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It's an Economic, Not a Moral Problem ... Usually
First of all, the most common kind of prostitution in Thailand is an economic, not a moral, issue. Most prostitutes come from the poor farming northeast ("Isaan") and speak a Thai-Lao or Thai-Khmer dialect. They have a 6 year government education from a country school (after that, it's not free). Their employment options are $100 per month jobs in factories doing 6 day weeks at long hours, or similar employment ... or far more money hanging around foreigners, getting exposure and learning real life things, and hanging around with their friends.
Most of them send a big chunk of their money back home to their family. Most don't take drugs or even smoke, and many don't drink alcohol.
It is cultural arrogant of people from wealthy countries to come here and preach about morality. Try having their background and their options.
In comparison, in rich countries there are many "matrimonial prostitutes", i.e., women who prefer to marry a rich man who will support them rather than work for their own money, pursue a career of their own, and find someone with a similar purpose in life, similar interests and similar values. Many people in rich countries never have enough money, and are very materialistic. That is more morally questionable.
However, in Thailand there is an increasing trend of young students entering prostitution in order to buy fashion items. There are also prostitutes who are addicted to gambling, alcohol and drugs. Plus there are scammers. Like the matrimonial prostitute, this is a moral matter of values and interests, not an economic necessity.
Forget Reform or Purpose
The vast majority of ladies who have been in the prostitution scene, and stayed there for more than a few weeks, cannot be reformed.
I've heard countless arguments from guys who have taken on a prostitute as a ladyfriend or wife and who defend them. In the vast majority of these cases, the relationship doesn't last much longer. Few have lasted. The guy is then reminded "I told you so!".
I don't want to dwell on the exceptions. The issue here is the 80%+ rule of relationship failure.
However, this does not mean that 80% are bad people. Not at all. It's just that they aren't going to be what the guy wants them to be. They have their own life, and they are free to choose which guy to marry. It is a fact that while going week to week you see mostly the same girls working in the bars, on the other hand if you leave the bar area for just 6 months and return, most girls have gone. Where did they go? Often, away with a new exclusive boyfriend / husband.
Even if no boyfriend (and many bargirls do not want another husband or boyfriend or any such dependency), I have known via friends and associates a lot of prostitutes and ex-prostitutes who I found to be responsible, good people who are sending money back home, don't do anything unethical, and are in completely understandable decision situations.
Most ladies in prostitution have at least one child and no husband -- a boyfriend or husband who just walked away and takes no financial or other responsibility. They are single parents. (I might question their choice of boyfriend/husband, but I've made foolish choices of girlfriend in my life, too, when I was a teenager.)
I have a huge amount of respect for prostitutes who save money and not only leave the profession permanently with no desire to return, but who also try to improve their life, e.g., by working to help their husband as homemaker or starting their own business such as selling clothes on the street or opening their own salon or whatever. There are many of these ex-prostitutes.
However, most prostitutes are lazy and just live day to day.
I'm convinced that the select population of career prostitutes are those who have certain personality tendencies.
Look at how they get introduced into the trade, who stays, vs. who doesn't follow thru or who quits soon thereafter. Many, many ladies have a trusted childhood friend who has a lot of money from prostitution, has become more sophisticated, and helps their family (usually). This childhood friend often introduces more ladies from the village to the trade. Some friends turn away immediately when they see how she's making her money, and some others may try it once and quit. Others will slowly try it but stay for awhile, hopefully finding a rich foreign boyfriend. However, some try it and dive right in enthusiastically!
Those who stay tend to be extroverted, sensational rather than intuitive, lazy and don't think much. For example, they often like to gamble. Gambling and prostitution are often associated with each other because they are both thrill activities. Not far away is usually drugs. These people will not occupy themselves with self-improvement activities, but will just take the next reactive, easy thrill.
The typical prostitute will never run a business of her own, or even do the home laundry or dishes. Anything that requires self-discipline and real work is not something they're going to do. They will sit around and watch TV all day until it's time to go to the go-go bar or pickup joint to get screwed -- "make money on their backs". Even if factories paid more, they would not go work there.
These ladies have no purpose in life, and if they're not getting screwed then they will be vegetating in front of the TV or hanging around playing cards and gambling. So they may as well provide the occasional relief that some busy guys need.
From the Thai perspective, their main purpose in life is to serve working men by providing sexual entertainment, to bring skilled foreign men and tourist money into Thailand, and to bring their money into the countryside.
The differences in education and experiences between the man and the lady is often vast.
People's personalities don't change. Maybe the children of prostitutes will become more productive members of society (especially if they're raised in a different environment), but the prostitutes themselves will not, in the vast majority of cases.
The difference between a typical prostitute and a typical mainstream lady are like night and day. (However, you have exceptions in both categories.)
A lot of foreigners consider paying 1000 baht for sex to be cheap, and they don't care what the lady does with it. I look at it this way: The typical university graduate starts at a salary of around 10,000 baht per month, or 500 baht per DAY. Why should guys be paying ladies that kind of money to lay on their backs and spread their legs? Look at how a lot of those ladies blow money -- taking taxis instead of buses, partying with friends, and so on. If they were sending the money home, that's different. The choosy ones don't get a customer every day, so they get a higher "consultant's pay scale". When I do people watching, and talk with ladies, these are the kinds of things that go thru my mind, and perhaps my own moral judgements / opinions.
In any case, it's a free world out there, and as long as they aren't bothering anyone else, and all this is consensual private business, then live and let live. Wildlife. Animal Planet: Showcase Sukhumvit. It's their background, subculture/personality, and realistic profession options. At least they're contributing some service to the GNP as entertainers (and exporting for foreign cash influx) instead of sitting at home watching TV and mooching off of siblings.
Postscript
I get a lot of positive feedback from this section, from both veterans as well as men who are new to Thailand. Based on feedback by email and the web form, the positive and neutral must outweigh the negative by somewhere around 50:1.
However, I also get criticisms, some of the messages very negative, judgemental, and even hateful. I use criticisms to improve my own viewpoints as well as to improve my website, but sometimes I think the improvement needs to come from the other side, and I feel sorry for stubborn people stuck in a cycle of negative emotions and bad attitude, who just don't see the light.
Some men say I put down bargirls too much, relative to mainstream Thai ladies. Maybe I do, but I respect bargirls and freelancers who are not scammers, and understand their options in life.
Some Thai women say I put down Thai women, with some saying that I imply all Thai women are bad like bargirls. (They didn't read much, did they?)
Some foreign women say I denigrate women.
My American girlfriend (when I first arrived) commented about the sweet attitudes and small bodies of Thai ladies, and then exclaimed "I hate Thai ladies!"
Some foreign men and foreign women try to put me down for even discussing prostitutes or Thai ladies in the way I do. I guess it is THEY who have a need to put down others, and show off how good and high status they are, by trying to put ME down.
Besides attitude problems, it is obvious that many of the people who send criticisms have not really read what I have written, or else read it with such a bad attitude and filters/blinders that they did not really comprehend what is written.
For example, I don't put down Thai women. Quite the contrary. I point out that prostitutes make up about 2% of the Thai female population, but just concentrate themselves where the business is, which includes a few square kilometers in the tourist and expat concentration areas in lower Sukhumvit and in Pattaya, out of all of Thailand, and make clear that mainstream Thai ladies are generally the opposite -- very conservative, trustworthy, and not promiscuous. However, I don't think I put down Thai prostitutes in general, either. Sure, I put down scammers. However, I don't put down prostitutes in general. There may be a mismatch between foreign guys' expectations and what the lady can or will provide naturally. But who is to judge who is at fault in a relationship that does not work out? Many prostitutes are good people. Just different situations and values.
Sometimes, I feel that people are venting their anger on me, when the source of their anger comes from another experience in their past. Like the employee who goes home after a bad day at work and kicks the dog. "Displaced aggression."
Some people want others to agree with their own political opinions, and tend to be a bit opinionated.
Run a website of substance, and you are sure to attract some heat (and envy, sometimes even obsession, but that's another topic...).
Let me just discuss a few things here:
First, anytime you discuss male-female relationships and sex, you will breed controversy. Many people have emotional reactions to these topics, for various reasons. It's largely instinct.
Many of the negative judgements I receive tend to be self-righteous or based on cultural arrogance.
The majority of the negative feedback comes from females (but most female feedback is not negative, just understanding -- I don't want anyone to infer that most females give negative feedback, because that's not the case!). I suspect that many of those people have frustrations with their own relationships with members of the opposite gender, or other sociopolitical agendas.
Secondly, any website guide which aims to discuss Thailand in a balanced way, and which tries to help people coming to Thailand to work and live, must cover the relationships between Thai ladies and foreign men, especially the most common kinds of Thai ladies who you find with a large sample of foreign men working and living in Thailand -- former prostitutes (or current prostitutes). If I avoided this subject, or told people what they wanted to hear, then I wouldn't be discussing Reality.
I'm not promoting prostitution, or Thai ladies, and I get no benefits from them. I have a guide to Thailand, and people are reading my website because they are already interested in Thailand. The Thai girlfriends section is just one section out of many about Thailand.
Third, this is the human experience, and consenting adults are free to do whatever they wish, as long as it doesn't impose on anyone else. If you feel that you are being imposed on, well, it's a big world and it is easy enough for you to go elsewhere to avoid this.
You can't change the world to be what you want it to be. It is better to accept the things you cannot change, and be tolerant and understanding. This is one of the good things about Thai people which makes this country so nice -- Thai people are tolerant. It is impolite to criticize and talk badly about people who are doing no harm to others. In the Land of Smiles, Thai people are understanding, compassionate, and not prone to arguments, relatively speaking.
I am a relatively nonjudgemental person. I try to understand the human experience and the great variety of people in this world, which includes what goes on in the expat concentration areas of Thailand. I try to help people. I have a background as an analyst. Also, I have a lot of compassion for people, and I try to understand a wide variety of people very different from myself. Often, what's right for me is not best for them, and vice versa, though I do try to understand others, and often in my work and social life I learn a lot vicariously. I like to learn and understand. I'm not going to tell other people how they should run their lives. That goes for both foreigners and Thais.
Yes, there are a lot of prostitutes. Most of them come from very poor backgrounds, mainly from "Isaan", the poor northeast. Try living there. Try making it in this world with a farm background and the standard 6 year government education, at a country school. Try having the option of working on the farm or else for $100/month in a factory doing monotonous things for long hours 6 days a week. If you don't want the free market of prostitution to exist, then what are you doing to create an alternative solution? I have volunteered for charities, and I worked for the US Agency for International Development (which is what originally pointed me to Bangkok, Thailand, the Asia regional office) at lower pay rates than I was offered to work for the purely private sector. I have "paid my dues". Have you walked the walk, or only talked the talk?
I've also had my experiences with western high society "matrimonial prostitutes" and ladies "dating rich guys", i.e., women who are attracted only to rich and successful men, both directly (though I never married one) and vicariously via many friends and associates. What's the difference between that and having an ex-bargirl Thai girlfriend?
I'm not saying either one is bad. Different people have different options, and it's all consensual between adults.
If some guys want to come to Thailand and have Thai lady, or many of them, that's their choice, and the ladies' choices. Most of the guys and most of the ladies are not so stupid and naive as to not know the basic risks, consequences, and benefits of these encounters, though they may not fully understand what's involved or each others' cultures and behavioral norms. I try to help the guys understand. (Also, I help the ladies understand when I talk with them, but they don't read English language websites, so I'd waste my time writing for them.)
Contrary to some complaints, I don't think I encourage guys to do one thing or another. There are different ways to analyze one's situation and options, and what a guy or Thai lady chooses to do depends mostly on their own values -- what is important to them. Not your values. I'm not going to impose my values on them, and I think many of them would not think highly of arrogant, inexperienced and self-limiting critics.
Sure, I have my own opinions and preferences. A lot of that comes out in this website. You are free to have yours, too. But think twice before trying to impose your values on others.
It is clear to me that a lot of critics, both foreign and Thai, don't have much experience in this world and don't realize a lot of what's going on. Let me tell you, I've been doing private investigations since 1997, and my company has a private investigations division. We've "seen it all", it seems. Hundreds of cases, maybe over 1000 by now, learning vicariously. Many of our customers give us the most intimate details. Our agents go out on assignments to socialize undercover with Thai ladies as well as foreign husbands.
We don't try to "get" people. We research, analyze and assess situations. In most situations, the results are not all good. If an outright scam for money is happening, then it's pretty simple. However, usually it's not that simple and we try to counsel our customers. For guys, we try to tell him the lady's viewpoint. In long distance relationships, foreign guys are often as unreliable as Thai ex-bargirls. Few ladies are "perfect". Or men. We encourage dialogue, working things out, and clear agreements when appropriate. Regarding cheating husbands, we ask the wife to understand the husband, not react by running to self-serving lawyers, just calm down for awhile and open up dialogue. I suggest things for her to discuss. We have helped wives and husbands save many marriages. Others, to understand and accept the situation.
The typical Thai lady agent is a university graduate and proper lady with prior work experience at other jobs, and with no experience with foreign men at first when she starts as an apprentice. (They prove far, FAR more reliable and quality workers than experienced ex-bargirls/freelancers.) It's a select population because they are interested in the job, but they adapt well to understanding in nonjudgemental ways. So, regarding emails we receive that are very negative, why do highly educated other people have such a difficult time with these issues? What is the difference between our agents and the hypercritical?
I could expand upon that, but I will leave it to others to ponder.
Suffice it to say that these lady agents ponder the situation and have no problem socializing undercover with most Thai ladies they encounter. If they can do it, then why can't others?
In Thai society, like any society, people of different classes are generally not close friends, just based on educational level, mannerisms, lifestyle, economic class, occupational field, and so on. However, they are mutually respectful and acknowledge others' places in society. Equality is an idealistic myth that some people give lip service to.
On the other hand, given some motivation or common interest, people of different classes in Thai society can mix remarkably well.
(Notably, in one of my first few social encounters in the USAID community, there were ex-prostitute girlfriends of government employees and contractors who were ostracized by a few of my colleagues. Not all, but a few. It seemed so hypocritical that some USAID professionals would prove so class-conscious. I have also experienced some of this in the purely private sector in Thailand, e.g., ex-prostitute girlfriends of managing directors, managers, or expat employees.)
I have been encouraged about how some ex-prostitute ladies have been able to adapt and mix socially, and improve their lives, but there are always natural class differences at least at the outset. These should not be misinterpreted as negative judgements, but just natural class differences. Intellectual class and economic class. I'm not talking moral class.
People who self-righteously put down others, or who express cultural arrogance, are themselves the questionable ones.
On this website, I do not encourage guys one way or another. I mainly try to help people understand what they are dealing with. I even have a section on Mating 101, to put human sexuality into perspective in one's greater life. I discuss the kinds of Thai ladies you are likely to meet in certain kinds of places in Thailand. I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of Thai ladies. It's up to the man to decide for himself if he wants a Thai girlfriend, or casual relationships of mutual benefit, or whatever. Does he want a career wife or a subserviant lady? Assertive or peaceful? How important is education? (Usually not as important as personality and empathic compatibility.) And so on. Up to him.
