Theravada, the school of the elders
Thai Buddhism belongs to the Theravada school, which it shares with Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. Its scriptures and chants are in Pali, and its ideal is the monk who keeps the full monastic discipline and walks the path to liberation by his own effort. Lay people support the monks and, by doing so, make merit for this life and the next.
In daily practice it is mixed with older beliefs. Almost every house and office has a spirit house (ศาลพระภูมิ, san phra phum) for the guardian of the land, Brahman gods such as Brahma and Ganesha have shrines of their own, and court ceremonies use Brahman rites. Most Thais see no conflict in this. The constitution requires the king to be a Buddhist and names him the upholder of religions.
The temple and its buildings
A wat (วัด) is both a monastery and the centre of its neighbourhood, with a school, a cremation ground and a fair ground in many villages. Thailand has more than 40,000 of them. The main buildings are much the same everywhere:
| Building | Thai | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Ubosot (bot) | อุโบสถ | The ordination hall, where monks are ordained and hold their formal meetings. Eight boundary stones (bai sema) mark its consecrated ground. |
| Wihan | วิหาร | The assembly hall, where lay people come to pray and listen to sermons; often the building with the main Buddha image. |
| Chedi | เจดีย์ | A bell-shaped or stepped monument that holds relics of the Buddha, of a revered monk or of a family’s ancestors. |
| Prang | ปรางค์ | A tall corn-cob tower in the Khmer style, the other form of relic monument. |
| Sala | ศาลา | An open pavilion for meals, merit-making and village meetings. |
| Kuti | กุฏิ | The monks’ living quarters, which visitors do not enter. |
Monks and the alms round
A fully ordained monk (พระ, phra) keeps 227 rules of discipline. He eats only between dawn and midday, owns little beyond his robes and bowl, may not touch a woman or take anything from her hand, and in principle does not handle money. Novices (samanen, สามเณร) are boys and young men who keep ten precepts. The Thai monastic community, the Sangha, has two orders, the larger Maha Nikai and the stricter Thammayut, founded in the 1830s by the future King Mongkut while he was a monk. Both are governed by the Sangha Supreme Council under the Supreme Patriarch.
Every morning at first light the monks walk barefoot through the streets with their bowls, and lay people wait by the road with rice, curries in plastic bags, fruit and sweets. Giving food this way is called tak bat (ตักบาตร). If you want to join in:
- Prepare food that is ready to eat; many markets sell ready-made sets for the purpose early in the morning.
- Take off your shoes and stand or kneel on a mat, lower than the monk if you can.
- Place the food in the bowl as he lifts the lid, without touching him, and do not talk to him.
- Raise your hands together in a wai and lower your head while he gives a short blessing in Pali.
Making merit
Merit (บุญ, bun) is the good that comes back from a good act, and tham bun (ทำบุญ), making merit, is the centre of lay practice. People make merit by feeding monks, giving to a temple, keeping the precepts, meditating, sponsoring an ordination or freeing captive birds and fish. Merit is shared: after a gift to the monks, givers often pour water slowly from a small jug while the monks chant, sending part of the merit to the dead.
Lay Buddhists keep five precepts: no killing, no stealing, no sexual misconduct, no false speech and no intoxicants. On holy days the devout keep eight, dress in white and may spend the day and night at a temple. White-robed women who live at temples under eight or ten precepts are called mae chi (แม่ชี). The Thai Sangha does not ordain women as monks.
Ordination
Many Thai men become monks for a time, from a few days to the three months of the rainy-season retreat, traditionally before they marry and to make merit for their parents, especially their mother. Full ordination is open from the age of twenty; younger boys ordain as novices. The candidate, called a nak (นาค), dresses in white with his head shaved, is carried or led three times around the ordination hall in a noisy procession of family and friends, and then asks the assembled monks for ordination inside. Ordinations cluster just before the Buddhist Lent, which begins in July; the Buddhist calendar explains the dates.
How to behave at a temple
- Dress modestly: shoulders and knees covered, nothing see-through.
- Shoes off before any hall with a Buddha image, and on raised floors and mats.
- Mind your feet. Feet are the lowest part of the body. Sit with them tucked behind you or to one side, never pointing at a Buddha image or a monk, and do not step over people sitting on the floor.
- Every Buddha image is sacred, old or new, whole or broken. Do not touch, climb on or sit beside one for a photograph, and do not buy Buddha heads as decoration; Thai law also requires an export licence from the Fine Arts Department for Buddha images.
- Around monks, keep your head lower than theirs when you can, give up your seat on a bus or a boat (many have seats set aside), and women should not touch a monk or hand him anything directly.
- Speak quietly, and keep away from ceremonies unless you are invited in. A donation box is always welcome but never required.