Monking Around

Young monks in procession at the White Temple in Chiang Rai.

Although the Thai constitution guarantees freedom of religion, about 94% of Thailand identifies with being Buddhist.  The King, by law, is required to be Buddhist, and sometimes the line between Church and State is blurred.  Signs of Buddhism are seen everywhere:  offerings left of the sidewalks, Buddhism classes taught at public schools, and most notably, the presence of monks around town.  Not a day goes by here that I don't see at least 1 monk walking in bright orange robes, with bald heads bobbing calmly down the sidewalk.  Monks can be seen in restaurants, collecting alms each morning, riding in tuk tuks and shopping for supplies for the temple.  They are held in a very high respect, and they are not allowed to come in contact with women.  Women will trade seats on the bus to avoid accidentally touching a monk's robe, and many people will stop and step aside on the sidewalk to squash any risk of brushing against a monk as they pass.  I immediately feel a need to slightly bow my head as I pass, and become acutely aware of my body language, attire and speech in their presence.  They invoke a sense of quiet and calm respect, and tend to zap any personality and spunk being shown at that very moment.  So having this air of stoicism and seriousness associated with them, it's always fun to see younger monks smiling and letting loose a bit.  They are, after all, human beings.

Monks shopping in town.  Photo credit: A. Zimmerman

On a recent trip to Chiang Mai while my bestie Alexandria was visiting (more on that later!) we did a temple walking tour, led by the ultimate tour guide, Scott Meslin.  Our last stop was one of my favorite temples in Chiang Mai:  Wat Phan Tao, a temple made from teak wood.  It's a beautiful temple, and has a pond, and several interesting buildings behind it to explore as well.  This last time proved to be highly entertaining.  As we walked around the side of the temple there was a large group of young monks standing around the pond.  I felt slightly uncomfortable as I thought they were getting ready to bathe in their bathing robes (yes, they have special bathing and swimming robes), but as we got closer we noticed an entirely different scenario.  All of a sudden a young monk yelped and started running toward the pond, lugging two squirming fish by their tails, and tossed them in the pond.  Then another monk followed, this time struggling to haul an entire plastic bag full of wriggling fish the the pond's edge.  He quickly dumped the fish over the side, with dirty pond water splashing his bare feet as the fish jumped around in their new environment.  This happened over and over, as each monk carried several live fish the the pond's edge, laughing and running, and gently deposited them into the water.  We learned that they had just finished cleaning the pond, before which they had to remove the fish, and were returning them to their home.  A memorable sight in itself, what will always stick in my mind was the laughter, joking and giddiness of the usually stoic monks, as they carry out their temple duties.  They are, after all, human beings!