon day of the third lunar month (either the last week of February or early of March). marks the four great events that took place during Lord Buddhas lifetime, namely; 1250 Buddhist monks from different places came to pay homage to Lord Buddha at Valuwan Vihara in Rajgaha, the capital of Magaha State, each of his own initiative and without prior notification or appointment. all of them were the enlightened monks (Arahants) all of them had been ordained by the Buddha himself (Ehi Bhikkhu) They assembled on the full moon day of the third lunar month. On the evening of that day, Lord Buddha gave the assembly a discourse Ovadha Patimokha laying down the principles of His Teachings summarised into three acts, i.e. to do good, to abstain from bad action and to purify the mind. It was unclear as to when the Magha Puja Ceremony took place. However, in a guide book of ceremonies for the twelve months written by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), it is said that, In the past, the Magha Puja was never performed, the ceremony has just been practised during the reign of King Mongkut (Rama IV)? Realizing the significance of this day, King Rama IV ordered the royal Magha Puja Ceremony to be performed in the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in 1851 and this has continued up to the present day. In later years the ceremony was widely accepted and performed throughout the Kingdom. The day has been declared as a public holiday. Thai people go to the temple to make merit and perform religious activities in the morning and return to take part in the candlelit procession or Wien Tien in the evening. At this auspicious time, His Majesty the King will preside over the religious rites to mark the occasion at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and will later lead hundreds of people in a candlelit procession held within the temples compound. Asaha Puja Day Asaha Puja means the ceremony in the eighth lunar month. On the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, the Lord Buddha gave his first sermon and one of his followers became the first Buddhist monk. The ordained followers of the Buddha are collectively called the Sangha, (Asaha Puja is sometimes referred to as Sangha Day.) During his first sermon, the Buddha talked about The Middle Way, to be successful in Spiritual life, we should avoid the two extremes: Trying too hard, such as not eating or not sleeping enough and Not trying hard enough, such as eating and sleeping too much. The Buddha also spoke about the Noble Eightfold Path. This path instructs the faithful to to live in a way that does not harm ourselves or others, to help ourselves and others and to purify the mind. He advised the people to Do good: Avoid evil: Purify the mind. He gave eight guidelines to help people to live in this way, and they are commonly spoken of as the Noble Eightfold Path. He advised people to speak, act and earn their living in moral ways. He further advised them to practise meditation in order to purify their minds and gain deep wisdom (Panya in Thai). These three days are very low key as far as celebrations are concerned and a foreign visitor may not even be aware of them unless they choose to visit a temple or Wat. The next Buddhist ceremony or festival to examine is the Robe Giving ceremony of Kathina. Kathin Ceremony At the end of the three-month Rains Retreat (July to September / October), monks throughout the country are allowed to travel from place to place and are eligible to receive new robes in an annual presentation ceremony called Thot Kathin. Besides new robes, Buddhist literature, kitchen equipment, financial contributions and building materials e.g. nails, hand-saws and hammers etc. are also presented to monks on this occasion. In fact, the word Thot means making an offering to the monk and the word Kathin literary means the embroidery frame used in sewing the robes which, in those days, were collected from rags on dead bodies (pamsakula, rag robes) or rags found in the forset since clothes were not available in plenty as nowadays. Buddhist people regard the Thot Kathin ceremony as the most significant form of merit-making next to the ordination of their close kin. To sponsor a Kathin ceremony involves a lot of time, manpower and expense. Above all, an advance booking must be made with the Wat if a person wishes to be the sole sponsor of the Kathin ceremony but this may not be possible in all Wats, especially temples which are held in high esteem by many people. Nontheless, those who fail to be the sole sponsor of Kathin can also take part in the ceremony which, in this type, is known as Kathin Samakki or the United Kathin. Sometimes a Kathin group will travel for several hundred kilometers by bus, train, boat or even by plane to present the Kathin robes and other necessities to monks in remote temples or in other countries where Buddhist temples are established. People thus hold this merit-making festival not only for earning merit for themselves but also for enjoying a holiday free from the daily hectic life full of stress and strain in the city. During the Thot Kathin period, it is very common to see Kathin processions traveling to and fro throughout the country. In fact, anybody can take part in the event through the simple method of enclosing a small amount of money in the white envelope given by friends or relatives. Songkran Festival Songkran is a Sanskrit word in Thai form which means the entry of the sun into any sign of the Zodiac. But the Songkran in this particular instance is when the