Flags of the dharma fly again
Kathin banners with their highly charged symbolism are seldom seen in Bangkok, but moves are afoot to revive the tradition
The khatin flags are fluttering in the autumn gusts again at Wat Suwannaram in Bangkok Noi at Wat Pradoo Nai across the river in Bang Phlat, but there’s been doubt about how many more years they’ll make their annual appearance.
For two and a half millennia the white flags imprinted with dramatic emblems have been flown to mark the end of Buddhist Lent, but, as with so many traditions, interest appears to be on the wane.
The kathin rites closing out Vassa, the Lent period, and bidding farewell to another rainy season most commonly take the form of giving fresh robes to monks. That variation on alms-distribution is in no danger of vanishing thanks to the devotion of the faithful, but the practice of hanging kathin flags has long been fading away.
In a bid to preserve the tradition, the Culture Ministry’s Department of Religious Affairs has urged the abbots and lay leaders of more than 30,000 Thai temples to fly the flags this year for the month-long duration of the kathin “festival”, starting from the full moon of the eleventh lunar month, in accordance with Theravada Buddhism. This year that runs from October 28 to November 25.
The monks of the royal temple Pradoo Nai in Thoburi and of Wat Suwannaram in Bangkok are showing their enthusiasm, and the flags are already out.
“Temples in Bangkok rarely hanging kathin flags, though the practice is still followed upcountry, especially in Isaan,” says Phra Maha Somsak, assistant abbot at Wat Pradoo Nai. The flags – more like banners in their configuration – bear one of three animals and a supernatural being that illustrate a “puzzle” of the dharma, he explains.
“A temple hanging the flag depicting a centipede with a lotus blossom in its mouth indicates that the temple is already ‘booked up’ with laypeople coming to make kathin offerings, so anyone else wishing to do the same will have to go elsewhere. Putting the flag out front thus saves them from wasting their time by going inside.”
In a proper kathin procession at a temple, laypeople carry robes and other necessities for the monks, along with the crocodile flag and another that shows a half-woman, half-fish being – Supanna Matcha from the Ramakien – holding a lotus bud in her hands. These flags will later be displayed outside the temple.
As well as “signalling” the temple’s status to passers-by, the creatures depicted on the flags represent human traits that are frowned on in Buddhist teachings. The centipede signifies anger, Supanna Matcha foolishness and the crocodile greed. Bringing such creatures into the temple is a metaphorical way of overcoming these faults.
At the conclusion of the initial kathin ceremony, the temple will hang another flag, bearing an image of a turtle, also with a lotus in its mouth.
It represents the calm mind to which Buddhists aspire in making merit, praying and meditating. The turtle flag stays in place until the festival ends on November 25.
Artisans upcountry have been busy recently painting flags for the coming week, attaching them to bamboo poles ready for distribution in the provinces. For urbans, computer-printed flags are already on sale at shops stocking religious items in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon area, near the Giant Swing.
Vassa is the period during which Buddhist monks – most of whom were nomadic in bygone times – were obliged to stop wandering and remain in one place “in retreat” for three months, a time for deeper contemplation and study that corresponded, then as now, with the rainy season.
The kathin rites mark the moment for them to move on again, clad in new robes and presumably wiser and holier. For the laity, it’s a time for giving. The faithful express their gratitude to the monks by presenting them with the few basic items they are permitted to possess.
In a special ceremony central to the kathin observations and just as steeped in history, His Majesty the King presents robes to selected monks at the royal temples , although this year, owing to the monarch’s health, a representative will take his place, likely His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
The King’s representative will personally travel to Wat Pradoo Nai on November 5 and to Wat Suwannaram on November 18, and kathin robes from the Palace will be further distributed among the 294 royal temples in Thailand and 13 Thai Buddhist temples abroad.
The ceremony is replicated in other Asian countries with substantial Theravada Buddhism followings, including Sri Lanka and Laos and in some parts of Myanmar and Cambodia.
“I hope that preserving this tradition gives more Buddhists the chance to make merit and learn about the meanings of riddles behind the kathin flags,” says Phra Maha Somsak.
