The Quest for Inner Peace

When the world thinks of Thailand, it instantly thinks of Buddhist monks and temples. Thais, too, call it the ‘Land of Dharma and Gold’ (Paen Din Dham, Paen Din Tong). Yet few countries harbour such an integrated diversity of beliefs, from animism and ancestor worship to reverence of Hindu and Chinese deities. This eclectic approach to faith makes the Kingdom a tolerant, receptive destination for visitors of different denominations seeking spiritual solace.

PILGRIMAGE CENTRE
Thai temples, shrines and relics have enticed pilgrims for centuries. Sacred sites are a major driver of domestic and regional travel. This continuity ensures that ancient ruins of sites like Ayutthaya remain places of contemporary worship. Witness the garlands, incense and placing of gold leaf squares placed on weathered carvings. Famous mosques in Ayutthaya, the South and around Thailand also draw Muslim devotees, while historic churches serve small Christian communities, notably in Bangkok, Chanthaburi and Chiang Mai.

MODERN PILGRIMS
The modern quest for Thai Buddhist teachings came into focus with the 2006 centenary of Buddhadasa Bikkhu (1906-93), the most influential Thai monk of recent times. His landmark achievement was to communicate in accessible ways the relevance of ‘scientific’ Buddhism to modern urbanites, both from Thailand and abroad.

MEDITATION STUDY
Buddhadasa’s followers continue to flock to his temple Wat Suan Mokkh at Chaiya, in southern Thailand, where he founded an International Dhamma Hermitage. There his successors teach vipassana (insight meditation) to people of various nationalities, languages and faiths, equally for women as for men. Its monthly 10-day silent retreats provided a role model for meditation courses across every Thai region, within temples and secular centres, even at some spas.

PURE BUDDHISM
Vipassana brings awareness of the suffering wrought by material attachment, and Buddhadasa advised against the distractions of ceremony, such as ‘making merit’ to improve one’s karma. In his ‘Handbook for Humankind’, he quotes the Buddha’s logic: “If man could eliminate suffering by making offerings, paying homage and praying, there would be no suffering left in the world because anyone can pay homage and pray. But since people continue to suffer despite the various acts of obeisance, homage and rites, it is clearly not the way to liberation.”

BUDDHIST RITES
Thais nevertheless attach great importance to rituals conducive to their lifestyle. Temples historically were the focus of village life, so religiosity still colours arts and education, medicine and merriment, fortune telling and luck propitiation. Aside from rites to mark life- cycle events like baby-naming, ordination, marriage, 12-year-cycle birthdays and cremation, Thais also invite monks to bless their vehicle, house or business. Typical offerings include candles, incense and lotus buds – plus donations of money and monastic supplies.

Monks and temples are busiest around the Buddhist lunar calendar highlights of Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha and the bracketing of Buddhist Lent by Khao Phansa and Ok Phansa, as well as at Songkran, the Thai New Year. Temples often host fairs in these periods to entice and entertain devotees. At these full moon occasions, people process three times round the ordination hall by candle-light in a sublime scene that transports both body and mind. With the international New Year sparking widespread merit making, the public has since 2003 flocked in huge numbers on January 1 to each of a ‘lucky nine’ officially designated temples.

In addition to their divinity, these rites represent a living history of anthropological interest to scholars and tourists alike. Thai Buddhism became a constantly changing synthesis of beliefs due to the overlay of successive religions upon indigenous folk beliefs. Rather than substitute, Thais combined or compartmentalised parallel acts of devotion.

ANIMIST ROOTS
When nature was life’s dominant force, ancient Tai tribes sought protection and luck from spirits of forest and field, river and path, sun and stars. Five mother goddesses determined earth, river, wind fire and grain.

Remnants of Tai animist beliefs pervade much activity today, such as the Loi Krathong waterway commemoration, Isaan rocket festivals and Lanna spirit medium dances. Daily offerings to spirit houses keep potentially mischievous spirits of the land distracted from a compound’s buildings. Traders place beckoning lady statuettes, miniature fish traps, Chinese calligraphies and other talismans at their tills or shop thresholds to entice trade. Garlands upon the prows of boats — and the upper front part of plains, trains and automobiles — ensure a safe ride courtesy of the journey goddess Mae Yanang.

AMULETS AND MAGICAL TATTOOS
A popular fusion of animistic with organised beliefs, amulets have become a multi-million-dollar trade with millions of adherents. Around their necks and waists, Thais string images of the Buddha, reputed monks, past kings, Hindu gods, and other deities, as well as natural oddities, bone relics, phallic trinkets or herbal charms. Amulet markets draw tourists both as a sight and for their purported powers, especially if produced or blessed by a charismatic monk.