sun enters the sign of Aries or the Ram. Its full name is Maha Songkran or Major Songkran to distinguish it from the othes, though most Thais are totally unaware of this fact. Songkran is in fact the celebration of the vernal equinox similar to those of the Indian Holi Festival, the Chinese Ching Ming, and the Christian Festival of Easter. Due to the precession of the equinox the introduction of spring, ie when the sun crosses the equator, now occurs on or around the 21st of March. For the Thai people it is simply their traditional New Year when they can enjoy their holidays to the full with no economic hindrance. Songkran begins on the 13th April and ends on the 15th April, (occasionally, in certain years, on the 16th April). The Songkran Festival is the most striking, for it is widely observed not only in this country but also in Burma, Cambodia and the Lao Republic. On the eve of Songkran Day, i.e. on the 12th April, people clean their house and burn all of the refuse in the belief that anything bad belonging to the old year will be unlucky if left and carried on to the coming New Year. Early on the first day of Songkran, the 13th April, the people both young and old in their new clothing go to their local Wat or monastery to offer food to the monks. A long table is erected in the compound of the Wat where monks alms bowls stand in a row on either side of the table. The people donate many types of food and dainties by placing these in the monks alms bowls. In the afternoon of the same day there is a bathing ceremony of the Buddha images and in some wats this includes the abbot or statues of other famous monks of high regard. It is after this that the well-known water throwing begins. The bathing of images is done as ritualistic ceremony, which will be dealt with separately. Thai people will go on this day, and the succeeding days, to pay their respects and ask blessings from their elders and respected seniors. They will pour scented water into the palms of the old people and often present them with small gifts. In previous times it was an actual bathing where the young people helped the old people to take a bath and to change their old clothing and put on the new clothes which the young people presented them as an act of respect to the aged on the occasion of the New Year. An important thing to be done during the Songkran Festival is a religious service called Bangsakun (Pamsakula in Pali) performed in sacred memory to the dead. When a person died and was cremated, the remains were often placed in a chedi in the Wat. In later times a portion of the bones was sometimes kept in the house in a receptacle. On Songkran Day a religious service in memory to the dead may be officiated by monks at the place where the ashes and the bones have been deposited, or as in some localities the people bring their dead bones to a village wat in company with others where a joint memorial service is performed. In some parts of the country the guardian spirits of the village and town receive also their annual offerings on Songkran Days. Obviously there are reminiscences or traces of ancestor and animistic worship in by-gone days. The monks are presented with cloth, symbolizing the death shroud, which in olden times was cut up and used as rag cloth to make the robes of the m onks. Loy Krathong The most colourful festival during the year is Loy Krathong wich is held on the full moon of the 12th lunar month, usually in November. This is a festival to pay respects to the Mother of Water and to ask forgiveness for polluting the water in the past year. Loy means to float and a krathong is a kind of bowl. A typical krathong is made using banana leaves and the base is from the stem of a banana plant. Incense sticks, candles and flowers are placed inside the krathong along with small denomination coins. (perhaps this acts as an encouragement to the people who have to remove them from the klongs!) On the afternoon of the festival a parade normally takes place through the city or town. Krathongs of all shapes and sizes are placed on floats and carried by locals and their children. During the evening, thousands of people go down to their local river or klong (canal) to float their krathongs. They light the candles and incense sticks, say a prayer and then float it on the water. It is a wonderful sight with flickering lights bobbing up and down on the river, much more interesting to witness than to read about.There is a Loy Krathong song, (in Thai language) which is often played throughout the day. Below is a translation of this popular song: November full moon shines, Loy Krathong, Loy Krathong and the waters high in the river and local klong Loy Krathong is here and everybodys full of cheer Were together at the klong, Each one with his krathong As we push away we pray, We can see a better day The Loy Krathong festival dates back to the period of the Sukhothai Kingdom, 700 years ago. It marked the end of the rainy season and the main rice harvest. It is based on a Hindu tradition of thanking the water god(s). The farmers of Sukhothai held a festival of floating candles. One year, a beautiful woman called Noppamas, who was the chief royal consort, made special lanterns for the festival. She made them from banana leaves and shaped them like lotus flowers. The king was suitably impressed with what he saw, and announced that krathongs would be floated every year from then on. Today, in memory of her and her innovation, there is a beauty contest called The Noppamas Queen Contest. Laying the Foundation Stone Thai people like to