When I first came to Thailand, it took me awhile to deal with some of my own hangups. Then I unabashedly went out to experience what other normal guys working in Thailand did. No regrets. However, I much preferred the suburbs, and more highly educated companionship with different kinds of personalities, different subsets and lifestyle choices. Nonetheless, everyone has their own lifestyle, and if you like socializing in pool halls and getting out and about in leisure and entertainment districts, then another match would suit you better.
I've also had people call me various names. Fine, if believing your delusion is what you need, that's your freedom. The reality is usually different, and it amazes me how much of a figment of peoples' imaginations I can be. It tells more about them than it does about myself. I write about my history in Thailand on my website. Nonetheless, if I wanted to be a whoremonger and encourage other guys to do the same, as it's a huge market, then I would have done just that, unabashedly, instead of what I have written. What you see is what you get.
Feedback is welcome, but if it's going to be useful, then please read the entire section. And look within yourself as well. There's no reason to have anger towards me.
Then perhaps it would be better for both yourself and me, and maybe some useful analysis will come out of it which we can contribute to this section.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
A guide to the perfect Thai idiot
A guide to the perfect Thai idiot
Source: BangkokPost May 26 2010
In 1996, three Latin Americans wrote a best-selling book in Spanish which was later translated into English as Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot. Their main contention is that Latin American problems are not caused by outside influences as Latin Americans generally believe. Rather, they result mainly from actions of Latin Americans themselves.
Correcting Latin American problems, therefore, must come from Latin Americans.
Ask Thais about the causes of last week's shameful event - or of any problems in Thailand for that matter - and they will readily point the finger somewhere else, never at themselves.
I am a Thai so I am part of this well-practised response. But I now believe that if we continue with this long-running charade of self-deception, Thailand is on its way to becoming a failed state shortly.
We present Thailand as the Land of Smiles full of gentle Buddhists. We regularly give alms to monks and often make donations to temples, believing that those are selfless acts for the welfare of others.
Deep down, however, we do that only because we wish to get something in return - to go to heaven or have a richer next life. It is a trade, pure and simple, nothing kind or selfless about it.
Few of us give for the sake of giving. We are basically very selfish.
Every time we go to the temple or attend a Buddhist ceremony, we duly accept and recite the Five Precepts as a guide to our daily lives, but we leave them there, as we always make promises without ever intending to keep them.
Actually, we understand little about Buddhism.
Even among the ranks of the monks, most do not know the teachings in-depth and lead their lives accordingly - all they know is how to conduct ceremonies from which they earn easy income.
This reflects something deeper - we are generally lazy and like to take short-cuts to the sabai (do-nothing) state. Lottery tickets, therefore, always sell out at premium prices; prostitution is rampant and young women readily marry foreign pensioners.
We love to talk but rarely listen. Even when we do, we often fail to hear, as we never learn to think critically.
We cannot put up with different points of view nor can we work cooperatively.
Many of the over 30,000 Buddhist temples were built next to one another because when we disagreed with one, we just built another.
That the cooperative movement has never been successful here is another indication of our inability to tolerate different points of view.
We readily forgive, so we believe, as our most common utterance is mai pen rai (it doesn't matter) when someone makes a mistake. But that is only a reflection of the culture of indifference and ready rationalisation.
We can always cite a well-known proverb, a famous poem or a sage's sharp utterance to justify everything we do.
We complain so much about corruption. But we do little about it.
Worse, we keep electing the same corrupt politicians because they have money and influence from which we hope to benefit.
Survey after survey shows that the majority of us do not mind corruption as long as we get something out of it.
One of the surveys last year showed that almost 85% of us believed that cheating was a normal business practice, making us practically a nation of thieves.
When I raised the matter in this column, I received the angriest responses from fellow Thais, using expressions so colourful that they should not be printed nor uttered within earshot of other humans.
This long-running self-deception has created so much moral deficit, to employ Joseph Stiglitz's terminology, that has put Thailand into a state of moral crisis for some time now. Some of the symptoms of this state are the economic crisis of 1997 and the protests culminating in last week's events.
Of course, we will never admit this, for we are perfect and will continue to be very angry when a foreigner utters something non-complementary about us.
But I do hope that the events of last week shock most of us into re-examining ourselves, our values, and start reducing the moral deficit as well as trying to generate some moral surplus: doing more genuinely voluntary work for the common good similar to the street cleaning carried out by Bangkokians last weekend, but on a regular basis.
Source: BangkokPost May 26 2010
In 1996, three Latin Americans wrote a best-selling book in Spanish which was later translated into English as Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot. Their main contention is that Latin American problems are not caused by outside influences as Latin Americans generally believe. Rather, they result mainly from actions of Latin Americans themselves.
Correcting Latin American problems, therefore, must come from Latin Americans.
Ask Thais about the causes of last week's shameful event - or of any problems in Thailand for that matter - and they will readily point the finger somewhere else, never at themselves.
I am a Thai so I am part of this well-practised response. But I now believe that if we continue with this long-running charade of self-deception, Thailand is on its way to becoming a failed state shortly.
We present Thailand as the Land of Smiles full of gentle Buddhists. We regularly give alms to monks and often make donations to temples, believing that those are selfless acts for the welfare of others.
Deep down, however, we do that only because we wish to get something in return - to go to heaven or have a richer next life. It is a trade, pure and simple, nothing kind or selfless about it.
Few of us give for the sake of giving. We are basically very selfish.
Every time we go to the temple or attend a Buddhist ceremony, we duly accept and recite the Five Precepts as a guide to our daily lives, but we leave them there, as we always make promises without ever intending to keep them.
Actually, we understand little about Buddhism.
Even among the ranks of the monks, most do not know the teachings in-depth and lead their lives accordingly - all they know is how to conduct ceremonies from which they earn easy income.
This reflects something deeper - we are generally lazy and like to take short-cuts to the sabai (do-nothing) state. Lottery tickets, therefore, always sell out at premium prices; prostitution is rampant and young women readily marry foreign pensioners.
We love to talk but rarely listen. Even when we do, we often fail to hear, as we never learn to think critically.
We cannot put up with different points of view nor can we work cooperatively.
Many of the over 30,000 Buddhist temples were built next to one another because when we disagreed with one, we just built another.
That the cooperative movement has never been successful here is another indication of our inability to tolerate different points of view.
We readily forgive, so we believe, as our most common utterance is mai pen rai (it doesn't matter) when someone makes a mistake. But that is only a reflection of the culture of indifference and ready rationalisation.
We can always cite a well-known proverb, a famous poem or a sage's sharp utterance to justify everything we do.
We complain so much about corruption. But we do little about it.
Worse, we keep electing the same corrupt politicians because they have money and influence from which we hope to benefit.
Survey after survey shows that the majority of us do not mind corruption as long as we get something out of it.
One of the surveys last year showed that almost 85% of us believed that cheating was a normal business practice, making us practically a nation of thieves.
When I raised the matter in this column, I received the angriest responses from fellow Thais, using expressions so colourful that they should not be printed nor uttered within earshot of other humans.
This long-running self-deception has created so much moral deficit, to employ Joseph Stiglitz's terminology, that has put Thailand into a state of moral crisis for some time now. Some of the symptoms of this state are the economic crisis of 1997 and the protests culminating in last week's events.
Of course, we will never admit this, for we are perfect and will continue to be very angry when a foreigner utters something non-complementary about us.
But I do hope that the events of last week shock most of us into re-examining ourselves, our values, and start reducing the moral deficit as well as trying to generate some moral surplus: doing more genuinely voluntary work for the common good similar to the street cleaning carried out by Bangkokians last weekend, but on a regular basis.
If a country is to have such "weak" morals, would it not also be safe to say "weak" ethics?
a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice, etc
Therefor the next stage would be to ask, where do morals come from?
now many say religion, but as we can see that arguement can not possible stand here.
Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC) was one of the first Greek philosophers to encourage both scholars and the common citizen to turn their attention from the outside world to the condition of humankind. In this view, knowledge having a bearing on human life was placed highest, all other knowledge being secondary.
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) posited an ethical system that may be termed "self-realizationism." In Aristotle's view, when a person acts in accordance with his nature and realizes his full potential, he will do good and be content.
Hedonism posits that the principle ethic is maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. There are several schools of Hedonist thought ranging from those advocating the indulgence of even momentary desires to those teaching a pursuit of spiritual bliss. In their consideration of consequences, they range from those advocating self-gratification regardless of the pain and expense to others, to those stating that the most ethical pursuit maximizes pleasure and happiness for the most people.
Cyrenaic hedonism Founded by Aristippus of Cyrene, Cyrenaics supported immediate gratification or pleasure. "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Even fleeting desires should be indulged, for fear the opportunity should be forever lost. There was little to no concern with the future, the present dominating in the pursuit for immediate pleasure. Cyrenaic hedonism encouraged the pursuit of enjoyment and indulgence without hesitation, believing pleasure to be the only good
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus posited that the greatest good was contentment and serenity. Peace of mind, or Apatheia, was of the highest value; self-mastery over one's desires and emotions leads to spiritual peace.
Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome, or consequence. This view is often expressed as the aphorism "The ends justify the means".
What sort of consequences count as good consequences?
Who is the primary beneficiary of moral action?
How are the consequences judged and who judges them?
One way to divide various consequentialisms is by the types of consequences that are taken to matter most, that is, which consequences count as good states of affairs. According to hedonistic utilitarianism, a good action is one that results in an increase in pleasure, and the best action is one that results in the most pleasure for the greatest number. Closely related is eudaimonic consequentialism, according to which a full, flourishing life, which may or may not be the same as enjoying a great deal of pleasure, is the ultimate aim. Similarly, one might adopt an aesthetic consequentialism, in which the ultimate aim is to produce beauty. However, one might fix on non-psychological goods as the relevant effect. Thus, one might pursue an increase in material equality or political liberty instead of something like the more ephemeral "pleasure". Other theories adopt a package of several goods, all to be promoted equally. Whether a particular consequentialist theory focuses on a single good or many, conflicts and tensions between different good states of affairs are to be expected and must be adjudicated.
Immanuel Kant's theory of ethics is considered deontological for several different reasons. First, Kant argues that to act in the morally right way, people must act from duty (deon). Second, Kant argued that it was not the consequences of actions that make them right or wrong but the motives of the person who carries out the action.
THIS I CAN NOT AGREE WITH, BECAUSE WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG?
Narcissism is the personality trait of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others.
maybe this can answer some of it.
Cutting directly to the point, morals and ethics are part of society and culture. But when it comes to sex, we are talking instincts and human nature to seek it out. When you try to mix the two together, you end up with a mess by trying to punish someone for being human.
Morals and ethics vs Thailand’s naughty nightlife
Posted on February 7th, 2010 by Richard
April 20th, 2011 by The Lost Boy
The big story coming out of Thailand over Songkran (Thai New Year) was the three teenage girls who stripped off and danced topless during a street party in the Silom nightlife zone. Photos and videos of the three girls surfaced and the Interwebs immediately came alight with shows of support for the girls and complimentary, witty comments being made about their breasts, and breasts in general. Then it was revealed that the girls are 13, 14 and 16.
Chalidaporn Songsamphan, an associate professor at Thammasat University in Bangkok, said Thais were uncomfortable when sexuality was displayed in public. And, she said, the anger directed at the topless dancers was a way for people to channel their frustrations about wider social problems, like alcoholism, low test scores among students and teenage delinquency. (NYT)
The fury only came after Culture Minister Niphit Intharasombat lambasted the three teenage girls for offending the country's culture.
What about the culture of heavy drinking? What about the rowdy crowd and the culture which treats women as sex objects? What about the commercial culture that pushes for girls' early sexuality or makes women think that flashing the flesh is a sign of self confidence?
Our culture maintains the good girl/bad girl divide to endorse men's sexual promiscuity, which allows the business of sexual exploitation to prosper.
The culture of blaming it all on bad girls allows the real culprits to get away with murder.
Not allowed to have hair of an "unacceptable" length (whatever that is?!)
Not allowed to have "seemingly" unclean clothes (many poor students have stained shirts. They are vilified for this. On many occasions, they end up leaving the education system).
Are allowed to gouge huge lumps of snot from their noses whenever & wherever they please.
Are not allowed to pick food from their teeth unless the mouth is covered.
Are allowed to hack, cough & sneeze all over anybody.
Are allowed to blow snot from their noses whenever & wherever they wish (block one nostril & blow out to clear the free nostril).
Are allowed to spit wherever & whenever they please.
Are not dissuaded from littering.
Therefor the next stage would be to ask, where do morals come from?
now many say religion, but as we can see that arguement can not possible stand here.
Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC) was one of the first Greek philosophers to encourage both scholars and the common citizen to turn their attention from the outside world to the condition of humankind. In this view, knowledge having a bearing on human life was placed highest, all other knowledge being secondary.
Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) posited an ethical system that may be termed "self-realizationism." In Aristotle's view, when a person acts in accordance with his nature and realizes his full potential, he will do good and be content.
Hedonism posits that the principle ethic is maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. There are several schools of Hedonist thought ranging from those advocating the indulgence of even momentary desires to those teaching a pursuit of spiritual bliss. In their consideration of consequences, they range from those advocating self-gratification regardless of the pain and expense to others, to those stating that the most ethical pursuit maximizes pleasure and happiness for the most people.
Cyrenaic hedonism Founded by Aristippus of Cyrene, Cyrenaics supported immediate gratification or pleasure. "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die." Even fleeting desires should be indulged, for fear the opportunity should be forever lost. There was little to no concern with the future, the present dominating in the pursuit for immediate pleasure. Cyrenaic hedonism encouraged the pursuit of enjoyment and indulgence without hesitation, believing pleasure to be the only good
The Stoic philosopher Epictetus posited that the greatest good was contentment and serenity. Peace of mind, or Apatheia, was of the highest value; self-mastery over one's desires and emotions leads to spiritual peace.
Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right action is one that produces a good outcome, or consequence. This view is often expressed as the aphorism "The ends justify the means".
What sort of consequences count as good consequences?
Who is the primary beneficiary of moral action?
How are the consequences judged and who judges them?
One way to divide various consequentialisms is by the types of consequences that are taken to matter most, that is, which consequences count as good states of affairs. According to hedonistic utilitarianism, a good action is one that results in an increase in pleasure, and the best action is one that results in the most pleasure for the greatest number. Closely related is eudaimonic consequentialism, according to which a full, flourishing life, which may or may not be the same as enjoying a great deal of pleasure, is the ultimate aim. Similarly, one might adopt an aesthetic consequentialism, in which the ultimate aim is to produce beauty. However, one might fix on non-psychological goods as the relevant effect. Thus, one might pursue an increase in material equality or political liberty instead of something like the more ephemeral "pleasure". Other theories adopt a package of several goods, all to be promoted equally. Whether a particular consequentialist theory focuses on a single good or many, conflicts and tensions between different good states of affairs are to be expected and must be adjudicated.
Immanuel Kant's theory of ethics is considered deontological for several different reasons. First, Kant argues that to act in the morally right way, people must act from duty (deon). Second, Kant argued that it was not the consequences of actions that make them right or wrong but the motives of the person who carries out the action.
