I knew it was a Buddha day before I opened my eyes this morning. The chanting from the temple just a few hundred metres down the road is always different on Buddha Days - earlier (starts around 4am) and wafts though our always-open-windowed old teak Thai house. A well-trained musical ear can hear that they know the village is sleepily listening. Wat Duang Dee, it's called, the simple Buddhist temple in Baan Rim Tai, the village where we live in Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.
Wat Duang Dee, Baan Rim Tai, Mae Rim, Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand.
And so another Buddha Day dawned.
Let 's be clear that although I am 70%+ Buddhist as per the actual teachings and writings of the Buddha, I am NOT a practicing Thai Buddhist and am allergic to all formal religion and the whole monk-temple-ritual-rules thing (although I love the art and the architecture). I can, and sometimes do, attend temple for social or family reasons and can wai and participate and be accepted culturally in the temple when I choose it. But my personal view? Meditation, mindfulness and the Bodhi Tree were good enough for the Buddha and remain enough for me.
So why then do Buddha Days still make me feel lovely, when I hear that chanting wafting across the ricefields in the cool pre-dawn?
FIRSTLY, something in my heart relaxes to be in a culture which still publicly and officially honours Luna, Mother Moon. We call her Phraa Jan here, which is the same title (Phraa) that one uses for a monk. Buddha Days always fall on the key moon phase days - New Moon today, Half Moon, Full Moon and the Half-Waning Moon. The dates are published in advance, on calendars everywhere, and it is within my memory here in the last 16 years that some shops would open late on Buddha Days to allow people to go to the temple early before work. My religiously-observant staff know they can come in late with no pay deduction on Buddha Days.
The dates (and rules!) for Buddha-Uposatha Days in 2018: http://methika.com/observance/buddhist-observance-date-uposatha-days/
Somehow I m soothed and feel safe in a culture which still centers itself on Mother Moon.
SECONDLY, I love that this culture appreciates, understands and continues to celebrate at a primal level the vibration of gongs, bells and chants. Everyone here just instinctively "knows" that vibration matters.
@artemislives and the magnificent bells at her favourite Kuan Yin temple
THIRDLY I adore the way that Thai Buddhism, the formal Buddha days and the rich Thai temple culture connect and ground people with a common symbolic language not just in villages and across Thailand, but globally. I feel deeply at peace when the same spirals that I see on the mythical dragon's feet at temple in Mae Taeng, Thailand, I can also see in the Solstice Cairns in Ireland and in Clytemnestra's tomb in Greece. And I have.
Temple detail in Mae Taeng
BUT MOSTLY I am sustained in a culture which doesn't push its religion on others, but is just SO SURE that everyone needs and is nourished by spirituality, that there is no apology for its public expression or waking the neighbours at 4am.
And so I started my day very early today, quietly humming along with the monk's chanting while the kettle boiled for my moringa tea. I felt BLESSED & CONNECTED and my not-quite-fully-rested self was renewed. Despite not using the same alphabet to structure my beliefs, I am nourished by the way some of its forms enrich me and punctuate my daily life. And I am profoundly grateful.
Eco-Green-Sustainable content on Steemit
Supporting People Who Help Make The World A Better Place
Discover previous ecoTrain magazines at @ecoTrain or read more here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@ecotrain/what-is-the-ecotrain-in-a-nut-shell If you are new to Steemit, love to write, and would like to join the ecoTrain community as an official passenger, please email to [email protected]
Proud member of the SMG – supporting quality steem content & cutting edge community initiatives on the blockchain. You can find us on discord
Congratulations @artemislives! You have completed the following achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPI don't think I would mind waking up to some chanting, thank you for educating me on Buddhism, I really do like the connection with the moon that they have, it is always nice to discover the things that untie us that and the spirals of course xx
Loving your Freudian slip!! haha... yes, religion is one of the things that UNTIES us as we bicker and focus on difference. The chanting in the mornings is lovely. :)
I had to make it into a little poem because they are such sweet lines! I love how the rhythm of thai live permeates into your own with quiet acceptance and gratitude whilst you remain true to your own beliefs. xx