It
has now come to the time for Nattawud (*) to ordain as a monk. Most Thai
men do this once they become of age. Nattawud isn't actually 20 yet.
However, they are, apparently, allowed to count the time spent in their
mother's womb! Thai men are not considered to be mature adults until
they have become monks for a period of time. Thai people call those
people "unripe". Once they have become a monk and left the monkhood,
they are then called "thit". Thai men in government jobs are legally
allowed to take three months leave of absence to become a monk. Most do
this during Buddhist lent which starts in July. During lent no-one is
allowed to leave the monkhood. As Nattawud's birthday is in July his
family decided to bring the ceremony forward to this month.
The first part of the
ordination that I will talk about today is the hair shaving. Preceding
this, Nattawud paid respect to his dead ancestors and then bathed the
feet of his elders. In the photo on the right are his grandparents (on
his father's side), his grandmother (the one he calls mother) and his
parents. Once he had finished, he prostrated himself at their feet.
Then his elders and
other relations all took turns in cutting a piece of his hair. At the
same time they gave him a blessing for a prosperous future. Notice the
lotus leaf in the left hand picture. None of the hair is allowed to
drop to the ground. This is exactly what happened to Nattawud during
his fire-hair shaving ceremony when he was a baby 20 years ago. In the
next photo the monk has taken over to cut off the remainder of his hair.
Cutting of the hair is
symbolic. In the old days, long hair was a sign of royalty. Siddharta,
before he became enlightened and therefore the Buddha, cut off his hair
as a renouncement of all his worldly goods. Apparently, cutting the
eyebrows is more of a Thai tradition and monks in other countries do
not follow this practice. Next, everyone took turns in pouring water
over his head and body, again giving him a blessing. Finally, some
herbs, which are yellow when mixed with water, are rubbed all over his
head. I am not sure if there is any significance of using this plant
but it apparently helps your hair grow again later. Looks like he will
have a hairy chest later!
After he took a shower,
he then changed into his white clothes. The outer garment is a bit like
net curtains with a gold trimming! Very dandy. At least he didn't have
to wear makeup like they do in northern ordinations. At this point he
is now known as "naak" or "naga" in English. This is a mythical serpent
from Indian legends. The story goes that one day the serpent disguised
himself as a human in order to be ordained as a monk. When the Buddha
found out, he told the naga that only humans can become monks. The naga
agreed to leave the monkhood but asked the Buddha for one favour. He
asked that in future, all young men who were about to be ordained be
called "naga". The Buddha consented.
After the hair shaving
ceremony was over, Nattawud got into the back of a pickup truck to
parade around the local area. The idea was to show the spirits that he
was about to become a monk. Along the way he stopped at two shrines. As
far as I can tell, this has nothing to do with Buddhism. This is quite
typical in Thai ceremonies which mix together both Buddhism and
Brahmin. Once the spirits had been informed of the upcoming ordination,
Nattawud returned to the temple for some chanting and a sermon. I will
write about that tomorrow.
(*) Gor ordained with the name Nattawud. as soon as he left he took the name Panrit.