THIS I CAN NOT AGREE WITH, BECAUSE WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG?
Narcissism is the personality trait of egotism, vanity, conceit, or simple selfishness. Applied to a social group, it is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight of others.
maybe this can answer some of it.
Cutting directly to the point, morals and ethics are part of society and culture. But when it comes to sex, we are talking instincts and human nature to seek it out. When you try to mix the two together, you end up with a mess by trying to punish someone for being human.
Morals and ethics vs Thailand’s naughty nightlife
Posted on February 7th, 2010 by Richard
April 20th, 2011 by The Lost Boy
The big story coming out of Thailand over Songkran (Thai New Year) was the three teenage girls who stripped off and danced topless during a street party in the Silom nightlife zone. Photos and videos of the three girls surfaced and the Interwebs immediately came alight with shows of support for the girls and complimentary, witty comments being made about their breasts, and breasts in general. Then it was revealed that the girls are 13, 14 and 16.
Chalidaporn Songsamphan, an associate professor at Thammasat University in Bangkok, said Thais were uncomfortable when sexuality was displayed in public. And, she said, the anger directed at the topless dancers was a way for people to channel their frustrations about wider social problems, like alcoholism, low test scores among students and teenage delinquency. (NYT)
The fury only came after Culture Minister Niphit Intharasombat lambasted the three teenage girls for offending the country's culture.
What about the culture of heavy drinking? What about the rowdy crowd and the culture which treats women as sex objects? What about the commercial culture that pushes for girls' early sexuality or makes women think that flashing the flesh is a sign of self confidence?
Our culture maintains the good girl/bad girl divide to endorse men's sexual promiscuity, which allows the business of sexual exploitation to prosper.
The culture of blaming it all on bad girls allows the real culprits to get away with murder.
Not allowed to have hair of an "unacceptable" length (whatever that is?!)
Not allowed to have "seemingly" unclean clothes (many poor students have stained shirts. They are vilified for this. On many occasions, they end up leaving the education system).
Are allowed to gouge huge lumps of snot from their noses whenever & wherever they please.
Are not allowed to pick food from their teeth unless the mouth is covered.
Are allowed to hack, cough & sneeze all over anybody.
Are allowed to blow snot from their noses whenever & wherever they wish (block one nostril & blow out to clear the free nostril).
Are allowed to spit wherever & whenever they please.
Are not dissuaded from littering.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Are there any morals in this country???
A person's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do.
Is a sense of behavioral conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or right) and bad (or wrong).
The major virtues they identified include wisdom / knowledge; courage; humanity; justice; temperance; and transcendence. Each of these includes several divisions. For instance humanity includes love, kindness, and social intelligence.
Humans consequently evolved "pro-social" emotions, such as feelings of empathy or guilt, in response to these moral behaviors.
Published : July 20, 2011 :: 18:07:37 Bellboy Arrested For Putting “Sex Pill” into Co-Worker’s Iced-Tea
Published : July 21, 2011 :: 19:07:45 Two Teen Lady Boy Pick Pocket Russian Tourist
Published : August 03, 2010 :: 13:08:33 Thai Man Arrested for Raping his own Daughter in Pattaya
Published : June 18, 2011 :: 07:06:35 Pattaya Grade 8 Student Rapes Grade 6 Student in School Toilet
Published : October 18, 2010 :: 12:10:44 Pregnant Woman Fights off Rape by Man Impersonating Police
Published : June 26, 2011 :: 07:06:58 79 Year Old Retired Teacher Swindled by a Trickser
Published : October 17, 2010 :: 15:10:17 Thai Man Arrested over Rape of Friends Two Teenage Daughters
Published : April 07, 2010 :: 16:04:31 Habitual Offender Caught In Pattaya For Raping a Minor
Published : February 16, 2010 :: 10:02:49 Norwegian National Robbed & Assaulted on Pattaya Beach
Published : June 18, 2011 :: 07:06:23 BKK Lady Boy Swindling Japanese Arrested
Published : September 12, 2010 :: 14:09:55 Violent Pattaya Stabbing Attack Fuelled by Illegal Thai Whiskey
22nd July 2011 Confused elderly Woman thrown off Bus and left in Central Pattaya
22nd July 2011 Banglamung Convenience store owner arrested on drug dealing charges
Published : August 24, 2010 :: 18:08:19 7 Young Men Arrested over Calculated Rape of 2 Minors
Published : April 03, 2010 :: 17:04:40 Drug-Crazed Brother Makes Man’s Life A Misery Near Pattaya
Published : October 01, 2010 :: 12:10:33 Elderly Woman Caught-up in Banglamung Police Crackdown
Published : January 08, 2010 :: 14:01:10 [ 2,310 views ]
Drug crazed man stabs brother to death
Published : October 20, 2010 :: 13:10:37 [ 12,508 views ]
Russian Real Estate Investor Brutally Murdered in Pattaya
Published : June 01, 2011 :: 15:06:29 [ 3,090 views ]
Man Stabbed To Death Possibly By Wife’s Lover, Police say
Published : March 26, 2010 :: 14:03:57 [ 1,441 views ]
No Breakthrough In Pattaya Dismembered Baby Case
Published : June 25, 2010 :: 12:06:27 [ 6,336 views ]
Jealous Man Commits Murder-Suicide Near Pattaya
Published : April 15, 2011 :: 14:04:28 [ 4,929 views ]
Raging Wife Hires Hitmen to Shoot Her Husband
Published : April 07, 2011 :: 09:04:26 [ 2,808 views ]
Injured Teenagers Survive The Shooting
Published : January 06, 2010 :: 13:01:09 [ 2,183 views ]
Pattaya Taxi Driver Threatens the Public with Revolver
Published : September 09, 2010 :: 12:09:53 [ 4,435 views ]
Brutal Meat Cleaver Attackers Caught After 8 Month Search
Published : June 18, 2010 :: 15:06:24 [ 12,830 views ]
Brit Robbed by Thieving Gang of Katoey’s in Pattaya
Published : February 09, 2010 :: 13:02:02 [ 14,686 views ]
British National Drugged and Robbed by Pattaya Prostitute
Published : July 27, 2010 :: 13:07:57 [ 6,663 views ]
Spiked Drinks Result in Robbery of Jordanians at Pattaya Hotel
Girl, 5, and politician killed as gunmen open fire at temple
19/07/2011
Published : March 26, 2010 :: 15:03:18 [ 13,073 views ]
Pattaya Sex Worker Drugs & Rips Clients Blind
Published : July 09, 2010 :: 17:07:45 [ 8,150 views ]
Indians Fall Victim to Pattaya Bargirl Drugging Theft
Gunmen attack temple crowd, kill 2
18/07/2011
Islamic school teacher killed
10/07/2011
City cabbie nabbed for robbing, attempting to rape passenger
02/07/2011 :
Suspects arrested for killing three tigers
30/06/2011
Another BJT canvasser murdered Bhumjaithai Party
27/06/2011 :
Wildlife smuggling trails go ever deeper
27/06/2011 :
Suban murder suspect arrested
26/06/2011 : Police have rounded up one of the suspects allegedly involved in the murder of key Bhumjaithai Party canvasser Suban Jirapunvanit on June 16.
Bombs, gunmen kill and maim in South
24/06/2011 : Two men working on an irrigation project were killed and five others injured in a bomb explosion at their dormitory in Narathiwat on Friday.
e rise of the order of assassins
20/06/2011 : A dissertation on "hitman agencies" has pointed out to the need to set up a special police unit to deal directly and more effectively with the growing number of professional killers.
PAO chief killed in daring attack
16/06/2011 : The president of the Lop Buri provincial administration organisation was killed and two others, his wife and secretary, wounded in a broad daylight attack by a gunman in Phra Nakhon district on Thursday afternoon.
Slain girl's parents live in fear
04/06/2011 : CHIANG RAI : Parents of a slain hilltribe girl have sought protection from police after the man charged with her murder _ the mayor of their tambon _ was freed on bail and a key witness in the case died mysteriously.
DSI urged to prioritise human trafficking
02/06/2011 : The Department of Special Investigations should make human trafficking cases a priority, says Eaklak Loomchomkha, chief of the anti-human trafficking non-governmental organisation Mirror Foundation.
Man gets life for bus stop murder
31/05/2011 : The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life in prison for murder, robbery and attempted rape of a woman hotel receptionist in 2009.
Democrat canvasser's house attacked
26/05/2011 : The house of a political canvasser for the Democrat Party in Bung Kum district was attacked by an unknown number of gunmen early on Thursday morning, police said.
Loan sharks defy crackdown
23/05/2011 : Loan sharks preying on low-income parents who borrowed from them to pay back-to-school expenses for their children are posing a headache for police.
Killers boasted of rape (Brit tourist gangraped and murdered in Thailand)
Sydney Morning Herald Jan. 11, 2005
Is a sense of behavioral conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or right) and bad (or wrong).
The major virtues they identified include wisdom / knowledge; courage; humanity; justice; temperance; and transcendence. Each of these includes several divisions. For instance humanity includes love, kindness, and social intelligence.
Humans consequently evolved "pro-social" emotions, such as feelings of empathy or guilt, in response to these moral behaviors.
Published : July 20, 2011 :: 18:07:37 Bellboy Arrested For Putting “Sex Pill” into Co-Worker’s Iced-Tea
Published : July 21, 2011 :: 19:07:45 Two Teen Lady Boy Pick Pocket Russian Tourist
Published : August 03, 2010 :: 13:08:33 Thai Man Arrested for Raping his own Daughter in Pattaya
Published : June 18, 2011 :: 07:06:35 Pattaya Grade 8 Student Rapes Grade 6 Student in School Toilet
Published : October 18, 2010 :: 12:10:44 Pregnant Woman Fights off Rape by Man Impersonating Police
Published : June 26, 2011 :: 07:06:58 79 Year Old Retired Teacher Swindled by a Trickser
Published : October 17, 2010 :: 15:10:17 Thai Man Arrested over Rape of Friends Two Teenage Daughters
Published : April 07, 2010 :: 16:04:31 Habitual Offender Caught In Pattaya For Raping a Minor
Published : February 16, 2010 :: 10:02:49 Norwegian National Robbed & Assaulted on Pattaya Beach
Published : June 18, 2011 :: 07:06:23 BKK Lady Boy Swindling Japanese Arrested
Published : September 12, 2010 :: 14:09:55 Violent Pattaya Stabbing Attack Fuelled by Illegal Thai Whiskey
22nd July 2011 Confused elderly Woman thrown off Bus and left in Central Pattaya
22nd July 2011 Banglamung Convenience store owner arrested on drug dealing charges
Published : August 24, 2010 :: 18:08:19 7 Young Men Arrested over Calculated Rape of 2 Minors
Published : April 03, 2010 :: 17:04:40 Drug-Crazed Brother Makes Man’s Life A Misery Near Pattaya
Published : October 01, 2010 :: 12:10:33 Elderly Woman Caught-up in Banglamung Police Crackdown
Published : January 08, 2010 :: 14:01:10 [ 2,310 views ]
Drug crazed man stabs brother to death
Published : October 20, 2010 :: 13:10:37 [ 12,508 views ]
Russian Real Estate Investor Brutally Murdered in Pattaya
Published : June 01, 2011 :: 15:06:29 [ 3,090 views ]
Man Stabbed To Death Possibly By Wife’s Lover, Police say
Published : March 26, 2010 :: 14:03:57 [ 1,441 views ]
No Breakthrough In Pattaya Dismembered Baby Case
Published : June 25, 2010 :: 12:06:27 [ 6,336 views ]
Jealous Man Commits Murder-Suicide Near Pattaya
Published : April 15, 2011 :: 14:04:28 [ 4,929 views ]
Raging Wife Hires Hitmen to Shoot Her Husband
Published : April 07, 2011 :: 09:04:26 [ 2,808 views ]
Injured Teenagers Survive The Shooting
Published : January 06, 2010 :: 13:01:09 [ 2,183 views ]
Pattaya Taxi Driver Threatens the Public with Revolver
Published : September 09, 2010 :: 12:09:53 [ 4,435 views ]
Brutal Meat Cleaver Attackers Caught After 8 Month Search
Published : June 18, 2010 :: 15:06:24 [ 12,830 views ]
Brit Robbed by Thieving Gang of Katoey’s in Pattaya
Published : February 09, 2010 :: 13:02:02 [ 14,686 views ]
British National Drugged and Robbed by Pattaya Prostitute
Published : July 27, 2010 :: 13:07:57 [ 6,663 views ]
Spiked Drinks Result in Robbery of Jordanians at Pattaya Hotel
Girl, 5, and politician killed as gunmen open fire at temple
19/07/2011
Published : March 26, 2010 :: 15:03:18 [ 13,073 views ]
Pattaya Sex Worker Drugs & Rips Clients Blind
Published : July 09, 2010 :: 17:07:45 [ 8,150 views ]
Indians Fall Victim to Pattaya Bargirl Drugging Theft
Gunmen attack temple crowd, kill 2
18/07/2011
Islamic school teacher killed
10/07/2011
City cabbie nabbed for robbing, attempting to rape passenger
02/07/2011 :
Suspects arrested for killing three tigers
30/06/2011
Another BJT canvasser murdered Bhumjaithai Party
27/06/2011 :
Wildlife smuggling trails go ever deeper
27/06/2011 :
Suban murder suspect arrested
26/06/2011 : Police have rounded up one of the suspects allegedly involved in the murder of key Bhumjaithai Party canvasser Suban Jirapunvanit on June 16.
Bombs, gunmen kill and maim in South
24/06/2011 : Two men working on an irrigation project were killed and five others injured in a bomb explosion at their dormitory in Narathiwat on Friday.
e rise of the order of assassins
20/06/2011 : A dissertation on "hitman agencies" has pointed out to the need to set up a special police unit to deal directly and more effectively with the growing number of professional killers.
PAO chief killed in daring attack
16/06/2011 : The president of the Lop Buri provincial administration organisation was killed and two others, his wife and secretary, wounded in a broad daylight attack by a gunman in Phra Nakhon district on Thursday afternoon.
Slain girl's parents live in fear
04/06/2011 : CHIANG RAI : Parents of a slain hilltribe girl have sought protection from police after the man charged with her murder _ the mayor of their tambon _ was freed on bail and a key witness in the case died mysteriously.
DSI urged to prioritise human trafficking
02/06/2011 : The Department of Special Investigations should make human trafficking cases a priority, says Eaklak Loomchomkha, chief of the anti-human trafficking non-governmental organisation Mirror Foundation.
Man gets life for bus stop murder
31/05/2011 : The Criminal Court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life in prison for murder, robbery and attempted rape of a woman hotel receptionist in 2009.
Democrat canvasser's house attacked
26/05/2011 : The house of a political canvasser for the Democrat Party in Bung Kum district was attacked by an unknown number of gunmen early on Thursday morning, police said.
Loan sharks defy crackdown
23/05/2011 : Loan sharks preying on low-income parents who borrowed from them to pay back-to-school expenses for their children are posing a headache for police.
