This is my entry for #dailypetphotography created by @kona. A few days before the announcement of lockdown in Bangkok, I had to travel to a temple in the suburb for a funeral of a long lost uncle. I was glad that one elder relative managed to contact me and the news came as a shock. For the last two months, I had been trying to locate this long lost uncle whom I haven’t met many years since we all moved houses a few times. I must have been psychic as during the time I was searching for him, he was very ill in hospital and probably wanting to see me before he went away. We had a nice long history together. He used to take me as a child to all the seances and medium consultations at secret places far away from my house. So, I had seen and experienced magical and incredible moments which other kids would never have heard at all. That sparked my interest in the occult and psychic ability. I completely forgot about this as I grew up to pursue worldly success.
I almost got lost twice trying to find this temple. I had a long walk along the street and canal to find the right entrance.
There was a large parking space and many old trees around the temple ground. The atmosphere was rather quiet and time seemed to expand its length while I was walking around trying to find the right hall for the ceremony. Surprisingly, I was greeted by so many chickens. They were walking everywhere freely and happily having no fear of people or cars.
The mother hen with her chicks had a good time walking across the road; all cars had to look out of chickens. Killing temple chickens would bring very bad karma and bad luck. That’s why these chickens were roaming freely all over the place. If this were in the wind, villages wound have many feasts with roast chickens!! There must have been at least a few hundred chickens, big and small, in this temple.
ช่วงก่อนล็อกดาวน์สองสัปดาห์ เราถูกตามไปงานศพของคุณลุงที่เราไม่ได้เจอมานานมาก เพราะต่างคนต่างย้ายบ้านกันหลายรอบ เราเองก็พยายามตามหาลุงคนนี้มาหลายเดือน เราตกใจและเสียใจมากที่ได้ข่าวการเสียชีวิตของญาติผู้ใหญ่ ที่เราอยากจะมีโอกาสคุยด้วยก่อน เราต้องเดินทางออกไปนอกเมืองเพื่อไปร่วมงานศพที่วัด เราเกือบหลงสองรอบ โชคดีมีคนช่วยบอกทางให้ตลอด เราต้องเดินไปตามถนน เดืนข้ามคลองและเดินไปหาศาลาภายในวัดที่มีพื้นที่กว้างมาก บรรยากาศก็เงียบและนิ่งมากเหมือนเวลาเดินช้าลงไปมาก ที่นั่นมีเราเดินอยู่คนเดียว แต่ที่แปลกคือ ที่นั่นมีไก่เดินเล่นมากมายโดยไม่กลัวคนและรถยนต์เลย ขนาดรถยนต์ต้องวิ่งช้ามาก เพราะคอยระวังให้ไก่เดินข้ามถนนไปก่อน น่าตลกดี เพราะเป็นเขตวัดบรรดาไก่หลายร้อยตัวจึงมีอิสรเสรีและความปลอดภัย นี่ถ้าเป็นป่าละเมาะเราก็คิดว่าชาวบ้านคงได้เลี้ยงฉลองด้วยไก่ย่างกันทั้งเดือน
During my walk towards the ceremonial hall, I also found a few animal models donated by people for decorating the temple. These are very strange Thai custom of thinking that these animal models would please those spirits living in the temple and that they would bring the givers good luck and prosperity.
วัดนี้มีรูปปั้นจำลองสัตว์อีกหลายชนิด ที่คนนำมาทำบุญถวายให้ทางวัด เพื่อประดับตามสวนและอาคาร เราก็แปลกใจที่เริ่มมีธรรมเนียมการทำบุญแบบนี้ให้เห็นมากขึ้น แต่ที่เราชอบมากคือ จำนวนต้นไม้ใหญ่ที่มีมากมายตามกุฏิ เขาคงไม่ได้ตัดต้นไม้ตอนที่ทำทางและสร้างตึก ทำให้ที่วัดมีบรรยากาศเย็นสบายเหมาะกับการมาฝึกนั่งสมาธิที่นั่น
There were so many big old trees on this temple; they were dotted around meditation huts with nice and cool atmosphere.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Cheers.
It looks really impressive :)
Nice to meet you @kaminchan!
Thank you very much for your encouragement. Nice to meet you too!
