skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I have become fascinated with the Thai ‘spirit houses’ I see all over Thailand.
Some are colorful and made of cement; others are intricately carved in teak wood. In present-day Siam, animistic rituals are still overtly practiced and given the fact that spirits are ubiquitously surrounding us, the miniature spirit dwellings are seen everywhere. They are typically set out in the outer corners of residential high-rise buildings, outside of commercial properties, in the backyards of private homes, and in shops, too. Even taxi drivers surround themselves with small replicas or altars on their dashboards. Spirits are invited to reside in these minute homes in order to protect the property and its residents.
These small models of Thai houses and Buddhist temples stand on pedestals on the grounds of most properties. They are present in single and multi-family homes in cities and throughout the countryside as well. Usually mounted on bamboo or stone bases, they rest in one corner of the lot. Spirit houses show up in new and old properties to encourage fortuity and deflect misfortune.
Spirit houses must be displayed predominantly in the garden and their shadow must never superimpose the main house.
The Thai people believe that spirits reside everywhere, in animate as well as in inanimate objects. Spirits inhabit our world and move freely in the same spaces as humans do. They are present in trees, rocks, the oceans, and the skies.
Once a home is built or a move to a new place is intended, a house for the spirits must also be brought in or constructed. We even bought one recently by the roadside that links the beach resort of Hua Hin to Bangkok. It now proudly and beautifully stands in our apartment’s foyer.
When Buddhism first grasped the land of Siam over 2500 years ago, animism or spirit worship, had been experienced extensively all through the region, expanding right alongside ancient spirit beliefs. Today, animistic convictions in the spirits that reside in sacred dead trees, animals or people have been greatly fused with Buddhism.
In order to appease spirits, Thais make offerings of flower garlands, incense, candles and food placing them inside and outside the spirit houses; they also sprinkle holy water obtained from monks; and place figurines inside the small dwellings to represent the residents of the bigger houses, thus bringing harmony and happiness between them. Our own American Embassy compound in Bangkok contains a beautiful and elaborate spirit house on its premises.
Thai Buddhism and animism seem to be inseparable, much the same as pagan practices seem indivisible in Christianity (Christmas tree). In Thailand, Buddhism has progressed side by side with an ancient array of superstitions to explain nature, thecosmos, and the unexplainable. Religion is at the core of Thai culture; it gives life to all traditions, social systems, art and literature of the nation.
Bangkok for instance, is a busy, dangerous and overpopulated metropolis; people need all kinds of protection, security and precautions to lead their lives. The phrase ‘it’s a jungle out there’ never fit a place more accurately. Perpetual and erratic traffic patterns; holes and uneven pavement on streets and almost non-existent sidewalks obstruct pedestrians from walking safely in a congestion of exhaust fumes, motorcycles, small vans, smoke spewing buses and dangerous overhead wiring connections making life a perilous daily reality. Protection is greatly needed and the spirit world is ready to provide that security. Nearly every Thai home, business company or shop includes a spirit house on their premises and daily offerings are always available.
Finding comfort and security in a world of spirits is necessary; the Thais live primarily to truly enjoy (sanuk) present life but at the same time, they aim to live it with decorum, good behavior and self control as these are superior principles in the attainment of final enlightenment.
Believing in reincarnation means that each individual's karma (destiny) determines their fate; an old Thai proverb says ‘Do good and receive good, do evil and that is what you will get”. 
By leading a superior life and observing the 5 important teachings -- helping the poor; kindness towards others; donations to monks on their early morning rounds; contributing to the temple and meditation -- attaining enlightenment becomes possible. I also just learned that merit can be transferred to others if people wish to.
The belief that spirits inhabit everything that surrounds us provides contentment and comfort to the majority who by ‘making merit’ along the way -- in the manner of good deeds to others and offerings to the spirits, the monks and the Buddha -- will unquestionably afford enhanced spiritual enlightenment and immortality of the soul.
Monks get the highest merit points because they have accepted life in poverty, their only possessions being their robes, food bowl, a bag, a hand paper fan and an umbrella.