Killers boasted of rape (Brit tourist gangraped and murdered in Thailand)
Sydney Morning Herald Jan. 11, 2005
Friday, June 24, 2011
sad state
Sad to see so many children kicked around by their parents all over the country and the world, life is hard enough let alone being shifted around the country from relative to relative.....so many sad sad cases out there
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Religion should neva be an organisation
He and his co-plaintiffs argued that the Church Commissioners placed too much emphasis on purely financial considerations and insufficient emphasis upon the promotion of the Christian faith.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
DUE TO the darkness without any light,
the deathless upper land is out of sight.
In time, you can’t struggle on in any way,
drifting in the whirlpool in this bay all day
NOW, it’s the most favourable chance,
five rare attainments to enhance,
oh! You’re a man of international fame,
and you’ve plenty of affairs all the same.
They seem important and real,
but they are not worthy nor essential.
Your viewpoint is neither clear nor right,
in charcoal-room at dark cloudy midnight.
You perform good actions occasionally,
according to your whims, traditionally.
Time is steadily passing without stopping,
as to death, the leveller, you’re approaching.
As a gift or fee for the executioner,
with various foods, to present or to offer,
resting in the aggregates of wealthy chamber,
you are waiting to die with satisfaction
enjoying the worldly assumed perfection.
THOUGH they’re causes of grief and despair,
you fancy them to be a pleasant affair,
with unseen starting point of life,
in the process of existences that strike,
always you’re in perpetual hunger,
without quenching the thirst of desire.
You’re seeking taste in objects as in reality,
but they’re just a pile of ash in fragility.
Hoisting the banner of self-centred ‘I,’
you live like a villager’s swine in sty.
That pig will become fatter and fatter
for food, its danger is nearer and nearer.
You’re haughty and proud in society,
lofty with status and without anxiety,
you’re happy and pragmatic
just like that villager’s pig.
Screened by custom, pride, society, and glory,
far from seeing any truth or reality,
you have to face the total loss at last,
to mingle with common ash and earth.
THE EMPIRE of ‘I’ is very large,
in three eras from sky to earth.
Fire of death is blazing down ever and anon,
that won’t leave even a tiny atom,
shaking the whole universe
death, the murderer, is at large.
The existences or lives are only fuel.
Appearance and disappearance are perpetual,
death is the only monarch,
in cycles of world after world.
You can’t have the knowledge of reality,
on conditional materiality and mentality;
when will you be able to extinguish the fire
that’s very dangerous, ferocious and dire?
the deathless upper land is out of sight.
In time, you can’t struggle on in any way,
drifting in the whirlpool in this bay all day
NOW, it’s the most favourable chance,
five rare attainments to enhance,
oh! You’re a man of international fame,
and you’ve plenty of affairs all the same.
They seem important and real,
but they are not worthy nor essential.
Your viewpoint is neither clear nor right,
in charcoal-room at dark cloudy midnight.
You perform good actions occasionally,
according to your whims, traditionally.
Time is steadily passing without stopping,
as to death, the leveller, you’re approaching.
As a gift or fee for the executioner,
with various foods, to present or to offer,
resting in the aggregates of wealthy chamber,
you are waiting to die with satisfaction
enjoying the worldly assumed perfection.
THOUGH they’re causes of grief and despair,
you fancy them to be a pleasant affair,
with unseen starting point of life,
in the process of existences that strike,
always you’re in perpetual hunger,
without quenching the thirst of desire.
You’re seeking taste in objects as in reality,
but they’re just a pile of ash in fragility.
Hoisting the banner of self-centred ‘I,’
you live like a villager’s swine in sty.
That pig will become fatter and fatter
for food, its danger is nearer and nearer.
You’re haughty and proud in society,
lofty with status and without anxiety,
you’re happy and pragmatic
just like that villager’s pig.
Screened by custom, pride, society, and glory,
far from seeing any truth or reality,
you have to face the total loss at last,
to mingle with common ash and earth.
THE EMPIRE of ‘I’ is very large,
in three eras from sky to earth.
Fire of death is blazing down ever and anon,
that won’t leave even a tiny atom,
shaking the whole universe
death, the murderer, is at large.
The existences or lives are only fuel.
Appearance and disappearance are perpetual,
death is the only monarch,
in cycles of world after world.
You can’t have the knowledge of reality,
on conditional materiality and mentality;
when will you be able to extinguish the fire
that’s very dangerous, ferocious and dire?
Monday, April 04, 2011
ALL THAT YOU KNOW AND LOVE
WILL TURN TO DUST,
UNCOVER THE CLOUDS AND KNOW YOUR NATURE,
FREE YOUSELF FROM THE BARS OF YOUR OWN TORMENT,
THERE IS NO SOUL THAT CAN RELEASE YOURS,
BECOME WHAT IS THE TRUTH,
WHAT EVER BECOMES DUST WASNT WHAT YOU LOVED,
BUT THE ESSENCES OF WHO WE ALL ARE
UNCOVER THE CLOUDS AND KNOW YOUR NATURE,
FREE YOUSELF FROM THE BARS OF YOUR OWN TORMENT,
THERE IS NO SOUL THAT CAN RELEASE YOURS,
BECOME WHAT IS THE TRUTH,
WHAT EVER BECOMES DUST WASNT WHAT YOU LOVED,
BUT THE ESSENCES OF WHO WE ALL ARE
Thursday, March 03, 2011
tibetan book of the dead the great liberation
The Tibetan Book of the Dead: The Great Liberation (1994)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0227651/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFy8YxU6Qo8&feature=related
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0227651/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFy8YxU6Qo8&feature=related
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Saturday, January 01, 2011
another year
off to a bad start $$$ wise but other than tat everything is goin ok, i constantly need to reasses where i am at, n where i am goin
Sunday, December 12, 2010
extreme ways
Extreme ways are back again
Extreme places I didn't know
I broke everything new again
Everything that I'd owned
I threw it out the window; came along
Extreme ways I know will part the colors of my sea
perfect colored me
Extreme ways they help me
They help me out late at night
Extreme places I had gone
That never seen any light
Dirty basements, dirty noise
Dirty places coming through
Extreme worlds alone
Did you ever like it planned?
I would stand in line for this
There's always room in life for this
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart(x2)
Extreme sounds that told me
They held me down every night
I didn't have much to say
I didn't give about the life
I closed my eyes and closed myself
And closed my world and never opened up to anything
That could get me at all
I had to close down everything
I had to close down my mind
Too many things could cut me
Too much could make me blind
I've seen so much in so many places
So many heartaches, so many faces
So many dirty things
You couldn't even believe
I would stand in line for this
It's always good in life for this
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart(x20
Oh Baby, oh baby
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Like it always does, always does
Extreme places I didn't know
I broke everything new again
Everything that I'd owned
I threw it out the window; came along
Extreme ways I know will part the colors of my sea
perfect colored me
Extreme ways they help me
They help me out late at night
Extreme places I had gone
That never seen any light
Dirty basements, dirty noise
Dirty places coming through
Extreme worlds alone
Did you ever like it planned?
I would stand in line for this
There's always room in life for this
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart(x2)
Extreme sounds that told me
They held me down every night
I didn't have much to say
I didn't give about the life
I closed my eyes and closed myself
And closed my world and never opened up to anything
That could get me at all
I had to close down everything
I had to close down my mind
Too many things could cut me
Too much could make me blind
I've seen so much in so many places
So many heartaches, so many faces
So many dirty things
You couldn't even believe
I would stand in line for this
It's always good in life for this
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart(x20
Oh Baby, oh baby
Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart Oh baby, oh baby
Then it fell apart, it fell apart
Oh baby, oh baby
Like it always does, always does
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Friday, October 08, 2010
y r there so many wars
if i could only see now what i had to see years ago, the whole purpose is to be, n to reach tat we need other people, its impossible to be done alone, and suffering is only ur own condition, for other go throu much worse, awareness is the secret mindfulness the game
Friday, September 24, 2010
2
To Many people blame others for their own emotions,
Yet your emotions come from with in,
A choice you have made.
Yet your emotions come from with in,
A choice you have made.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
blame
Blame, Blame, Blame,
What a shame, shame, shame,
Always looking out,
When the answer has alwaysbeen with IN
What a shame, shame, shame,
Always looking out,
When the answer has alwaysbeen with IN
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
EDUCATION???
WHat does this mean to u, originally i thought it was an easy answer, until i reason theres more than one idea, and each country and culture probably have a different course they wish their children to take.
So what does education mean to u??
So what does education mean to u??
Sunday, June 20, 2010
What to do wen know one knows???
Wen u come to those times in life where there is no easy answer, and the only way to get an answer is to do it and then look back, but then that doesnt help u move forward does it, what to do wen there is no way of knowing what to do????
Sunday, May 09, 2010
when will this human race awaken?? the time is NOW
as each day passes, the heat traps me in place like a blanket, as a mist of my own sweat surrounds, water pools under my arms, sometimes i wish i could teleport to another place where its less than 40C everyday, just for an hour, it effects everything from my attitude to my ability to complete anything, it wears me down untill im stripped bare n my mind is open, not because of the peace, but because of the suffering i see, when will this human race awaken, when will it see the suffering it endures n creates each day, throu their own ignorant n limited level of neural activity, they create worlds that dont exists, pain as an excuse, this race is well overdue, consciousness has not evovled in the masses, it has run its course, n yet it is open to being born again, if only there was a global catastrophe, it might b able to resuscitate, basic but forgotten emotions, change the tracks, this race is running, for what r we with out each other, what r we wen we die n have nothin but pain n fear, y even bother if u care about is a happiness u dont even believe urself, we r killin ourselves mentally and physically but telling eachother its relaxing, thousands r empty inside because they found out the truth, but were to afraid to take it to the next step, unable to comprehend basic universal rules, its so sad to c we have come so far, to hit this brickwall, i would find it depressing if it werent for those basic laws, what will it take to awaken the human spirit, the ture esssence of wat we r, compassion, honesty, empathy, and a love for each other not based upon anything physical but on the energy we feel inside us, n inside each other, a light in us all that has been soiled by false promises and delusions
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Chant of Metta Text
Aham avero homi
May I be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjho homi
May I be free from mental suffering
anigha homi
May I be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharami
May I take care of myself happily
Mama matapitu
May my parents
acariya ca natimitta ca
teacher relatives and friends
sabrahma - carino ca
fellow Dhamma farers
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily
Imasmim arame sabbe yogino
May all meditators in this compound
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily
Imasmim arame sabbe bhikkhu
May all monks in this compound
samanera ca
novice monks
upasaka - upasikaya ca
laymen and laywomen disciples
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily
Amhakam catupaccaya - dayaka
May our donors of the four supports: clothing, food, medicine and lodging
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily
Amhakam arakkha devata
May our guardian devas
Ismasmim vihare
in this monastery
Ismasmim avase
in this dwelling
Ismasmim arame
in this compound
arakkha devata
May the guardian devas
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily
Sabbe satta
May all beings
sabbe pana
all breathing things
sabbe bhutta
all creatures
sabbe puggala
all individuals (all beings)
sabbe attabhava - pariyapanna
all personalities (all beings with mind and body)
sabbe itthoyo
may all females
sabbe purisa
all males
sabbe ariya
all noble ones (saints)
sabbe anariya
all worldlings (those yet to attain sainthood)
sabbe deva
all devas (deities)
sabbe manussa
all humans
sabbe vinipatika
all those in the four woeful planes
avera hontu
be free from enmity and dangers
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily
Dukkha muccantu
May all being be free from suffering
Yattha-laddha-sampattito mavigacchantu
May whatever they have gained not be lost
Kammassaka
All beings are owners of their own Kamma
Purathimaya disaya
in the eastern direction
pacchimaya disaya
in the western direction
uttara disaya
in the northern direction
dakkhinaya disaya
in the southern direction
purathimaya anudisaya
in the southeast direction
pacchimaya anudisaya
in the northwest direction
uttara anudisaya
in the northeast direction
dakkhinaya anudisaya
in the southwest direction
hetthimaya disaya
in the direction below
uparimaya disaya
in the direction above
Sabbe satta
May all beings
sabbe pana
all breathing things
sabbe bhutta
all creatures
sabbe puggala
all individuals (all beings)
sabbe attabhava - pariyapanna
all personalities (all beings with mind and body)
sabbe itthoyo
may all females
sabbe purisa
all males
sabbe ariya
all noble ones (saints)
sabbe anariya
(those yet to attain sainthood)
sabbe deva
all devas (deities)
sabbe manussa
all humans
sabbe vinipatika
all those in the 4 woeful planes
avera hontu
be free from enmity and dangers
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily
Dukkha muccantu
May all beings be free from suffering
Yattha-laddha-sampattito mavigacchantu
May whatever they have gained not be lost
Kammassaka
All beings are owners of their own kamma
Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence
adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane
samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe
ye satta pathavicara
whatever beings that move on earth
abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity
nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger
Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence
adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane
samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe
ye satta udakecara
whatever beings that move on water
abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity
nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger
Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence
adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane
samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe
ye satta akasecara
whatever beings that move in air
abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity
nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger.
May I be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjho homi
May I be free from mental suffering
anigha homi
May I be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharami
May I take care of myself happily
Mama matapitu
May my parents
acariya ca natimitta ca
teacher relatives and friends
sabrahma - carino ca
fellow Dhamma farers
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily
Imasmim arame sabbe yogino
May all meditators in this compound
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily
Imasmim arame sabbe bhikkhu
May all monks in this compound
samanera ca
novice monks
upasaka - upasikaya ca
laymen and laywomen disciples
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily
Amhakam catupaccaya - dayaka
May our donors of the four supports: clothing, food, medicine and lodging
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
May they take care of themselves happily
Amhakam arakkha devata
May our guardian devas
Ismasmim vihare
in this monastery
Ismasmim avase
in this dwelling
Ismasmim arame
in this compound
arakkha devata
May the guardian devas
avera hontu
be free from enmity and danger
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily
Sabbe satta
May all beings
sabbe pana
all breathing things
sabbe bhutta
all creatures
sabbe puggala
all individuals (all beings)
sabbe attabhava - pariyapanna
all personalities (all beings with mind and body)
sabbe itthoyo
may all females
sabbe purisa
all males
sabbe ariya
all noble ones (saints)
sabbe anariya
all worldlings (those yet to attain sainthood)
sabbe deva
all devas (deities)
sabbe manussa
all humans
sabbe vinipatika
all those in the four woeful planes
avera hontu
be free from enmity and dangers
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily
Dukkha muccantu
May all being be free from suffering
Yattha-laddha-sampattito mavigacchantu
May whatever they have gained not be lost
Kammassaka
All beings are owners of their own Kamma
Purathimaya disaya
in the eastern direction
pacchimaya disaya
in the western direction
uttara disaya
in the northern direction
dakkhinaya disaya
in the southern direction
purathimaya anudisaya
in the southeast direction
pacchimaya anudisaya
in the northwest direction
uttara anudisaya
in the northeast direction
dakkhinaya anudisaya
in the southwest direction
hetthimaya disaya
in the direction below
uparimaya disaya
in the direction above
Sabbe satta
May all beings
sabbe pana
all breathing things
sabbe bhutta
all creatures
sabbe puggala
all individuals (all beings)
sabbe attabhava - pariyapanna
all personalities (all beings with mind and body)
sabbe itthoyo
may all females
sabbe purisa
all males
sabbe ariya
all noble ones (saints)
sabbe anariya
(those yet to attain sainthood)
sabbe deva
all devas (deities)
sabbe manussa
all humans
sabbe vinipatika
all those in the 4 woeful planes
avera hontu
be free from enmity and dangers
abyapajjha hontu
be free from mental suffering
anigha hontu
be free from physical suffering
sukhi - attanam pariharantu
may they take care of themselves happily
Dukkha muccantu
May all beings be free from suffering
Yattha-laddha-sampattito mavigacchantu
May whatever they have gained not be lost
Kammassaka
All beings are owners of their own kamma
Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence
adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane
samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe
ye satta pathavicara
whatever beings that move on earth
abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity
nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger
Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence
adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane
samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe
ye satta udakecara
whatever beings that move on water
abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity
nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger
Uddham yava bhavagga ca
As far as the highest plane of existence
adho yava aviccito
to as far down as the lowest plane
samanta cakkavalesu
in the entire universe
ye satta akasecara
whatever beings that move in air
abyapajjha nivera ca
may they are free of mental suffering and enmity
nidukkha ca nupaddava
and from physical suffering and danger.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Thaksin, where are you?
