Merit making for the masses

THOUSANDS OF BUDDHISTS in the Central province of Saraburi will be up and about before the sun on Wednesday, busying themselves preparing dried foods and rice to offer to 3,000 monks in the annual merit-making ceremony known as Tak Bat Dok Mai. 

Wat Phra Phutthabat, about 30 kilometres from Saraburi town, has long been famous for the way it marks the beginning of Vassa, the three-month annual Buddhist lent retreat observed by Theravada monks and nuns. The temple is highly revered in Thailand because it houses a footstep of the Buddha and every year in the late afternoon, as part of the ritual, the monks climb the steps of the temple to pay their respects to the footprint.

For their part, the faithful offer food to the monks early in the morning and return later in the day to present them with dok khao phansa – yellow and white flowers that bloom only in the weeks leading up the Buddhist lent – along with candles and to wash their feet in a gesture symbolic of washing away their sins. During Vassa, monks and nuns remain inside monasteries and temple grounds, devoting their time to intensive meditation and study.

The unique Tak Bat Dok Mai and Royal Candle Festival is a firm part of the cultural heritage of Phra Phutthabat district, and has been practised since the Ayutthaya period.

Back then, it was a simple and touching rite. Today, though, the merit making, while undoubtedly sincere, is also a major tourist attraction.

Traditionally held on the day following the full moon in July – the beginning of Vessa – which this year falls on Friday, the festival is now a three-day affair, beginning on Wednesday and running through Friday.

“Traditionally, we held Tak Bat Dok Mai on one day, but now the merit making takes three days and is very much focused on Buddhist business,” says Saraburi native and devout Buddhist Supot Mahabohisat.

“When I was young, I climbed Suwan Banbhot mountain to collect dok khao phansa to offer to the monks. We never spent money buying the flowers. Today it’s a business. The villagers here plant them and you can easily buy them in front of the temple,” adds the 65-year-old Phra Phuthabat native. “Even 40 years ago, the merit making was very basic. We would offer the dok khao phansa in the late afternoon. Now it’s being done twice a day, both in the morning and afternoon.”

Supot is not against business. Indeed, for the last two decades, he has been one of the dozens of vendors selling amulets and other devotional items within the temple grounds.

He is not, however, keen on the way the festival has been adapted to benefit the tourist industry nor on the promotion it receives to draw more visitors, as manifested in the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s call to “witness the world’s largest and Thailand’s only Tak Bat Dok Mai and Royal Candle Festival”.

The one-day event evolved into a three-day festival in 2001 to accommodate the ever-increasing number of devotees making their way to Saraburi to mark Vassa. Seven years later, the temple introduced a massive merit-making ritual, leading to criticisms that it was turning Buddhism into a business in much the same way as Pathum Thani’s Dhammakaya Temple, which also supports this event. A notable difference is that Wat Phra Phuthabat offers the food it receives to needy monks in the South.

“The massive merit making was initiated by the abbot Phra Dhamabhidok in 2008 when Buddhist monks in the three southernmost provinces were unable to go on their alms rounds because of the insurgent attacks. The abbot offered all the food to monks living in 323 temples in the south,” Phianjai Rotjanasinwilai of Buddhist group Saraburi Romyen tells XP.

But the festival is still big business, generating Bt180 million for the province, according to provincial governor Vichien Putthivinyu.

This year’s merit making begins at 6am on Wednesday with the mass alms giving to 3,000 monks. Phainjai says Saraburi has about 3,600 monks living in 500 temples and in 2008, 2,552 monks joined the event. “The numbers increase every year,” she adds.

The morning continues at 8.30am with the offering of 89 elaborately carved candles to Phra Phutthabat temple. Then at 3pm, there’s a parade featuring cultural and floral floats. The official opening ceremonies are set to begin at 5pm.

Designed accomodate tourists from around the world, there will be two rounds of offering flowers to the monks on Asalha Bucha Day (on Thursday) and Buddhist Lent Day (on Friday) at 9.30am and 3pm.

And in addition to the food, candles and other daily necessities offered to the monks, a more recent twist is the giving of light bulbs and LED torches to the monks, instead of candles. It’s a modern upgrade that has Supot wearing a frown.

“Although the festival benefits my business, I do worry that that young generation will misunderstand our heritage of Tak Bat Dok Mai,” he says.

 

FLORAL OFFERINGS

For more information, call the Phra Phutthabat Municipal Office at (081) 398 5133 or the Saraburi Romyen group at (089) 787 4462.