In all probability, believers of animism seek to make sense of natural disasters and a violent world; appeasing the spirits with material offerings provides them with a refuge and a passage to level-headedness and tranquility.
By Edie Wilcox@ March 2006
Last week I spent 8 days in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, a city whose sheer existence has always been dependent on the gorges and valleys along the Ping River.
The Ping supplied a meandering thoroughfare across the mountainous barricade that surrounds the lush valleys; a waterway that allowed the ancient city of Chiang Mai and the surrounding areas, self sufficiency while carrying out business with its powerful neighbors: China, Burma and the farther kingdoms around the Gulf of Siam.
Interesting for me, was the realization that the Ping River has been the pathway alongside which commercial traffic prospered, connecting southern China with the extensive and lush areas of the Chao Phraya river basin, along whose shores thrive the metropolitan areas of Bangkok. Today, Chiang Mai is the second largest city in Thailand, an old dame still preserving her traditional charm and centuries-old culture.
During the 13th Century (AD), the feudal kingdom of Lanna (the Kingdom of a Million Fields) had its center in what they called Chiang Mai (First City); their dominion spread throughout most of northern Thailand, parts of Laos and Burma (now Myanmar) and a fraction of Southern China. Theravada Buddhism arose here, following the original teachings from the Nepalese Siddharta Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, offering a resplendent legacy of cultural heritage to the areas comprised by the kingdom.
Thai Buddhist temples or wats, are the heart and symbol of villages, districts, cities and towns. Temples have often served as orphanages, schools, meeting halls and hospitals, as much as places of worship. Before the creation of school buildings, the education of children was held in temples.
Thai temples house an abbot who is responsible for the well-being of the community and people in difficulty always call for his advice. The abbot is often elderly with impeccable, reasonable and insightful wisdom. Monasteries are also home for unwanted dogs and cats who mysteriously find their way to the temple grounds.
Every temple or wat is accompanied by brilliant color and stunning architectural design. Exquisite and very large Buddha images of gold, marble, wood or jade greet visitors from various angles making for a rather flamboyant but always thrilling experience. The Buddha images have corporeal traits that are largely determined by convention; all however, have certain generalities including very long earlobes and a lotus bud on the head which symbolizes enlightenment. Some may be sitting, reclining or standing.
A temple is a large compound comprising several structures; generally, the one in the center will display Buddha images and an open area for worshippers to pray. Mural paintings relating the life of the Buddha cover the walls. On the exterior of this central structure one or many chedis, called stuppas in English, may be found, these are pointed, conical towers made of plaster, brick or stone and coated with gold, or brass. These stuppas are burial sites, generally containing the remains and relics of buried religious leaders. According to one of my guides, upon cremation, many Thais have their remains deposited into compartments on the sides of a chedi, identified by small, commemorative inscriptions attached to the outside walls.
Another small structure within a temple’s grounds is the bot where the monks are ordained; this place is not accessible to women but I hear there is a sacred Buddha image within.
The kuti are dwellings for monks. They can be private or shared. These rooms are small and empty as monks only meditate and sleep in their rooms. Often ordained monks have their own room while novices share.
A library building almost always forms part of the temple grounds and as all other structures is usually highly decorated with small, deeply colored glass mosaics. These reflecting glass tiles are believed to drive away evil spirits because on seeing their reflection they will be driven away. As a rule, a pair of nagas or long serpent-like dragons guards stairs and doorways to deflect evil spirits from temple buildings. Monks, monk novices and orphaned children learn in the library and meditate outdoors, under the shade of a thick bodhi tree, which is said to have been the tree under which the Buddha became “enlightened”. All temples have planted Bodhi trees in their grounds.
Books about Buddha teachings and doctrines are kept in the library, but there’s a wealth of other information as well; monks are more often than not, people with the greatest knowledge at any gathering.
Other structures include the monks’ common living facilities where teaching and meditation as well as housekeeping and administration of the temple are left to the monks who run them.