Published: 25/04/2010 at 04:27 AM
Online news: Opinion
I have visited the red shirts in Ratchaprasong more times than I have seen my mum this past two weeks - and every time I wonder: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
The most recent time was when I took an Australian TV crew for the Sunday Night show starring Ian ``Molly'' Meldrum. Walking around Ratchaprasong with a flamboyant Aussie pop icon clad in his trademark black outfit and a Stetson hat was one thing. Seeing a lady red shirt screaming ``Molly! Molly! I watched your show!'' was something else. But all that is beside the point.
On Feb 26, the court decided against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the asset seizure case. From Feb 27 on, there have been 28 deaths and about 1,000 people injured.
There have been no less than 45 bombings and a number of shootings. And I wonder: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
There have been billions of baht in economic damage - though we should be concerned less for the big businesses or fancy hotels, but more for the common everyday people who can't work and can't provide for their families.
And I wonder: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
At the beginning of the week, security forces were able to stop the red shirts from entering Silom Road.
Since then the government's plan was to stop food and water supplies from getting to the red shirts, get the women and children out of the rally site, prevent more red shirts from entering Ratchaprasong and identify where war weapons - such as M16s and grenade launchers - are stored (that is if we are to believe military sources that there are war weapons in Ratchaprasong).
But none of the above have been successful.
Fingers are being pointed at elements within the police and ``watermelon'' soldiers. For those who are not familiar with the term, watermelon soldiers are those who wear the green camouflage on the outside, but on the inside are red sympathisers.
With abundant food and supplies, women and children deeply entrenched and (supposedly) weapons of all kinds, plus red shirt sympathisers from across the battle lines, any attempt to assault the red-occupied territory of Ratchaprasong could result in a lot of blood shed.
Do the decision makers have the stomach for it? Even if they do, do the front-line security forces have the stomach for it? This is where we stand: Stalemate, procrastination, paralysis. And I still wonder: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
The question has come to this: In this supposed fight for democracy, are we simply ending up with anarchy?
I have visited the red shirts in Ratchaprasong more times than I have seen my mum in the past two weeks and one thing I can tell you is: We have another state in and of itself right in the middle of Bangkok's city centre.
This state has its own government, its own laws and its own police forces - living by a set of rules and conditions different from the rest of the country.
We might as well just call this new state ``The Red Republic under the Financial Benevolence of Thaksin the Generous''.
Citizens of Thailand passing through ``The Red Republic under the Financial Benevolence of Thaksin the Generous'' have to go through border checkpoints, pass through fortified barricades and tremble nervously under the stare of stern-looking dudes clad in black with red scarfs.
Not to mention, citizens of ``The Red Republic under the Financial Benevolence of Thaksin the Generous'' have already clashed with Bangkokians on a few occasions.
Grenades have exploded, killing one person on Silom.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am no fan of Thaksin Shinawatra or Abhisit Vejjajiva, and no matter which side you are on, at least I hope we can agree that the scenario above is unacceptable - the portrait of a nation torn apart, the picture of anarchy.
As prime minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, the burden is on the shoulders of Abhisit Vejjajiva to put an end to this.
Either take care of the situation (and dear readers, you may interpret "take care" however you like), or give in to the UDD's demands, or step down and let a coalition partner take over, see what it can do.
But that's not entirely fair for the prime minister - after all, not only I, but the entire nation still wonders where his opposite number is: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
The former prime minister needs to return to Thailand and lead ``The Red Republic under the Financial Benevolence of Thaksin the Generous'' in negotiations with the leader of the Kingdom of Thailand.
Somebody has to be accountable and responsible for all this. That somebody is the leaders.
That somebody is Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. That somebody is Thaksin Shinawatra.
For those who still insist that the red movement isn't about Thaksin, please get out of your air-conditioned room and go talk to the red shirts and read their banners.
PM Abhisit and Thaksin are the two who matter - "The Kingdom of the Mai-pen-rai Status Quo" and "The Red Republic Under the Financial Benevolent of Thaksin the Generous" need to work this out.
The problem is, I know where Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is, but I am still wondering where Thaksin Shinawatra is?
Thaksin Shinawatra, the people of Thailand - no matter what colour shirt we wear - need you here to help us through this.
Please stop hiding. Be a man and step up.
Online news: Opinion
I have visited the red shirts in Ratchaprasong more times than I have seen my mum this past two weeks - and every time I wonder: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
The most recent time was when I took an Australian TV crew for the Sunday Night show starring Ian ``Molly'' Meldrum. Walking around Ratchaprasong with a flamboyant Aussie pop icon clad in his trademark black outfit and a Stetson hat was one thing. Seeing a lady red shirt screaming ``Molly! Molly! I watched your show!'' was something else. But all that is beside the point.
On Feb 26, the court decided against former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the asset seizure case. From Feb 27 on, there have been 28 deaths and about 1,000 people injured.
There have been no less than 45 bombings and a number of shootings. And I wonder: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
There have been billions of baht in economic damage - though we should be concerned less for the big businesses or fancy hotels, but more for the common everyday people who can't work and can't provide for their families.
And I wonder: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
At the beginning of the week, security forces were able to stop the red shirts from entering Silom Road.
Since then the government's plan was to stop food and water supplies from getting to the red shirts, get the women and children out of the rally site, prevent more red shirts from entering Ratchaprasong and identify where war weapons - such as M16s and grenade launchers - are stored (that is if we are to believe military sources that there are war weapons in Ratchaprasong).
But none of the above have been successful.
Fingers are being pointed at elements within the police and ``watermelon'' soldiers. For those who are not familiar with the term, watermelon soldiers are those who wear the green camouflage on the outside, but on the inside are red sympathisers.
With abundant food and supplies, women and children deeply entrenched and (supposedly) weapons of all kinds, plus red shirt sympathisers from across the battle lines, any attempt to assault the red-occupied territory of Ratchaprasong could result in a lot of blood shed.
Do the decision makers have the stomach for it? Even if they do, do the front-line security forces have the stomach for it? This is where we stand: Stalemate, procrastination, paralysis. And I still wonder: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
The question has come to this: In this supposed fight for democracy, are we simply ending up with anarchy?
I have visited the red shirts in Ratchaprasong more times than I have seen my mum in the past two weeks and one thing I can tell you is: We have another state in and of itself right in the middle of Bangkok's city centre.
This state has its own government, its own laws and its own police forces - living by a set of rules and conditions different from the rest of the country.
We might as well just call this new state ``The Red Republic under the Financial Benevolence of Thaksin the Generous''.
Citizens of Thailand passing through ``The Red Republic under the Financial Benevolence of Thaksin the Generous'' have to go through border checkpoints, pass through fortified barricades and tremble nervously under the stare of stern-looking dudes clad in black with red scarfs.
Not to mention, citizens of ``The Red Republic under the Financial Benevolence of Thaksin the Generous'' have already clashed with Bangkokians on a few occasions.
Grenades have exploded, killing one person on Silom.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am no fan of Thaksin Shinawatra or Abhisit Vejjajiva, and no matter which side you are on, at least I hope we can agree that the scenario above is unacceptable - the portrait of a nation torn apart, the picture of anarchy.
As prime minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, the burden is on the shoulders of Abhisit Vejjajiva to put an end to this.
Either take care of the situation (and dear readers, you may interpret "take care" however you like), or give in to the UDD's demands, or step down and let a coalition partner take over, see what it can do.
But that's not entirely fair for the prime minister - after all, not only I, but the entire nation still wonders where his opposite number is: Where is Thaksin Shinawatra?
The former prime minister needs to return to Thailand and lead ``The Red Republic under the Financial Benevolence of Thaksin the Generous'' in negotiations with the leader of the Kingdom of Thailand.
Somebody has to be accountable and responsible for all this. That somebody is the leaders.
That somebody is Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. That somebody is Thaksin Shinawatra.
For those who still insist that the red movement isn't about Thaksin, please get out of your air-conditioned room and go talk to the red shirts and read their banners.
PM Abhisit and Thaksin are the two who matter - "The Kingdom of the Mai-pen-rai Status Quo" and "The Red Republic Under the Financial Benevolent of Thaksin the Generous" need to work this out.
The problem is, I know where Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is, but I am still wondering where Thaksin Shinawatra is?
Thaksin Shinawatra, the people of Thailand - no matter what colour shirt we wear - need you here to help us through this.
Please stop hiding. Be a man and step up.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Questions and Answers
Questions and Answers by Thich Nhat Hanh
Going Back to Our Religious Roots
Q:Thay, what do you mean when you say to go back to our religious roots?How can we do that and continue to study and practice Buddhism, which is so practical and helpful?
A: I think we have to look into our religious roots, because sometimes we are not capable of identifying our spiritual roots. If you are a Buddhist, then you know that Buddha is a root, but you are aware that before the Buddha there was already something -- the Buddha was somebody who also had roots. So your roots did not begin with the Buddha. To inquire about the Buddha and the ancestors of the Buddha is important.
When you are a Christian,of course Jesus Christ is your spiritual root, but before Christianity there were other things. Therefore it is interesting and even exciting to inquire about our roots. Our roots can be very old, and our roots can also be new. We inherit things like democracy and freedom. The people who made democracy and freedom possible for us to enjoy are our roots also, so to go back and search for our roots is a very joyful,very important thing. Of course, we will encounter negative aspects and elements, but that does not prevent us going back to our own source.Our roots are also the roots of many people around us. If we can go back to our roots and try to discover the real values, the jewels contained in that tradition, we will be able to benefit many people who have come from these roots. This morning a young person asked me what should she do if she is in love with a young man who belongs to another religious tradition, since she doesn't want to betray her roots. She is a Buddhist, and the other family might require that she abandon her Buddhism to become a Catholic.
I would like to tell you a story.Thirty five years ago I had a student who fell in love with a young man who was Catholic, and the family of that young man required that the young lady abandon the practice of Buddhism in order to be baptized as a Catholic. That was the basic condition for the marriage, and she suffered very much. Her family was also opposed to that. She cried and cried, and one day she came to me. I said that Buddhism is not there to make you unhappy. Buddhism is not an obstacle, so I think in the name of the Buddha I can tell you that you can become a Catholic and marry him, but I would like to make a recommendation. You have received The Five Mindfulness Trainings; you should continue to look on them as the guidelines of your life. You don't have to be called a Buddhist; you only have to be a true Buddhist within yourself. Live accordingly and practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings, and that would make me happy enough. She was so joyful that she was allowed to marry the person she loved. But she did not sleep during that night, and the next morning she came very early, and she said, "Thay, a tradition that is so embracing, so tolerant, so open, if I abandon it and turn my back to it, I am not a person of value. A tradition that is so strict, that has no tolerance, that is not able to understand, how could I formally identify myself with it?" So she just refused to get married to that person. I thought that I would help her get married to that young man,but I caused the opposite to happen. Today, thirty five years later, she is here somewhere in this Sangha.
When I was in Korea a few years ago, I participated in the first dialogue between Buddhists and Christians, and I said that many young people have suffered due to being caught in that kind of situation. So I proposed that we should be able to allow Buddhists and Christians to marry each other, with the condition that the young man would learn and also practice the tradition of the young woman, and the young woman would also learn and practice the tradition of the young man. Instead of having one root,you have two roots. Why not? If you love mangoes, you are free to continue to eat mangoes, but no one forbids you to eat pineapples or oranges. Your favorite fruit is the mango, yes, but you don't betray your mango when you eat pineapple. I think it's too narrow-minded, even stupid, to enjoy only mango, when there are so many different fruits around in the world. Spiritual traditions are like spiritual fruits,and you have the right to enjoy them. It is possible to enjoy two traditions, to take the best of two traditions and live with that. If you like to eat Italian food, you can still enjoy French and Chinese cooking. You cannot say, "I have to be faithful to my Italian cooking", that's too funny.
This year I would like to publish another book,as a continuation of my book Living Buddha, Living Christ. I would like to publish the book with the title: Buddha and Jesus as Brothers. In fact, they could have taken each other's hands and practiced walking meditation, so why not the two of you, one as a Buddhist and one as a Christian? You are the continuation of the Buddha, and you are the continuation of Jesus Christ. That is only beautiful, if you can share your wisdom, your insights, and you can learn from each other and enrich yourselves. That is what I envision for the future, that we remove the barriers between different spiritual traditions, and we behave as people do in the circle of psychotherapists. They enjoy and learn from all other traditions, and I think that each tradition of psychotherapy has something to offer. It's too narrow if we only want to be faithful to one school of psychotherapy.
You are welcome to continue your practice of Buddhist meditation, because you find it practical and helpful, transforming and healing. But you can think of other people who have come from the same tradition as you, and who have not encountered the practice. You can do it by sharing your Buddhist practice, and also proposing to them that you go back to your spiritual roots, and you might discover things that you have not seen. You might begin anew, so that your tradition will become very refreshing,something that can provide true answers to the questions of the new generations, and that will benefit many people. When I say that you have to go back to your roots, that does not mean that you have to abandon the Buddhist practice that you enjoy now. But the Buddhist practice will help you to understand more deeply, so that your work of transformation and renewing of your tradition will be possible; and especially so that your heart will open to embrace the people who do not seem to be open and understanding enough when they try to transmit their tradition and values to the new generations of people.
Going Back to Our Religious Roots
Q:Thay, what do you mean when you say to go back to our religious roots?How can we do that and continue to study and practice Buddhism, which is so practical and helpful?
A: I think we have to look into our religious roots, because sometimes we are not capable of identifying our spiritual roots. If you are a Buddhist, then you know that Buddha is a root, but you are aware that before the Buddha there was already something -- the Buddha was somebody who also had roots. So your roots did not begin with the Buddha. To inquire about the Buddha and the ancestors of the Buddha is important.
