During our time in Thailand, we saw monks in every part of the country. They had special privileges on public transportation and are treated with great respect. People take pride in having one of their family members become a monk. We were in a small town called Nakon Ratchasimha when we came across some celebratory events by friends and family of members who were being ordained as monks.
Buddhists in Thailand follow a stricter form of buddhism based on Theravada school. The common term used for a male monk is 'bhikku' which means a beggar and a female monk is called 'bhikkuni'. The life of a buddhist monk is governed by a set of rules called pratimoksha, and their lifestyle is shaped to support their spiritual practice to live a simple and meditative life and attain nirvana. There are 227 rules for male monks and 311 rules for female monks. Unfortunately, monks in Thailand are majority men and only a handful of female monks are seen on the streets. According to official statistics, there are 200,000 male monks in Thailand and none of them is a female monk, at least legally. Thanks to a maverick female monk named Dhammananda Bhikkuni, who went to Sri Lanka, got ordained as a monk in 2003 and came back to Thailand as the first female monk, the number of female monks is slowly increasing. Since then she has written more than 100 books including the role of women in buddhism and has given novice monk ordination to more than 700 women.
People decide to take monkhood for various reasons and for varying amounts of time. One can take monkhood for a few hours, to days, to months, or for a lifetime. Most of the men in Thailand are said to take monkhood for some period or the other during their lifetime. Even businesses are given tax exemption to give paid time off for their employees to take monkhood for a few weeks to a few months. Some people who are convicted of crimes that are borderline cases for jail time are sometimes allowed to be monks for a certain period of time to avoid jail time.
A person should be at least 20 years old to be ordained as a monk. If they are below the age, they could still be ordained as a novice monk, but only for a temporary period of time, unlike monks who could be ordained for lifetime. In olden days, being a novice monk was the only way for young children to get an education, and to learn to read and write. The novice monks nowadays are sometimes orphan children or children abandoned by their parents. There are also some who become novice monks as part of the funeral ritual of their grandparents and others take this path to spend their summer holidays as a novice monk.
Taking monkhood is a two day process. On the first day, the head of the person is shaved, including their eyebrows and an orange herb is applied to the entire body. On the day of ordination, they begin the day wearing an orange robe and have breakfast with their closest family members. Then they wear a white robe and make three rounds around the temple. Mid way through the ceremony the robes are changed to the traditional orange robes of the monk and they are given their alm bowls.
We were luck to witness a few monks being ordained and their families celebrating them for taking monkhood. Here is a video we recorded in Nakon Ratchasimha where a monk to be was taking his rounds around the statue of Thao Suranari, a famous female warrior.
During our two months in Thailand, we had not seen a single instance of a person being angry with someone else or seen a person show unkind behaviour towards others. It made us wonder, if the deep culture of monkhood and the buddhist values ingrained in the society had something to do with how they interact with each other and how they value and even encourage spirituality in their families and communities.
Buddhists in Thailand follow a stricter form of buddhism based on Theravada school. The common term used for a male monk is 'bhikku' which means a beggar and a female monk is called 'bhikkuni'. The life of a buddhist monk is governed by a set of rules called pratimoksha, and their lifestyle is shaped to support their spiritual practice to live a simple and meditative life and attain nirvana. There are 227 rules for male monks and 311 rules for female monks. Unfortunately, monks in Thailand are majority men and only a handful of female monks are seen on the streets. According to official statistics, there are 200,000 male monks in Thailand and none of them is a female monk, at least legally. Thanks to a maverick female monk named Dhammananda Bhikkuni, who went to Sri Lanka, got ordained as a monk in 2003 and came back to Thailand as the first female monk, the number of female monks is slowly increasing. Since then she has written more than 100 books including the role of women in buddhism and has given novice monk ordination to more than 700 women.
People decide to take monkhood for various reasons and for varying amounts of time. One can take monkhood for a few hours, to days, to months, or for a lifetime. Most of the men in Thailand are said to take monkhood for some period or the other during their lifetime. Even businesses are given tax exemption to give paid time off for their employees to take monkhood for a few weeks to a few months. Some people who are convicted of crimes that are borderline cases for jail time are sometimes allowed to be monks for a certain period of time to avoid jail time.
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| Monks walking the streets of Chiang Mai asking for alms |
A person should be at least 20 years old to be ordained as a monk. If they are below the age, they could still be ordained as a novice monk, but only for a temporary period of time, unlike monks who could be ordained for lifetime. In olden days, being a novice monk was the only way for young children to get an education, and to learn to read and write. The novice monks nowadays are sometimes orphan children or children abandoned by their parents. There are also some who become novice monks as part of the funeral ritual of their grandparents and others take this path to spend their summer holidays as a novice monk.
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| A monk taking a ride with family on the day of his ordination as a monk |
Taking monkhood is a two day process. On the first day, the head of the person is shaved, including their eyebrows and an orange herb is applied to the entire body. On the day of ordination, they begin the day wearing an orange robe and have breakfast with their closest family members. Then they wear a white robe and make three rounds around the temple. Mid way through the ceremony the robes are changed to the traditional orange robes of the monk and they are given their alm bowls.
We were luck to witness a few monks being ordained and their families celebrating them for taking monkhood. Here is a video we recorded in Nakon Ratchasimha where a monk to be was taking his rounds around the statue of Thao Suranari, a famous female warrior.
During our two months in Thailand, we had not seen a single instance of a person being angry with someone else or seen a person show unkind behaviour towards others. It made us wonder, if the deep culture of monkhood and the buddhist values ingrained in the society had something to do with how they interact with each other and how they value and even encourage spirituality in their families and communities.
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