Thai people either go to worship in a temple near where they live or do it at home. Most of the time, I do it at home because it suits me better (as in England don’t have many temple). There is no special day for worship, as there is in other religions. You can worship very basically at home, but if you go to the temple they will have a statue of the Buddha for you to respect. We give offerings of candles, flowers and incense to the Buddha. We use different amounts of incense depending on what type of worship we are performing. For example, we use three incense sticks for the everyday worship where we offer respect to a statue of the Buddha, but we use only one incense stick to respect a dead body at a funeral. We use five incense sticks to respect a ghost, if we believe they are looking after us and we use nine incenses to respect or make a wish to something that derives from a superstition. The last example of this I saw people in the village did many times to seek out lottery numbers (sometimes we do funny things, don’t you think).
Each of the offerings we give has a special meaning. Fresh flowers wilt and die, a reminder that nothing lasts forever. Candles light up a room, just as the Buddha’s teaching lights up people’s lives and shows them the way to live, showing that there’s a light at the end of any problem and that our life always has hope. Sometimes, if you go temples in Thailand you will see people place a piece of gold leaf on statues of the Buddha. This is a sign of love and respect.
Many Buddhists like to meditate every morning to start their day, but, again, it doesn’t matter where or when you do it; just find somewhere quiet where you can be at peace. People meditate for different reasons; I myself do it at night time before I go to bed. Just to remind myself of what I did today and what I will do tomorrow. I used to do this to think about how to improve myself and my actions if I feel that what I have done is not good enough.
Another important thing for Buddhist men is to become a monk once in your lifetime. Women can become a nun. In our country, boys often spend a few months or years living as a monk. These young boys are called Sammanera or “novice monks”. They have to follow ten religious precepts, as opposed to the normal five, and when a man reaches the age of twenty one, they will become a monk and have to follow 227 religious precepts.
Please note: Buddhism is really sacred to Thai people. When you visit a temple, they might not allow you to enter if you are not dressed in the correct way, for example: if you wear clothes that show a lot of your skin like shorts or sleeveless shirts. Correct behaviour and proper clothes are necessary when visiting temples in Thailand. It is very important not to wear a hat in a temple.
コメント