When you are a Christian,of course Jesus Christ is your spiritual root, but before Christianity there were other things. Therefore it is interesting and even exciting to inquire about our roots. Our roots can be very old, and our roots can also be new. We inherit things like democracy and freedom. The people who made democracy and freedom possible for us to enjoy are our roots also, so to go back and search for our roots is a very joyful,very important thing. Of course, we will encounter negative aspects and elements, but that does not prevent us going back to our own source.Our roots are also the roots of many people around us. If we can go back to our roots and try to discover the real values, the jewels contained in that tradition, we will be able to benefit many people who have come from these roots. This morning a young person asked me what should she do if she is in love with a young man who belongs to another religious tradition, since she doesn't want to betray her roots. She is a Buddhist, and the other family might require that she abandon her Buddhism to become a Catholic.
I would like to tell you a story.Thirty five years ago I had a student who fell in love with a young man who was Catholic, and the family of that young man required that the young lady abandon the practice of Buddhism in order to be baptized as a Catholic. That was the basic condition for the marriage, and she suffered very much. Her family was also opposed to that. She cried and cried, and one day she came to me. I said that Buddhism is not there to make you unhappy. Buddhism is not an obstacle, so I think in the name of the Buddha I can tell you that you can become a Catholic and marry him, but I would like to make a recommendation. You have received The Five Mindfulness Trainings; you should continue to look on them as the guidelines of your life. You don't have to be called a Buddhist; you only have to be a true Buddhist within yourself. Live accordingly and practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings, and that would make me happy enough. She was so joyful that she was allowed to marry the person she loved. But she did not sleep during that night, and the next morning she came very early, and she said, "Thay, a tradition that is so embracing, so tolerant, so open, if I abandon it and turn my back to it, I am not a person of value. A tradition that is so strict, that has no tolerance, that is not able to understand, how could I formally identify myself with it?" So she just refused to get married to that person. I thought that I would help her get married to that young man,but I caused the opposite to happen. Today, thirty five years later, she is here somewhere in this Sangha.
When I was in Korea a few years ago, I participated in the first dialogue between Buddhists and Christians, and I said that many young people have suffered due to being caught in that kind of situation. So I proposed that we should be able to allow Buddhists and Christians to marry each other, with the condition that the young man would learn and also practice the tradition of the young woman, and the young woman would also learn and practice the tradition of the young man. Instead of having one root,you have two roots. Why not? If you love mangoes, you are free to continue to eat mangoes, but no one forbids you to eat pineapples or oranges. Your favorite fruit is the mango, yes, but you don't betray your mango when you eat pineapple. I think it's too narrow-minded, even stupid, to enjoy only mango, when there are so many different fruits around in the world. Spiritual traditions are like spiritual fruits,and you have the right to enjoy them. It is possible to enjoy two traditions, to take the best of two traditions and live with that. If you like to eat Italian food, you can still enjoy French and Chinese cooking. You cannot say, "I have to be faithful to my Italian cooking", that's too funny.
This year I would like to publish another book,as a continuation of my book Living Buddha, Living Christ. I would like to publish the book with the title: Buddha and Jesus as Brothers. In fact, they could have taken each other's hands and practiced walking meditation, so why not the two of you, one as a Buddhist and one as a Christian? You are the continuation of the Buddha, and you are the continuation of Jesus Christ. That is only beautiful, if you can share your wisdom, your insights, and you can learn from each other and enrich yourselves. That is what I envision for the future, that we remove the barriers between different spiritual traditions, and we behave as people do in the circle of psychotherapists. They enjoy and learn from all other traditions, and I think that each tradition of psychotherapy has something to offer. It's too narrow if we only want to be faithful to one school of psychotherapy.
You are welcome to continue your practice of Buddhist meditation, because you find it practical and helpful, transforming and healing. But you can think of other people who have come from the same tradition as you, and who have not encountered the practice. You can do it by sharing your Buddhist practice, and also proposing to them that you go back to your spiritual roots, and you might discover things that you have not seen. You might begin anew, so that your tradition will become very refreshing,something that can provide true answers to the questions of the new generations, and that will benefit many people. When I say that you have to go back to your roots, that does not mean that you have to abandon the Buddhist practice that you enjoy now. But the Buddhist practice will help you to understand more deeply, so that your work of transformation and renewing of your tradition will be possible; and especially so that your heart will open to embrace the people who do not seem to be open and understanding enough when they try to transmit their tradition and values to the new generations of people.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The Sleeping Buddha
Our visit to Old Bangkok should start and end at Wat Phra Chetuphon, or Temple of the Reclining Buddha. It is here that the cycle begins and ends, only to begin and end again. The Thai Buddhists prefer to call this temple simply as Wat Pho. Most westerners know the Sleeping Buddha as the Reclining Buddha.
We may approach the Sleeping Buddha in two ways. Sleeping is a state of serenity and an attainment of spiritual emancipation. Besides, one also has to sleep first in order to wake up to become the Awakened One, like the Buddha.
The Sleeping Buddha thus represents equanimity or Upekkha, which is the final virtue of the Four Brahmaviharas. With Upekkha, we learn to accept gain and loss, praise and blame and success and failure with detachment. Detachment is a neutral state of the mind, which is not holding onto anything, big or small, significant or trivial.
We sleep in order to prepare for the awakening.
A state of absolute tranquility
After sitting, standing and walking all day, we have to sleep. Sleeping allows us to develop a tranquil state of mind. These four postures of Buddha image encompass our daily activity, which should all be governed by mindfulness. To be mindful is to become the master of oneself. To pay homage to the Sleeping Buddha at Wat Pho is to realise the virtue of Upekkha. What is more sublime or divine than to realise with our direct experience all the virtues of Metta, Karuna, Mudita and Upekkha as represented by the Sitting Buddha, the Standing Budda, the Walking Buddha and the Sleeping Buddha?
Inside the chapel, the Sleeping Buddha stretches his long golden body to 46 metres in length and 15 metres in height. The craftsmanship of this Buddha image reflects the height of artistic excellence of the Rattanakosin period. The face turns northward to the Grand Palace, which locates across the Thai Wang Street. At Wat Pho, you arrived at one of the inner-most areas of the Bangkok Heaven. The image of the Sleeping Buddha was made of brick and cement and decorated with gold leaves and gum as adhesive.
King Nangklao commissioned the construction of the Sleeping Buddha at Wat Pho. Then there was not any significant Buddha image in a sleeping posture in Bangkok. The Sleeping Buddha would be created to culminate his reign of nation building when Siam began to enjoy peace and prosperity. During that time, the Burmese were tied up to their domestic turmoil. At first, the Sleeping Buddha was built in the open air within Wat Pho's compound before the chapel was constructed to cover the whole statue.
Wat Pho, Siam's first open university.
You are immediately awe-struck by the immense size of the Sleeping Buddha. So spectacular of the golden sight of the Reclining Buddha that your heart almost stops beating once you set your foot inside the chapel. You suddenly feel a sense of absolute serenity. The air inside the chapel is calm. In the Sleeping Buddha, you can witness once again a blending of the Thai art and the Buddhist ideal. The face of the Buddha image shows a serene state, fulfilled and detached from any worldly concerns.
The Reclining Buddha images are normally built with a large size. This can be traced back to a story of the life of the Buddha. The giant Asurindarahu would like to see the Buddha but hesitated to bow before him. While still lying down, the Buddha transformed himself to a larger size than the giant. He then proceeded to show the giants the realm of Heaven with heavenly figures all larger than the giant. After all this, Asurindarahu was subdued. And he paid due respect to the Buddha and left, hence the creation of posture of the Reclining Buddha image.
In the Sukhothai period, the Buddha image postures of sitting, standing, walking and sleeping were created with an aura of equanimity, perfection and holiness. They also served to highlight the height of Buddhism and the Golden Age of Suvarnabhumi. Sukhothai embraced Buddhism from Sri Lanka and also its arts. It also took in the artistic influence from the Khmer and Mon civilisations. The Buddha images from the ancient Sukhothai are most beautiful, as judged by the flames on top of the hair, the curled hair, the oval-shaped faces, the curved eyebrows, the downward gazes and gentle smiles, the broad shoulders and the small waists. The Buddha images of Sukhothai represent an ideal perception of a superman.
The Buddha image at Wat Pho, called Phra Phutthasaiyat, sleeps on his right side, similar to the way lions sleep. According to the Pali context, there are four postures of sleeping. If you lay down on your left side to sleep, this posture reflects your obsession with sexual and other worldly desires. If you sleep normally with your whole back on the bed and your face up, you'll sleep like a peta, or a ghost, which dwells in the realm of Hell. This posture reflects your state of anxiety, with your unending desire for material wealth and assets. Your desires are never fulfilled. If you sleep on your right side, you sleep like a lion. This is the healthiest posture as you sleep with mindfulness. A lion normally sleeps in this posture with its right foot overlapping with the left foot. When it wakes up, it can look into the front or turn around to look at the back to watch out for any danger. Whenever the Buddha went to sleep, he would mediate and enter into the fourth level of the trance state. His body would sleep but his mind was always awake, like a candle that always burns.
The best spot to watch the Reclining Buddha is at the image's feet. There you can see the image's body stretching out in full length, with the flame of the hair pointing to the roof. The footprints of the Reclining Buddha reflect many Buddhist symbols and riddles. They are adorned with 108 mother-of-pearl inlaid auspicious signs. The Lord's body had the 32 marks of a superman, and was endowed with the eighty subsidiary characteristics.
It is most likely that the Reclining Buddha does not signify a normal sleeping posture but represents the Buddha's attaining nirvana. The story of the last day of the Buddha is very touching. When the Buddha, with his followers, arrived at the Kusinara, his final destination, he told the venerable Ananda, his assistant, to set up a bed for him. He laid down with his head pointing to the east. Then he laid down like a lion with full conscience, and mindful of his consciousness. The Buddha did not want to wake up again. He would be entering into the realm of nirvana.
Then the Buddha uttered his final words to his followers. He said: "Everything comes to an end, though it may last for an aeon. The hour of parting is bound to come in the end. Now I have done what I could do, both for myself and for others. To stay here would from now on be without any purpose. I have disciplined, in heaven and on earth, all those whom I have disciplined, and I have set them in the stream. Hereafter, this my Dharma, O monks, shall abide for generations and generations among living beings. Therefore, recognise the true nature of the living world, and do not be anxious; for separation cannot possibly be avoided. Recognise that all that lives is subject to this law; and strive from today-onwards that it shall be thus no more! When the light of gnosis has dispelled the darkness of ignorance, when all existence has been seen as without substance, peace ensures when life draws to an end, which seems to cure a long sickness at last. Everything, whether stationary or movable, is bound to perish in the end. Be ye therefore mindfull and vigilant! The time for my entry into Nirvana has now arrived! These are my last words!" (Edward Conze's Buddhist Scriptures: Page 62-63).
In his last words to the community of monks, the Buddha emphasised mindfulness as his ultimate teaching before parting forever into the realm of absolute tranquillity. The Buddhist Scriptures from the Pali Nikayas (see Rupert Gethin," Saying of the Buddha, Oxford World's Classics) describes the process of the Buddha's arriving at parinirvana quite dramatically in transic term. After his last words, "the Blessed One entered the first absorption (trance). Emerging from that, he entered the second absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the third absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the fourth absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of infinity of space. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of infinity of consciousness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of nothingness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of neither consciousness or unconsciousness. Emerging from that, he entered the cessation of conception and feeling."
At that point, Phra Ananda announced to the community of monks that the Buddha had attained the final nirvana.
But the Buddha reversed the process of his trance state again. "Then emerging from the cessation of conception and feeling, the Blessed One entered the sphere of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of nothingness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of infinity of consciousness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of infinity of space. Emerging from that, he entered the fourth absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the third absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the second absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the first absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the second absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the third absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the fourth absorption. Emerging from the fourth absorption, the Blessed One directly attained the final nibbana (nirvana)."
When the Buddha, through meditation, achieved enlightenment at the age of 35, he could recollected his previous lives and his future lives. He then arrived at the ultimate understanding about the impermanence of this transient world, which formed the basis of his teaching of the Fourth Noble Truths. During his meditation, he arrived at the first level of trance state or absorption and discovered the first truth as consisting of suffering. At the second level of his trance state, the Buddha realised attachment as the origin of suffering, followed by the attainable cessation of suffering in the third level of trance state, and the path to the cessation of suffering in the fourth level of the trance state. The path to the cession of the suffering is exemplified in the Eightfold Path (right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfullness and right concentration.) Right view and right intention form the basis of our wisdom, while right speech, right action and right livelihood represent our good conduct and right effort, right mindfullness and right concentration are part of our concentration. Therein lies in the unity of the Buddhist teachings.
Thereupon the Buddha had no wish to continue to go through the cycle of birth and death again. But before entering nirvana, he would preach his Dharma to the fellow human beings so that they, like him, might achieve the final salvation.
Wat Pho is the second most important temple after the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is situated within the compound of the Grand Palace. It was an ancient temple built during the Ayutthaya period. King Yodfa had the temple renovated. Later on, Wat Pho would further assume a more important role when it became Siam's first open university, where the Thais could learn different kinds of discipline from medicine, traditional massage, astrology, Buddhism, literacy to arts.
As King Yodfa had moved more than 1,248 Buddha images from all over the country to the new capital for preservation. Hundreds of these Buddha images, which witnessed the glory past of Suvarnabhumi, were placed inside Wat Pho. It is at Wat Pho that much of the legacy of old Suvarnabhumi has been well protected and preserved.
Apart from the Reclining Buddha, the Four Great Pagodas of the four kings of the Rattanakosin period also bear witness to the grandeur of Old Bangkok. King Yodfa had the Phra Maha Chedi Srisanpetchadayarn built to install a standing Buddha image of Phra Srisanpetch. This Buddha image, which stands 16 metres, with a face of two metres in length and 1.5 metre in width. The Buddha image's breast is 5.5 metres in width. Cast more than 500 years ago, Phra Srisanpetch was almost burnt to the ground by the Burmese when they ransacked Ayutthaya in 1767. The Buddha image was established inside Wat Phra Srisanpet in Ayutthaya.
The Four Great Pagodas of the Four Reigns of the
Rattanakosin Period.
The Burmese pealed off some 3.432 metric tonnes of gold from Phra Srisanpet, leaving the Buddha image with a battered structure. King Yodfa would like this Buddha image to be re-cast, but the senior monks voiced their objection because they did not want to have the Buddha image burnt again. It would be quite inauspicious to do so. The King concurred and had Phra Srisanpetch, together with the Buddha's holy teeth, installed inside a new pagoda at Wat Pho instead.
King Nangklao, the grandson of King Yodfa, had two pagodas erected beside the Srisanpetchadayarn pagoda. The pagoda, adorned with dark blue tiles on the right side of the founder's pagoda, was dedicated to his father King Lertla, while the pagoda decorated with yeallow glazed tiles was for the Third Reign himself. In the back of three pagoda stands Phra Chedi Sri Suriyothai, built by King Mongkut and modelled after the great pagoda at Suan Luang Sobsawan Temple in Ayutthaya. Having erected this pagoda, King Mongkut suggested that he and his three predecessors all saw each other. But he added: "In the future, all kings should not follow us in erecting a pagoda for each reign in the Chetuphon Temple."