consult the astrology charts (and / or Buddhist monks though this is spoken of as a low art in the Brahmajala Sutta) in order to find an auspicious time to do something important. This can be anything from the day of a marriage or when to make a business deal. The date and time for starting to build a house is also important. A special ceremony is arranged for erecting the first pillar or foundation stone. Previously I had the privilege to attend the ceremony for the laying of the foundation stone for the Paknam Tower. This is going to be a 139 meter high tower with amazing views over Bangkok and the Gulf of Thailand. Thai people are mainly Buddhists, but ceremonies like this one are conducted by Brahmin priests dressed in white. During the ceremony a priest asks forgiveness from the guardian spirit of the land. He also asks the spirits permission to build on the land. This was followed by offerings for the guardian spirits. Although this ceremony is mainly Brahmin, nine monks were also invited to do some chanting. Local dignitaries offered food to the monks in order to make merit during this event. I was reminded of the fact that many Thais see no conflict of interest by partaking in both Brahmin and Buddhist ceremonies, even simultaneously. The Thais themselves would rather make auspicious offerings twice than not make them at all. According to Thai astrology, there are three days of the week when you should never start construction of a building. These are Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. For the consecration ceremony of the Paknam Tower the date chosen was Friday 18th May 2007. The time for the actual laying of the foundation stone was set for exactly 2:19 p.m. The number nine is considered auspicious by Thai people. Everything is done in multiples of threes or nines wherever possible. There were nine monks and nine different kinds of food offerings for them. As well as the marble foundation stone, nine symbolic bricks were used during the ceremony. Three made of gold, three made of silver and three made of an alloy. There were also nine symbolic pegs made of nine different types of wood. In addition to these items, there were jasmine garlands, flowers with popped rice and one baht coins which were all utilized during the ceremony. After the conch shell had been blown and the small drums sounded, it was time for the foundation stone laying ceremony to begin. Khun Anuwat Methiwibunwut, the Governor of Samut Prakan Province hammered one of the pegs into the sand. Each of the dignitaries then took turns hammering the remaining pegs into place, followed by pouring of the cement. The nine bricks had been laid in a star pattern where the pegs had been driven into the sand. Additional cement was then poured on top. At this point all of the senior dignitaries jointly placed the marble foundation stone onto the bricks. Following this, they then took turns to sprinkle flowers and coins onto the marble slab. Once the main ceremony was over, the local people, who had been patiently waiting and watching everything, were allowed to come forward to do the same with their own flowers and coins. There were two identical copies of this foundation stone. I presume that one will be covered in cement while the second one will be placed in a prominent place once the building has been completed. The photo below shows the dignitaries placing the marble foundation stone onto the bricks Ploughing Ceremony The Ploughing Ceremony, which is observed every year, is an age old tradition, and according to the Thais it dates back to the Sukhothai Period. It was observed in the Ayuttaya Period and passed on to the Rattanakosin Period. The Ploughing Ceremony is held at Sanam Luang in Bangkok during May and it signals the start of the planting season in this country where the majority of the population are farmers. The ceremony is aimed at making predictions about the years crops. In the reign of King Rama IV, the Ploughing Ceremony was held in the ancient capital of Ayuttaya as well as in Phetchaburi. Later, it was held on a field, called Som Poy, in the outskirts of Bangkok, it was at this time Buddhist elements were added to the previously Brahmin-dominated proceedings, these took place at the temple of the Emerald Buddha on the eve of the ceremony. This Buddhist part of the ceremony involved the processing of Khantarat Buddha images of the past reigns, along with citations blessing such grains as rice, glutinous rice and sorghum, sesame seeds, taro, potato, gourd seeds, melons and sweet basil. A ceremonial pavilion was built at Sanam Luang for the occasion, which was participated by the Lord of the Ploughing Ceremony (Phra Raek Na) assisted by four Celestial Maidens (Thepi) carrying gold and silver baskets full of grains. Before the start of the ceremony, the Lord of the Ploughing Ceremony and the four maidens were anointed on the foreheads and in the palms, and given a conch and bel leaves. Selected from among high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Phya Raek Na wore a ceremonial ring with nine different gemstones which the King had given him. The ceremony in the reign of King Rama IV was performed in grand style, with a processing of 500 people led by the Lord of the Ploughing Ceremony in resplendent attire and carrying his ceremonial sword. Before the start of the ceremony, the Lord of Ploughing Ceremony was offered three pieces of loincloth from which he chose one. The cloths were of different lengths four, five and six kheub (one kheub is about six inches) and the length of the