Why Monk?
One much discussed piece of Thailand news this week will be the unnatural end to the life of a novice monk in the North—Eastern province of E—Sarn, Thailand.
“peeping...at the bathing girls”
The young novice monk had apparently been peering over a wall at the bathing girls of a nearby house, but accidentally stepped upon a live wire that had been placed expressly for the purpose of scaring away such behaviour. The man who placed the wire, father of the bathing girls, is unlikely to be charged with any crime.
In Thailand, men who seek to become monks do so for a wide variety of different reasons. It is expected of each young man that at some point before he reaches a certain age, he should live the life of a monk for a short time (often two months) as part of his journey to adulthood.
Other boys become novices, the name for a monk who is not yet a monk, so that they can learn more about Buddhism and do something good for their family who will gain immense face by having a son who is so holy. Some may believe that
becoming a monk will provide them with good karma, so that they will have a happy life and a happy life after death.
“provide them with good Karma”
However there are less religious reasons why boys and some men turn to the temples and Wats. In Thailand, temples provide a service that no other organisation can provide — that of proxy family. Orphans, those boys rejected by their parents or some other sort of unfortunate happening often end up studying the ways of the Wat simply as a means to an end. No one else will take them and provide food and clothes.
Similarly, it is not unheard of for some petty criminals, thieves and the like, to have a sudden epiphany and sign up for the temples immediately after having been chased by police.
The temples provide a good hiding place for the less scrupulous, not only because anonymity is easier to come by but also thanks to the attitudes of
Thai people toward monks and those training to be monks.
Updates this week
I've had some good feedback from last week's weekly on ’Mind your own Affairs’. It seems that most of you enjoyed the publication and were sorry to see it go. I plan on writing a follow up article to this with some interesting information for you.
This week I have added two new articles to the site. You can find these under the ’essays’ section in the toolbar above. One is a piece of Vietnam’s heritage sites and the other a submission on Chiang Mai as a good place to take your children. Both are interesting reads so please give them a look.
This week also sees the introduction of the Sticky—Rice online gallery. I will be accepting photos from readers eventually, but for now it has some pictures to accompany the articles on the site. You can check the gallery out here.