Tales of Wats, Monks & Buddhas

Magical Monks

We've been waiting and wanting to make this particular blog post. Thailand and Laos are the land of ancient and beautiful Wats (Buddhist Temples). Sometimes, you come across a Wat every few blocks. We'll be posting a ton of pictures from both countries.

One of the things that I (Tamra) am fascinated by most, is seeing monks everywhere you go. There's a monk shopping, one talking on a cell phone, 5 crossing the street, monks on scooters, in restaurants, at the market (that sounds like a joke: did you hear the one about the monk who...). They are a striking and somewhat magical site in their tamarind colored robes walking barefoot and purposeful. All ages....young boys, teens, young men and some old. We found out at that any Thai man/boy can enter the temple (they are then called Novices) at any age and can also leave at anytime if they feel that the temple life is not for them. Some do come and go several times in their lives. Others go for several years in order to get a good education (this was before free education was available here). In Laos, this is still the case. Yesterday at Wat Umong we were privileged to watch a couple of young men being 'inducted' into the temple with a ceremonial dressing in robes, family gathered to take pictures, and a ceremony of chanting.

A note about monks - the first seat on a bus is always reserved for a monk and women must never touch them and generally, people tend to subtly make room for them as they pass on the street.

Wonderful Wats

One morning we woke up extra early so that we could witness "Giving Alms" that happens every morning. One Buddhist practice is that they aspire to live in a way that accepts what is given, without asking for, or needing more. So each morning they rise early and bring their baskets to accept donations from the village. For the indidvidual who gives, they are earning karma credits which will help them secure a better life next time around. We only did this once, so clearly, we have much work yet to do, lest we end up as mosquitos in our next life.

Both thailand and laos have huge buddhist populations (40% in Laos, twice that in Thailand). In Laos PDR, particularly in Luang Prabang, there were Wats everywhere - practically one on every block, sometimes more. Each of them had their own founding story and their own design. The beauty of these places is really stunning. To think of all the energy and effort that has gone into creating these temples to honor the buddha and his teachings. Some of the Wat's were adorned with beautiful paintings of Buddhist mythology depicting historical scenes with moral lessons.

A note about prayer...there is much we don't know about traditional buddhist worship in these temples, but a couple of traditions are to light a candle, light insence, say a prayer (bowing of course) and in one temple in Laos, you shake a container of sticks with numbers on them. When one of the sticks finally falls out you read the number and pull a slip of paper with that number from a bin. This has a lucky 'fortune' or blessing for you. What was weird was when I (Tamra) did this, I got the number 27 just like the 2 thai people before me. They thought that this was quite auspicious!

Wat Umong
Some of the Wats were set up to take in Westerners to teach meditation and mindfulness. The one we visited was Wat Umong - set in a forest just outside Chiang Mai. WHAT A WAT!

Built over 700 years ago it has this really cool tunnel with passage ways that lead to dfferent altars. They invite anyone who wants to, to come visit for a day or a week or a month to be on silent retreat. They don't seem too stricgt here - one can go at their own pace and even use your own meditation technique (as long as it doesn't disturb others)

We spend most of a day here sitting, exploring, relaxing and inquiring into the reatreat possibilities (for the future....)

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