The Four Great Pagodas of King Yodfa, King Lertla, King Nangklao and King Mongkut mark the early period of Old Bangkok, which forms an unbroken line of continuity from the ancient Suvarnabhumi. Paying homage to the Four Great Pagodas amounts to honouring and seeking blessing from the founding fathers of Bangkok, without whom Suvarnabhumi would not have been restored or would have been lost.
The cycle completes with your paying homage to the Sitting Buddha at Wat Suthat, the Standing Buddha at Wat Intharaviharn, the Walking Buddha at Phutthamonthon and the Sleeping Buddha at Wat Pho. By doing so, you have realised with equal weight the four virtues of Brahamaviharas, which then allow you to wholly enter the realm of Brahma. This is the path of a perfect man, one who is blessed with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. A perfect man, fully equipped with the Fourth Brahmaviharas, is also blessed with good conduct, concentration and wisdom, which represent the core of the Buddhist principles. And only in Old Bangkok, the capital of Suvarnabhumi, can you detect the Buddhist riddles and realise your own potential as a perfect man.
We may approach the Sleeping Buddha in two ways. Sleeping is a state of serenity and an attainment of spiritual emancipation. Besides, one also has to sleep first in order to wake up to become the Awakened One, like the Buddha.
The Sleeping Buddha thus represents equanimity or Upekkha, which is the final virtue of the Four Brahmaviharas. With Upekkha, we learn to accept gain and loss, praise and blame and success and failure with detachment. Detachment is a neutral state of the mind, which is not holding onto anything, big or small, significant or trivial.
We sleep in order to prepare for the awakening.
A state of absolute tranquility
After sitting, standing and walking all day, we have to sleep. Sleeping allows us to develop a tranquil state of mind. These four postures of Buddha image encompass our daily activity, which should all be governed by mindfulness. To be mindful is to become the master of oneself. To pay homage to the Sleeping Buddha at Wat Pho is to realise the virtue of Upekkha. What is more sublime or divine than to realise with our direct experience all the virtues of Metta, Karuna, Mudita and Upekkha as represented by the Sitting Buddha, the Standing Budda, the Walking Buddha and the Sleeping Buddha?
Inside the chapel, the Sleeping Buddha stretches his long golden body to 46 metres in length and 15 metres in height. The craftsmanship of this Buddha image reflects the height of artistic excellence of the Rattanakosin period. The face turns northward to the Grand Palace, which locates across the Thai Wang Street. At Wat Pho, you arrived at one of the inner-most areas of the Bangkok Heaven. The image of the Sleeping Buddha was made of brick and cement and decorated with gold leaves and gum as adhesive.
King Nangklao commissioned the construction of the Sleeping Buddha at Wat Pho. Then there was not any significant Buddha image in a sleeping posture in Bangkok. The Sleeping Buddha would be created to culminate his reign of nation building when Siam began to enjoy peace and prosperity. During that time, the Burmese were tied up to their domestic turmoil. At first, the Sleeping Buddha was built in the open air within Wat Pho's compound before the chapel was constructed to cover the whole statue.
Wat Pho, Siam's first open university.
You are immediately awe-struck by the immense size of the Sleeping Buddha. So spectacular of the golden sight of the Reclining Buddha that your heart almost stops beating once you set your foot inside the chapel. You suddenly feel a sense of absolute serenity. The air inside the chapel is calm. In the Sleeping Buddha, you can witness once again a blending of the Thai art and the Buddhist ideal. The face of the Buddha image shows a serene state, fulfilled and detached from any worldly concerns.
The Reclining Buddha images are normally built with a large size. This can be traced back to a story of the life of the Buddha. The giant Asurindarahu would like to see the Buddha but hesitated to bow before him. While still lying down, the Buddha transformed himself to a larger size than the giant. He then proceeded to show the giants the realm of Heaven with heavenly figures all larger than the giant. After all this, Asurindarahu was subdued. And he paid due respect to the Buddha and left, hence the creation of posture of the Reclining Buddha image.
In the Sukhothai period, the Buddha image postures of sitting, standing, walking and sleeping were created with an aura of equanimity, perfection and holiness. They also served to highlight the height of Buddhism and the Golden Age of Suvarnabhumi. Sukhothai embraced Buddhism from Sri Lanka and also its arts. It also took in the artistic influence from the Khmer and Mon civilisations. The Buddha images from the ancient Sukhothai are most beautiful, as judged by the flames on top of the hair, the curled hair, the oval-shaped faces, the curved eyebrows, the downward gazes and gentle smiles, the broad shoulders and the small waists. The Buddha images of Sukhothai represent an ideal perception of a superman.
The Buddha image at Wat Pho, called Phra Phutthasaiyat, sleeps on his right side, similar to the way lions sleep. According to the Pali context, there are four postures of sleeping. If you lay down on your left side to sleep, this posture reflects your obsession with sexual and other worldly desires. If you sleep normally with your whole back on the bed and your face up, you'll sleep like a peta, or a ghost, which dwells in the realm of Hell. This posture reflects your state of anxiety, with your unending desire for material wealth and assets. Your desires are never fulfilled. If you sleep on your right side, you sleep like a lion. This is the healthiest posture as you sleep with mindfulness. A lion normally sleeps in this posture with its right foot overlapping with the left foot. When it wakes up, it can look into the front or turn around to look at the back to watch out for any danger. Whenever the Buddha went to sleep, he would mediate and enter into the fourth level of the trance state. His body would sleep but his mind was always awake, like a candle that always burns.
The best spot to watch the Reclining Buddha is at the image's feet. There you can see the image's body stretching out in full length, with the flame of the hair pointing to the roof. The footprints of the Reclining Buddha reflect many Buddhist symbols and riddles. They are adorned with 108 mother-of-pearl inlaid auspicious signs. The Lord's body had the 32 marks of a superman, and was endowed with the eighty subsidiary characteristics.
It is most likely that the Reclining Buddha does not signify a normal sleeping posture but represents the Buddha's attaining nirvana. The story of the last day of the Buddha is very touching. When the Buddha, with his followers, arrived at the Kusinara, his final destination, he told the venerable Ananda, his assistant, to set up a bed for him. He laid down with his head pointing to the east. Then he laid down like a lion with full conscience, and mindful of his consciousness. The Buddha did not want to wake up again. He would be entering into the realm of nirvana.
Then the Buddha uttered his final words to his followers. He said: "Everything comes to an end, though it may last for an aeon. The hour of parting is bound to come in the end. Now I have done what I could do, both for myself and for others. To stay here would from now on be without any purpose. I have disciplined, in heaven and on earth, all those whom I have disciplined, and I have set them in the stream. Hereafter, this my Dharma, O monks, shall abide for generations and generations among living beings. Therefore, recognise the true nature of the living world, and do not be anxious; for separation cannot possibly be avoided. Recognise that all that lives is subject to this law; and strive from today-onwards that it shall be thus no more! When the light of gnosis has dispelled the darkness of ignorance, when all existence has been seen as without substance, peace ensures when life draws to an end, which seems to cure a long sickness at last. Everything, whether stationary or movable, is bound to perish in the end. Be ye therefore mindfull and vigilant! The time for my entry into Nirvana has now arrived! These are my last words!" (Edward Conze's Buddhist Scriptures: Page 62-63).
In his last words to the community of monks, the Buddha emphasised mindfulness as his ultimate teaching before parting forever into the realm of absolute tranquillity. The Buddhist Scriptures from the Pali Nikayas (see Rupert Gethin," Saying of the Buddha, Oxford World's Classics) describes the process of the Buddha's arriving at parinirvana quite dramatically in transic term. After his last words, "the Blessed One entered the first absorption (trance). Emerging from that, he entered the second absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the third absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the fourth absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of infinity of space. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of infinity of consciousness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of nothingness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of neither consciousness or unconsciousness. Emerging from that, he entered the cessation of conception and feeling."
At that point, Phra Ananda announced to the community of monks that the Buddha had attained the final nirvana.
But the Buddha reversed the process of his trance state again. "Then emerging from the cessation of conception and feeling, the Blessed One entered the sphere of neither consciousness nor unconsciousness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of nothingness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of infinity of consciousness. Emerging from that, he entered the sphere of infinity of space. Emerging from that, he entered the fourth absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the third absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the second absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the first absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the second absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the third absorption. Emerging from that, he entered the fourth absorption. Emerging from the fourth absorption, the Blessed One directly attained the final nibbana (nirvana)."
When the Buddha, through meditation, achieved enlightenment at the age of 35, he could recollected his previous lives and his future lives. He then arrived at the ultimate understanding about the impermanence of this transient world, which formed the basis of his teaching of the Fourth Noble Truths. During his meditation, he arrived at the first level of trance state or absorption and discovered the first truth as consisting of suffering. At the second level of his trance state, the Buddha realised attachment as the origin of suffering, followed by the attainable cessation of suffering in the third level of trance state, and the path to the cessation of suffering in the fourth level of the trance state. The path to the cession of the suffering is exemplified in the Eightfold Path (right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfullness and right concentration.) Right view and right intention form the basis of our wisdom, while right speech, right action and right livelihood represent our good conduct and right effort, right mindfullness and right concentration are part of our concentration. Therein lies in the unity of the Buddhist teachings.
Thereupon the Buddha had no wish to continue to go through the cycle of birth and death again. But before entering nirvana, he would preach his Dharma to the fellow human beings so that they, like him, might achieve the final salvation.
Wat Pho is the second most important temple after the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which is situated within the compound of the Grand Palace. It was an ancient temple built during the Ayutthaya period. King Yodfa had the temple renovated. Later on, Wat Pho would further assume a more important role when it became Siam's first open university, where the Thais could learn different kinds of discipline from medicine, traditional massage, astrology, Buddhism, literacy to arts.
As King Yodfa had moved more than 1,248 Buddha images from all over the country to the new capital for preservation. Hundreds of these Buddha images, which witnessed the glory past of Suvarnabhumi, were placed inside Wat Pho. It is at Wat Pho that much of the legacy of old Suvarnabhumi has been well protected and preserved.
Apart from the Reclining Buddha, the Four Great Pagodas of the four kings of the Rattanakosin period also bear witness to the grandeur of Old Bangkok. King Yodfa had the Phra Maha Chedi Srisanpetchadayarn built to install a standing Buddha image of Phra Srisanpetch. This Buddha image, which stands 16 metres, with a face of two metres in length and 1.5 metre in width. The Buddha image's breast is 5.5 metres in width. Cast more than 500 years ago, Phra Srisanpetch was almost burnt to the ground by the Burmese when they ransacked Ayutthaya in 1767. The Buddha image was established inside Wat Phra Srisanpet in Ayutthaya.
The Four Great Pagodas of the Four Reigns of the
Rattanakosin Period.
The Burmese pealed off some 3.432 metric tonnes of gold from Phra Srisanpet, leaving the Buddha image with a battered structure. King Yodfa would like this Buddha image to be re-cast, but the senior monks voiced their objection because they did not want to have the Buddha image burnt again. It would be quite inauspicious to do so. The King concurred and had Phra Srisanpetch, together with the Buddha's holy teeth, installed inside a new pagoda at Wat Pho instead.
King Nangklao, the grandson of King Yodfa, had two pagodas erected beside the Srisanpetchadayarn pagoda. The pagoda, adorned with dark blue tiles on the right side of the founder's pagoda, was dedicated to his father King Lertla, while the pagoda decorated with yeallow glazed tiles was for the Third Reign himself. In the back of three pagoda stands Phra Chedi Sri Suriyothai, built by King Mongkut and modelled after the great pagoda at Suan Luang Sobsawan Temple in Ayutthaya. Having erected this pagoda, King Mongkut suggested that he and his three predecessors all saw each other. But he added: "In the future, all kings should not follow us in erecting a pagoda for each reign in the Chetuphon Temple."
The Four Great Pagodas of King Yodfa, King Lertla, King Nangklao and King Mongkut mark the early period of Old Bangkok, which forms an unbroken line of continuity from the ancient Suvarnabhumi. Paying homage to the Four Great Pagodas amounts to honouring and seeking blessing from the founding fathers of Bangkok, without whom Suvarnabhumi would not have been restored or would have been lost.
The cycle completes with your paying homage to the Sitting Buddha at Wat Suthat, the Standing Buddha at Wat Intharaviharn, the Walking Buddha at Phutthamonthon and the Sleeping Buddha at Wat Pho. By doing so, you have realised with equal weight the four virtues of Brahamaviharas, which then allow you to wholly enter the realm of Brahma. This is the path of a perfect man, one who is blessed with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. A perfect man, fully equipped with the Fourth Brahmaviharas, is also blessed with good conduct, concentration and wisdom, which represent the core of the Buddhist principles. And only in Old Bangkok, the capital of Suvarnabhumi, can you detect the Buddhist riddles and realise your own potential as a perfect man.
The Walking Buddha
After visiting the Standing Buddha at Wat Intharaviharn, your next destination is Phutthamonthon, or Land of the Buddha. The Walking Buddha presides over the vast Phutthamonthon religious site. Phutthamonthon is a district attached to Nakhon Pathom, westward from Bangkok. And which is a better site to build the Land of the Buddha than Nakhon Pathom, literally the first city of Suvarnabhumi (nakhon means city; pathom means first). Nakhon Pathom was already an important centre during the Dvaravati Kingdom from the 6th century until the 11th century. The Phutthamonthon religious site is a version of the Buddhist Heaven in a reductive form.
From Wat Inthraviharn you can take a cab, which needs to make a U-turn to get onto the Rama VIII Bridge. It is a beautiful cable bridge across the Chao Phya River. Most of the bridges across the Chao Phya River bear the names after the Rattanakosin Kings. And lo and behold, as you enter the main structure of the bridge, you can see an arch-like gate designed similar to a mould of a Buddha amulet of Phra Nangphaya. Phra Nangphaya from Pitsanulok is one of the five crown jewels of the Thai Buddha amulets. The other four are Phra Somdej Wat Rakhang from Bangkok, Phra Rod from Lamphun, Phra Phongsuphan from Suphan Buri and Phra Sumko from Kamphaengphet. If you have one of these Buddha amulets hanging around your neck, you are ready to face any vicissitudes in the world with mindfulness. As you pass through this auspicious gate, you feel that you have a full blessing from Phra Nangphaya for your journey into the holy Land of the Buddha. Your mind feels blissful.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej laid the foundation for the construction of the Phutthamonthon religious site in 1957 to commemorate the 2500th year of the Buddhist Era. Two years before, Field Marshal Plaek Phibulsongkram, initiated this project. But it was not until 1978 that the construction, marred by financial shortfall, was finished.
When you walk, you're conscious of your good conduct and your burden of preserving the legacy into the future.