ANCESTOR WORSHIP
A more refined kind of spirit worship — supplication to known ancestors — infuses the Thai outlook and hierarchy. It underpins a respect for elders so entrenched in language and seniority that even twins must comprise an older and younger sibling. A Tai tribal version of this region-wide belief is evident in the Akha Swing Ceremony. Ancestor worship dovetails with even more ancient Chinese practice. This belief provided an avenue of assimilation for Sino-Thai immigrants over centuries — and remains a profound link to today’s Chinese diaspora. At Cheng Meng in March, Thais with Chinese progenitors flock to family cemeteries in hills east of Bangkok.

ROYAL DYNASTIC WORSHIP
At the hierarchy’s apex, royalty conducts ancestor reverence on a dynastic scale. For his Diamond Jubilee in June 2006, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Rama IX, paid homage to the founders of each Thai kingdom: Sukhothai, Ayutthaya, Thonburi and Bangkok. Annually on Chakri Day (April 6), he honours the eight preceding kings of the reigning House of Chakri.

Naturally, this process accrues with each generation. Every July since the passing in 1995 of the King’s Mother, HRH The Princess Mother, northerners conduct the majestic Tunha ritual of ‘kan dok’ floral offerings at Rai Mae Fah Luang. This institutes communal fidelity to the immediate ancestor of both Kings Rama VIII and Rama IX.

Public veneration of Thai history’s great monks and monarchs — most visibly of Kings Ramkhamhaeng, Naresuan, Mongkut and Chulalongkorn — resembles worship of Boddhisatvas. These enlightened ‘saints’ who forego Nirvana in order to imbue wisdom in the living derive from Mayahana Buddhism, which arrived in this land centuries before Theravada Buddhist doctrine came to dominate.

HINDU HERITAGE
Ancestor worship takes on a cyclical character under the Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation, which it adapted from Hinduism. In naming their Kings Rama and their past capital Ayutthaya, Thais reiterate their eternal connection to the Indian Ramayana epic that inspired so much Thai literature, dance and design. Though most Thais profess themselves Buddhist, their creed integrates Hindu elements.

From the ancient Hindu Khmer civilisation, Thais several centuries ago adopted the Devaraja (divine king) belief that regards each Thai king as a reincarnation of Vishnu, who Thais call Narai. Since Vishnu’s vehicle is Garuda, the mythical man-bird acts as the royal motif on documents, signage and royally-endorsed companies.

Other gods of the Hindu pantheon became integral to royal and religious rites, officiated to this day by a resident caste of Brahmin priests. Thais venerate the elephant-headed Ganesha at moments of artistry, education or overcoming obstacles, which is, of course, very often. Shiva, Indra, Uma, Lakshmi and Sarasvati — with their distinguishing attributes and vehicles – also feature in shrines, emblems and traditional decoration, not least at the great Khmer sanctuaries across Isaan. Thais feel a particular affinity to the god of creation, Brahma.

ERAWAN SHRINE
Few sites encapsulate Thai spiritual synthesis as dynamically as Bangkok’s Erawan Shrine. The shrine’s popularity and alleged power extends to regular visitors from neighbouring lands, especially the Chinese of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.

The Erawan Shrine is best known as a granter of wishes — which entails returning to thank Brahma upon success. In times of uncertainty, Thais and their regional brethren continue to hold great store by such auspicious anchors. And there’s no shortage of things considered auspicious: lucky numbers, names and day-colours; interventionist talismans, spells and offerings; blessings of water, seeds and property; supplication to seniors of all kinds.

OPEN BELIEFS
Fresh beliefs continue to arise, addressing perceptions that city people lack deities suited to their needs. Opposite the Erawan Shrine, young Bangkokians recently adopted the Trimuthi shrine at Central World Plaza as a god of love. Every Thursday, modern Thai trendies dress in red and make all-red offerings to pray for a partner.

Many Thais of Chinese ethnic origin increasingly worship Kwan Im or Kuan Yin, the feminine form of the Boddhisattva of Compassion. Kwan Im statues proliferate in shops, homes and even some Therevada wats. Followers hold an annual procession to her huge shrine at Chokchai See in Bangkok, while the Kuan Yin Inter-Religious Park, at Kaeng Krachan near Phetchaburi, embodies religious openness. The Park combines Theravada and Mahayana elements alongside Hinduism, Taoism, nature goddesses, sacred steel, the 12-year zodiac and images of Thai kings and venerable monks. The concluding Tomorrow’s Land offers a ‘Celestial Friendship Hall’.

Thailand continues to generate an inspiring range of havens and experiences in which devout pilgrims and stressed tourists may find peace of mind. While Thai religion, folk beliefs and superstitions extend far beyond purist Buddhism, this spectrum of spiritual outlets conforms to a Buddhist certainty: constant change.