Entering monkhood and making merit

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As I said MHS is a small town where you can get to know the locals fairly well. Or for that matter they get to know who you are pretty quickly because there are but only a few foreigners who call MHS home. So much so, that we were invited to our local tuk tuk driver, Khanit’s monk ordination. When I had first arrived in MHS the girls had introduced me to friendly Khanit who we see regularly at the night market where his brother has a stall.

Attending a monk ordination was definitely a first for me and it is fascinating learning more about Buddhism and Thai culture. Basically every Thai Buddhist male is expected to be ordained a monk during his lifetime, duration decided by him or his family. They are not considered mature adults until they have become a monk and Thai men in government jobs are legally allowed to take three months leave of absence to enter monkhood. A male in the process of becoming a monk are told by the temple abbot that he owes everything - his well being, education, life and the opportunity of entering monkhood to his parents. Now he can repay that debt by renouncing his pleasures for a while and giving his parents the opportunity to earn merit.

Khanit’s monk ordination went for a full day and while I only saw part of the ceremony the process was as follows:
- Shaving hair ceremony: relatives help cut his hair and then a monk takes over. He changes into white clothes and then parades around the local area. In Khanit’s case it was a tuk tuk and the idea behind it is to show the spirits that he is about to become a monk. I missed the shaving hair ceremony as it was early in the morning.
- Temple Procession: Khanit returned to Pang Lor temple around 3pm and walked clockwise around the bot (where the main Buddha image is found) three times. The procession was made up of family and friends carrying things he will need as a monk, e.g. alms bowl
- Chanting and a Sermon: After the procession Khanit entered the bot and with the presence of all the temple monks there was chanting and a sermon delivered by the most senior one. Family and close friends watched and made offerings.
- Ordination Ceremony: this includes chanting, Khanit changing from white robe to orange, kneeling down near his family in front of a single monk requesting refuges (“I go to the Buddha for refuge…”) and repeating ten precepts he would have to keep as a samanera (novice monk). To become a full fledged monk Khanit had to be given an alms bowl (this is the only dish that monk’s can possess) by his family and then take this to the abbot and request to become a monk. I only attended up to the bot section as it was quite difficult understanding the ordination in Thai. Khanit was going to be a monk for 10 days, I thought this was a short time and my co-workers agreed, usually males do not enter monkhood less than a month.

Making merit

As we now knew a monk, Lou and I decided to get up early on Sunday morning to make merit and offer food to Khanit. Making merit is a central part of Thai culture and means doing good things. They believe that by making and gaining merit it will bring happiness, peace and other good fortune. Gaining merit will assist you in overcoming any obstacles and by accumulating more merit it will help you to reach heaven or nirvana, “if you do good you will receive good; if you do evil you will receive evil.” There are three ways of making merit - giving alms (tak bat), practicing Buddhist religious beliefs and praying. Most people believe that making merit is by giving alms, putting food in the bowl of monks.

Every morning around 6-7am monks walk around town in a single line to receive offerings. As a locality can contain several Buddhist temples, the abbots agree together on what path is reserved for the temple. The oldest one or temple abbot leads the monks followed by seniority age spent in the Buddhist community. Monks are not allowed to cook or hoard food, so to survive they have to walk around town to receive food from Buddhist followers. They also can not request what food they would like to eat, which I found out when I asked Khanit before he become a monk what food he would like put in his bowl.

It is a great thing to see in the morning, monks walking around town barefoot in a single line with their alms bowl. At 6.30am Lou and I went down to the early morning market where there were stalls with food already prepared for offerings. Traditionally rice dishes are offered and other items are given such as curry, sweets, fruits, flowers and incense sticks. Lou gave some food to a very junior monk who was waiting behind us at the stall and then we went to Pang Lor to find Khanit. We missed the monks returning in single file to Pang Lor so we went to their living quarters and asked to see him. He looked completely different to the tuk tuk driver we knew dressed in his orange robe with a shaved head, no longer could I refer to him as the Thai Cliff Richard with that same hairstyle gone. Once we put food in his bowl he gave us a Blessing Prayer, "Aju Wanno Sukang Phralang," and being new to all of this, he prompted us to say “Satu” (like “Amen” in Christianity). The monk’s blessing is for a long life, happiness and good health.

After a morning alms round monks will sort through the food they receive, eat some or save it for their last meal of the day at 11am. Any left over food is given to poor people visiting the temple or dogs and cats. There are around 30 rules regarding monks and food they must obey. For example, they are not allowed to put food in their mouth that hasn't been offered to them first or if the food was offered to them yesterday, they then cannot eat it today. It was a good feeling embracing Thai Buddhist culture and giving alms, something that Lou and I hope to do more often while we live in Thailand.

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Photos

Khanit with his Father and Stepmother
With their back to the camera

Khanit still a novice monk
He needs to receive his alms bowl and request to be a monk from the temple abbot

Khanit after being a monk for a couple of days
He will be a monk for 10 days