Have a nice weekend!
These photographs look vibrant!
Thank you very much! You should visit Thailand one day!
Thailand is a country filled with mysticism. There are so many unknowns. Even monks in Thailand are very intriguing. Monks in some countries eat purely vegetarian but in Thailand they eat anything lay people donate. Maybe it is good practice to develop humility and to prevent food waste. Then, monks can quit monastic life to get married and vice versa. There are many folk practices such as respecting spirits that may seem weird to outsiders since people are especially in tune with nature here. Do Thai people perform certain rites before cutting down a tree?
A wise man once taught me that when I help someone avoid a certain calamity, be prepared to accept certain consequences on behalf of the person who was supposed to learn a life lesson. Therefore, being kind is tough! For example, my elder sister pre-warned my father of a calamity so although he avoided it she lost something precious as a consequence. She disrupted the balance (his karma) so she had to pay a price. Therefore, I'm divided whether I should rely solely on my own judgement so that psychic people can be free from harm.
Wow! You are serious thinker! Buddhism has nothing to do with mysticism really. Buddhism is very reasonable and scientific. The mysticism is due to the fact that Hinduism has become mixed up with Buddhist teachings since long time ago in India. That’s why Buddhism lost its meanings which led to the demise of Buddhism in India.
Nowadays, Thai Buddhists are just performing rituals; monks are worse as they are making lots of money out of people seeking help. True Buddhist monks are very hard to find nowadays. Serious monks usually live in the countryside far away from the maddening crowds which are filled with greed and vices. These monks are serious meditators seeking enlightenment.
Ordinary people are too busy earning their living that they have no time to read Buddhist texts! They use money to buy good karma and merits. Most of my rich friends are like this! I did warn them to have some time to be quiet and contemplate; but they are too busy.
I am afraid it’s almost the end time of society as the energy of good people seems to be lesser than those bad people especially those with power. We may have a few more years before complete chaos set in.
About your question, the person who gave the warning was incorrect in his logic.
Strictly speaking, the Buddha never taught about that karmic repercussion from doing ‘good’ action. The five precepts are the fundamental teaching; doing good karma gets good karmic results or feedback loop.
Let’s say, even if I am psychic I could not see the hidden karmic or past actions between your father and sister in their past lives. It may turn out that your sister owed your father some favour in the past life and always wanted to return the favour. So, in this life time, an urge to help out came into her mind. She did it without thinking too much, she just felt she ought to do something good. Then she got hit with the bad luck! It could be that she happened to be in the cycle of time for paying back old debt to someone on the past life. The synchronous of actions or karmic force just happened. So, I have to come back to ‘What the Buddha Taught’. Most people misinterpret the teachings without doing any serious reading or research.
Ceremonies and rituals are just tools to get people to have faith in practicing Buddhism and meditation. But even meditators are going astray as they become attached to the ‘yana’ or psychic ability gained from meditation! This is quite exasperating for me. You know what the Buddha told his monks; if there were to be an enlightened person or monk, the impact could change the whole consciousness of mankind. That’s why it was very easy for people to become enlightened during the Buddha’s time and all the great Kings became religious naturally. People just wanted to do good things for others. That was one of the best period in Indian history!
Sorry this is too long!
Be factual, don’t be fooled by as all the rituals which people created for their own security.
Thousand thanks for taking the time to construct such detailed reply. Your honesty shocked me in a good way. I understand your answers very well. Always refer back to the scriptures. I've downloaded the Heart, Diamond and Lotus sutras for studies. Need to look into the Sigalovada sutta too. Happy weekend! 😄
Thank you for understanding my long explanation! Hope you’ll find what you are looking for. Have a nice and restful weekend.
All the best.
Hope you are not confused by my long answer! LoL
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Thank you very much for your support!
Have a nice weekend!
Stay safe and strong!
Nice, my pets used to be chickens and ducks when i was little
Thank you very much! You are so lucky to have chickens and ducks as pets!! I would love to have those too! Now! I have to plan to keep some chickens next year!
Have a nice day!
Yay!
Your post has been boosted with ESTM. Keep up the good work!
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Lovely combination of spirituality, plants and animals.
Thank you very much for your kind encouragement.