The year 1957 or B.E. 2500 marked was the mid-point of the Buddhist Era as Buddhism under Sakayamuni Buddha was prophesied to last 5,000 years. Afterward Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, would be born into this world to attain a complete enlightenment, teach his Dharma before passing into Nirvana. Maitreya would create another Buddhist Era to succeed Sakayamuni Buddha. The Thais believe that Sakayamuni Buddha visited Suvarnabhumi in the ancient time and declared that Suvarnabhumi would become the Land of the Buddha. And Maitreya would be born in Suvarnabhumi, and no where else, when the time is ripe. The Buddha is believed to have created footprints, many of which are still not discovered, in Suvarnabhumi to symbolise his prophecy. In making his footprints, the Buddha radiated his spiritual power to turn hard stone into soft stone before printing his foot on it.
The huge Walking Buddha image cast in bronze gold measuring 15.8 metres marks the centre of Phutthamonthon religious site. Phra Sri Sakayathospholyan was designed in 1955 by one of the most well-known artists in Thailand, the late Professor Silp Birasri. But it was not until 1981 that this Buddha image was actually cast. Modern Thai artists trace their knowledge and inspiration from Professor Silp, the Italian-born teacher and artist, who pioneered art studies at the Silapakorn University. At first Professor Silp carved out the structure of the Walking Buddha with a size of 2.14 metres. But to commemorate the mid-point of the Buddhist Era, the size of the Walking Buddha was later expanded to 2,500 krabiat. One krabiat, a Thai unit of measurement, equals 0.25. Therefore the size of the Walking Buddha was 7.5 times the original design. King Bhumibol Adulyadej named this Buddha statue as Phra Sri Sakayathosaphonlayan, which represents the historical Buddha.
In the walking posture, Phra Sakayathospholyan raises his right foot in preparation to walk. A vast lotus seat is behind him. You can see his saffron flying as he has just risen from the lotus seat and is about to walk after his long sitting posture to attain enlightenment. There is another lotus below to greet the Buddha image's feet. The right hand of the Buddha image drops loosely to the side. The left hand is raised forward to the chest level. The Buddha image is striking in appearance. It has a beautiful face of a young Buddha, one who has just attained enlightenment.
This image is reminiscent of the walking Buddha posture created in the Sukhothai period. The walking Buddha posture is known in Thai as "phra leela". Phra leela has a delicate walking posture, with elements of feminism in movement and in the curved shape of the body. Phra leela illustrates the height of Sukhothai’s artistic excellence. You can also see some of the famous phra leela Buddha images of Sukhothai at Wat Benjamabophit, the Marble Temple built by King Chulalongkorn, in Bangkok. You can sense that Phra Sri Sakayathospholyan and the phra leela Buddha images at Wat Benjamabophit are about to walk together to usher the grand tradition of Buddhism into a new age in Suvarnabhumi.
After sitting and standing, our next mode of movement is to walk. The Walking Buddha signifies an action of a carrying on of the tradition of Buddhism so that this religion will last into the future. Otherwise, Buddhism will cease to prosper. The Walking Buddha of Buddhamonthon also represents Mudita, or sympathetic joy, which is the third virtue of the Four Brahmaviharas. In Mudita, you radiate your sympathetic joy to others with a selfless heart. You're happy when you see other people happy. You don't feel any craving for yourself, but you would like others to be happy. And when you walk, you create an action. In Buddhism, action, or deed, is most important, representing your karma. If you act with good deeds, you'll get good karma. If you act with bad deeds, you'll get bad karma. In other words, good deed leads to good result, while bad deed brings about bad result.
In his paper, The Aesthetics of Buddhist Sculpture, which was read before the Siam Society in 1949, Professor Silp pointed out that there are two ways of appreciating the old art. You may look at it according to its antiquity. Or you may appreciate it according to its beauty. "In general, archaeologists and historians are enthusiastic about very old objects because they represent for them the human activity of the past, while for an artist the value of an old object lies in the extent to which it is the expression of true beauty. The artist judges from an aesthetic point of view, while the archaeologists and historians judge from scientific principles,” he argued. But the late Mom Chao Chand Chirayu Rajani, a literary giant of Thailand, adopted a non-iconographical approach. Instead of looking at a Buddha image from the outside, he proposed to look from the inside, both artistically and spiritually. Then we intuitively see the artistic beauty and feel the spiritual meaning of the Buddha image without any too much why and wherefore. (Mom Chao Chand Chirayu Rajani, “Thai Imageries of Suvarnabhumi”, Bangkok: Amarin Printing Group, 1987)
Although Phra Srisakayathospholyan is a relatively new comer to the scene and its antiquity cannot be compared to the Sitting Buddha of Wat Suthat or the Standing Buddha of Wat Inthraviharn, this Buddha image is of no less importance in artistic and spiritual value. You only have to feel the Buddha image from the inside. On a Visakha Puja Day, the moon orbits around Phra Srisakayathospholyan as if this Buddha image were standing the centre of the universe.
The Sukhothai artisans and artists found their inspiration from the Buddhist legend in creating the walking Buddha posture. During the Lent period, the Buddha once went to preach to his Mother in a heaven called Tavatsinsa or the Heaven of the Thirty-Three Devata. After the Lent, the Buddha returned to earth by descending the crystal ladder, flanked by the golden and silver ladders. The Lord Indra and Brahma followed him respectively. Montri Umavijani argued that this event had a great meaning for Buddhist art. "First of all, it was a the basis of the iconography of the Walking Buddha. Besides, it had a great effect on the attitude towards perspecitve in Thai Buddhist art. It is said that when the Buddha returned to earth, he made a miracle by 'opening all the worlds to view'. All the levels of heaven, all levels of Hell and all continents were, therefore, laid bare and equidistant to the eyes. This partly explains why the works of Thai artists before the advent of Western influence were always two-dimensional," he said.
Each area of Buddhamonthon is equally one kilometre in length, representing each virtue of the Four Brahmaviharas. Each virtue in the Four Brahmaviharas is equally important to the others. But the Buddha also suggests that once you have perfected the virtues of the Four Brahmaviharas, you will also attain good conduct, sound concentration, shiny wisdom and full freedom of the mind.
While the Buddha was staying at Bhanda, a few months before his passing away, he addressed a large community of monks about the four qualities needed to break away from the cycle of rebirth. "It is because of not understanding, not penetrating four qualities that you and I have run and wandered the round of rebirth in this way for such a long time. Which four? It is because of not understanding, not penegrating noble conduct...noble concentration...noble wisdom...noble freedom that you and I have run and wandered the round of rebirth in this way for such a long time. But once noble conduct is understood and penetrated, once noble concentration is understood and penetrated, once noble wisdom is understood and penetrated, once noble freedom is understood and penetrated, then craving for existence is cut off, the conductor of existence is destroyed, and no longer is there rebirth." (Rupert Gethin, Saying of the Buddha, Page 69.)
The Walking Buddha at Phutthamonthon shows us that action, guided by good practice, concentration and wisdom, is the basis for all goodness. The Buddha image is also leading us by walking tirelessly toward the new age of Suvarnabhumi, where the Thais live happily with a bright face and act with selflessness.
From Wat Inthraviharn you can take a cab, which needs to make a U-turn to get onto the Rama VIII Bridge. It is a beautiful cable bridge across the Chao Phya River. Most of the bridges across the Chao Phya River bear the names after the Rattanakosin Kings. And lo and behold, as you enter the main structure of the bridge, you can see an arch-like gate designed similar to a mould of a Buddha amulet of Phra Nangphaya. Phra Nangphaya from Pitsanulok is one of the five crown jewels of the Thai Buddha amulets. The other four are Phra Somdej Wat Rakhang from Bangkok, Phra Rod from Lamphun, Phra Phongsuphan from Suphan Buri and Phra Sumko from Kamphaengphet. If you have one of these Buddha amulets hanging around your neck, you are ready to face any vicissitudes in the world with mindfulness. As you pass through this auspicious gate, you feel that you have a full blessing from Phra Nangphaya for your journey into the holy Land of the Buddha. Your mind feels blissful.
King Bhumibol Adulyadej laid the foundation for the construction of the Phutthamonthon religious site in 1957 to commemorate the 2500th year of the Buddhist Era. Two years before, Field Marshal Plaek Phibulsongkram, initiated this project. But it was not until 1978 that the construction, marred by financial shortfall, was finished.
When you walk, you're conscious of your good conduct and your burden of preserving the legacy into the future.
The year 1957 or B.E. 2500 marked was the mid-point of the Buddhist Era as Buddhism under Sakayamuni Buddha was prophesied to last 5,000 years. Afterward Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, would be born into this world to attain a complete enlightenment, teach his Dharma before passing into Nirvana. Maitreya would create another Buddhist Era to succeed Sakayamuni Buddha. The Thais believe that Sakayamuni Buddha visited Suvarnabhumi in the ancient time and declared that Suvarnabhumi would become the Land of the Buddha. And Maitreya would be born in Suvarnabhumi, and no where else, when the time is ripe. The Buddha is believed to have created footprints, many of which are still not discovered, in Suvarnabhumi to symbolise his prophecy. In making his footprints, the Buddha radiated his spiritual power to turn hard stone into soft stone before printing his foot on it.
The huge Walking Buddha image cast in bronze gold measuring 15.8 metres marks the centre of Phutthamonthon religious site. Phra Sri Sakayathospholyan was designed in 1955 by one of the most well-known artists in Thailand, the late Professor Silp Birasri. But it was not until 1981 that this Buddha image was actually cast. Modern Thai artists trace their knowledge and inspiration from Professor Silp, the Italian-born teacher and artist, who pioneered art studies at the Silapakorn University. At first Professor Silp carved out the structure of the Walking Buddha with a size of 2.14 metres. But to commemorate the mid-point of the Buddhist Era, the size of the Walking Buddha was later expanded to 2,500 krabiat. One krabiat, a Thai unit of measurement, equals 0.25. Therefore the size of the Walking Buddha was 7.5 times the original design. King Bhumibol Adulyadej named this Buddha statue as Phra Sri Sakayathosaphonlayan, which represents the historical Buddha.
In the walking posture, Phra Sakayathospholyan raises his right foot in preparation to walk. A vast lotus seat is behind him. You can see his saffron flying as he has just risen from the lotus seat and is about to walk after his long sitting posture to attain enlightenment. There is another lotus below to greet the Buddha image's feet. The right hand of the Buddha image drops loosely to the side. The left hand is raised forward to the chest level. The Buddha image is striking in appearance. It has a beautiful face of a young Buddha, one who has just attained enlightenment.
This image is reminiscent of the walking Buddha posture created in the Sukhothai period. The walking Buddha posture is known in Thai as "phra leela". Phra leela has a delicate walking posture, with elements of feminism in movement and in the curved shape of the body. Phra leela illustrates the height of Sukhothai’s artistic excellence. You can also see some of the famous phra leela Buddha images of Sukhothai at Wat Benjamabophit, the Marble Temple built by King Chulalongkorn, in Bangkok. You can sense that Phra Sri Sakayathospholyan and the phra leela Buddha images at Wat Benjamabophit are about to walk together to usher the grand tradition of Buddhism into a new age in Suvarnabhumi.
After sitting and standing, our next mode of movement is to walk. The Walking Buddha signifies an action of a carrying on of the tradition of Buddhism so that this religion will last into the future. Otherwise, Buddhism will cease to prosper. The Walking Buddha of Buddhamonthon also represents Mudita, or sympathetic joy, which is the third virtue of the Four Brahmaviharas. In Mudita, you radiate your sympathetic joy to others with a selfless heart. You're happy when you see other people happy. You don't feel any craving for yourself, but you would like others to be happy. And when you walk, you create an action. In Buddhism, action, or deed, is most important, representing your karma. If you act with good deeds, you'll get good karma. If you act with bad deeds, you'll get bad karma. In other words, good deed leads to good result, while bad deed brings about bad result.
In his paper, The Aesthetics of Buddhist Sculpture, which was read before the Siam Society in 1949, Professor Silp pointed out that there are two ways of appreciating the old art. You may look at it according to its antiquity. Or you may appreciate it according to its beauty. "In general, archaeologists and historians are enthusiastic about very old objects because they represent for them the human activity of the past, while for an artist the value of an old object lies in the extent to which it is the expression of true beauty. The artist judges from an aesthetic point of view, while the archaeologists and historians judge from scientific principles,” he argued. But the late Mom Chao Chand Chirayu Rajani, a literary giant of Thailand, adopted a non-iconographical approach. Instead of looking at a Buddha image from the outside, he proposed to look from the inside, both artistically and spiritually. Then we intuitively see the artistic beauty and feel the spiritual meaning of the Buddha image without any too much why and wherefore. (Mom Chao Chand Chirayu Rajani, “Thai Imageries of Suvarnabhumi”, Bangkok: Amarin Printing Group, 1987)
Although Phra Srisakayathospholyan is a relatively new comer to the scene and its antiquity cannot be compared to the Sitting Buddha of Wat Suthat or the Standing Buddha of Wat Inthraviharn, this Buddha image is of no less importance in artistic and spiritual value. You only have to feel the Buddha image from the inside. On a Visakha Puja Day, the moon orbits around Phra Srisakayathospholyan as if this Buddha image were standing the centre of the universe.
The Sukhothai artisans and artists found their inspiration from the Buddhist legend in creating the walking Buddha posture. During the Lent period, the Buddha once went to preach to his Mother in a heaven called Tavatsinsa or the Heaven of the Thirty-Three Devata. After the Lent, the Buddha returned to earth by descending the crystal ladder, flanked by the golden and silver ladders. The Lord Indra and Brahma followed him respectively. Montri Umavijani argued that this event had a great meaning for Buddhist art. "First of all, it was a the basis of the iconography of the Walking Buddha. Besides, it had a great effect on the attitude towards perspecitve in Thai Buddhist art. It is said that when the Buddha returned to earth, he made a miracle by 'opening all the worlds to view'. All the levels of heaven, all levels of Hell and all continents were, therefore, laid bare and equidistant to the eyes. This partly explains why the works of Thai artists before the advent of Western influence were always two-dimensional," he said.
Each area of Buddhamonthon is equally one kilometre in length, representing each virtue of the Four Brahmaviharas. Each virtue in the Four Brahmaviharas is equally important to the others. But the Buddha also suggests that once you have perfected the virtues of the Four Brahmaviharas, you will also attain good conduct, sound concentration, shiny wisdom and full freedom of the mind.
While the Buddha was staying at Bhanda, a few months before his passing away, he addressed a large community of monks about the four qualities needed to break away from the cycle of rebirth. "It is because of not understanding, not penetrating four qualities that you and I have run and wandered the round of rebirth in this way for such a long time. Which four? It is because of not understanding, not penegrating noble conduct...noble concentration...noble wisdom...noble freedom that you and I have run and wandered the round of rebirth in this way for such a long time. But once noble conduct is understood and penetrated, once noble concentration is understood and penetrated, once noble wisdom is understood and penetrated, once noble freedom is understood and penetrated, then craving for existence is cut off, the conductor of existence is destroyed, and no longer is there rebirth." (Rupert Gethin, Saying of the Buddha, Page 69.)
The Walking Buddha at Phutthamonthon shows us that action, guided by good practice, concentration and wisdom, is the basis for all goodness. The Buddha image is also leading us by walking tirelessly toward the new age of Suvarnabhumi, where the Thais live happily with a bright face and act with selflessness.
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