2.2. The Buddhist Ordination in Thailand

The ordination of monks can be performed by a council of Buddhist elders at any time^[1]. But in practice there is a certain time of the year when ordinations usually take place; this is in the month before Buddhist Lent during which the monks make a religious retreat lasting throughout the three rainy months from the full moon of the eight lunar month to the full moon of the eleventh lunar month (roughtly from August to October)

On the eve of ordination, there is a great stir in the house of the sponsor. Neighbors will bring presents either in money or else sponsor “to help in aking merit” as said in Thailand.

Some of them will give a hand in cooking or doing other things as may be required. The stir continues throughout the night, and there is fun and flirtation among the young people while they are working. Here in Bangkok when one is invited to any social function such as a ceremony or a funeral ceremony we sometimes say pai chuay ngan; this means literally ‘to go (and) help a function’ which reflects the old spirit of the people in which there has been always cooperation and a helping hand in such social functions among neighbours whose social status is more or less on the same scale.

The young man who is going to receive ordination as a monk. For a month or two, and sometimes three months, the young man, if he can, will reside as a layman in the monastery training himself in matters relating to the ordination of a monk. He learns how to make responses in Pali by the officiating elders, to worship in the prescribed way, and to memorize certain Pali verses in the devotional service. On the eve of the day of ordination in a village, or on the actual day in Bangkok, the young man has his head, eyebrows, and moustache shaved and is dressed in white, a symbol of purity. His attire will consist of a lower garment gathered in pleats in from kike that of a Thai female dancer and a robe similar to that of a monk.

On the afternoon before the day of ordination the candidate makes a progress in procession through the neighboring villages. The candidate walks with someone holding an umbrella over him; a wealthy one may ride a pony or an elephant, the procession moves from one village to another. Passing the open fields and villages on a hot afternoon, sometimes the procession has to stop for a rest under a shady tree where the fun and amusement of the folk continues; the processtion starts again in procession when the sun has passed its highest point after two o’clok in the afternoon. The procession returns home sometimes after dusk, when there is an entertainment with food and drink. After that there is a ceremony of tham khwan nag which means strengthening or confirmation of the khwan.

Khawn is a Thai word identical in sound and meaning with the Chinese word for ‘soul’. Owing to the adoption of a Pali word for ‘soul’ in Thai, the word khwan has lost its original meaning. Its present day meaning is vague and denotes something definite but invisible in a man. Its gives health, prosperity, and happiness when it resides in him, but if, on the country, its fickle nature causes it to leave the man and fly away, then if it does not come back in him that man will die. Khwan is translated in English as “vital spirit”. At every formal turning point in a man’s life and on other appropriate occasions, the ceremony of tham khwan is performed. As for the ceremony in connection with ordination it is called tham khwan nak. The word nag is naga in Sanskrit and Pali, a generic name for a class of mythological snakes. A candidate for monkhood is called nag.

The time for ordination may be any time of the day by arrangement with the wat. Usually when the ordination takes place in the morning, there is a morning feast for the monks beforehand, which means some time after eight o’clock in the morning. If the ordination takes place in the afternoon, there is a forenoon feast, the last meal that monks may partake of on that day. A feast for monks may be presented by an individual or by a body of people when there is more than one candidate, which in Bangkok such a presentation of food to monks on the occasion is sometimes omitted.

The candidate proceeds from the house to the wat in procession. He is usually dressed, whether in a village or in Bangkok, as a conventional celestial being with a white conical hat studded with tinsel, a brocade lower garment, and a long thin embroidered robe on over a shirt or single.

Included in the procession are the eight requisites of a monk: an alm bowl, the customary lower garment, a mantle, and a shoulder scarf all dyed yellow, a girdle, a razor, a needle, and a water strainer. There are also robes and other things appropriate for presentation to the monk who will be the future spiritual teacher of the candidate and to other elders in the council who participate in the rite.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

http://www.thaibuddhist.com/category/ordination/.