The temples of northern Thailand differ from others in the rest of the country because there is a profusion of mythical figures and creatures owing their origins to the folklore of nearby Burma and China. There are Singhas or protective lion statues; Himalayan Kinnari or beautiful female topped angels with winged bodies and large bird legs; and swan-like figures decorating gates or standing on poles in the front areas of central temple buildings.
Large, heavy Buddhist bells complete the grounds as they hang from massive wooden stands on the tiled courtyard. Bells were originally used to announce scheduled events during the course of the day; nowadays, they remain for general early wake-up calls or occasions when monks (using a wooden striker) call for special activities. Smaller bells hang suspended from the horizontal beams of temple halls, gently swaying in the breeze.
In front of the main Buddha image in every temple, there will be a variety of offerings such as lotus blossoms; bronze or copper money trees; incense and candles burning at different speeds, and also food. All these are contributions donated by worshippers to make merit for the future of their souls.
Thai Buddhist temples are an assault to the eyes; ornate, every now and then grandiose, but always stirring, forever lingering in the mind as an example of Thailand: a passionate - but not fanatical - religious country.
By Edie Wilcox – January 2006, Thailand
I have become fascinated with the Thai ‘spirit houses’ I see all over Thailand.
Some are colorful and made of cement; others are intricately carved in teak wood. In present-day Siam, animistic rituals are still overtly practiced and given the fact that spirits are ubiquitously surrounding us, the miniature spirit dwellings are seen everywhere. They are typically set out in the outer corners of residential high-rise buildings, outside of commercial properties, in the backyards of private homes, and in shops, too. Even taxi drivers surround themselves with small replicas or altars on their dashboards. Spirits are invited to reside in these minute homes in order to protect the property and its residents.
These small models of Thai houses and Buddhist temples stand on pedestals on the grounds of most properties. They are present in single and multi-family homes in cities and throughout the countryside as well. Usually mounted on bamboo or stone bases, they rest in one corner of the lot. Spirit houses show up in new and old properties to encourage fortuity and deflect misfortune.
Spirit houses must be displayed predominantly in the garden and their shadow must never superimpose the main house.
The Thai people believe that spirits reside everywhere, in animate as well as in inanimate objects. Spirits inhabit our world and move freely in the same spaces as humans do. They are present in trees, rocks, the oceans, and the skies.
Once a home is built or a move to a new place is intended, a house for the spirits must also be brought in or constructed. We even bought one recently by the roadside that links the beach resort of Hua Hin to Bangkok. It now proudly and beautifully stands in our apartment’s foyer.
When Buddhism first grasped the land of Siam over 2500 years ago, animism or spirit worship, had been experienced extensively all through the region, expanding right alongside ancient spirit beliefs. Today, animistic convictions in the spirits that reside in sacred dead trees, animals or people have been greatly fused with Buddhism.
In order to appease spirits, Thais make offerings of flower garlands, incense, candles and food placing them inside and outside the spirit houses; they also sprinkle holy water obtained from monks; and place figurines inside the small dwellings to represent the residents of the bigger houses, thus bringing harmony and happiness between them. Our own American Embassy compound in Bangkok contains a beautiful and elaborate spirit house on its premises.
Thai Buddhism and animism seem to be inseparable, much the same as pagan practices seem indivisible in Christianity (Christmas tree). In Thailand, Buddhism has progressed side by side with an ancient array of superstitions to explain nature, thecosmos, and the unexplainable. Religion is at the core of Thai culture; it gives life to all traditions, social systems, art and literature of the nation.
Bangkok for instance, is a busy, dangerous and overpopulated metropolis; people need all kinds of protection, security and precautions to lead their lives. The phrase ‘it’s a jungle out there’ never fit a place more accurately. Perpetual and erratic traffic patterns; holes and uneven pavement on streets and almost non-existent sidewalks obstruct pedestrians from walking safely in a congestion of exhaust fumes, motorcycles, small vans, smoke spewing buses and dangerous overhead wiring connections making life a perilous daily reality. Protection is greatly needed and the spirit world is ready to provide that security. Nearly every Thai home, business company or shop includes a spirit house on their premises and daily offerings are always available.
Finding comfort and security in a world of spirits is necessary; the Thais live primarily to truly enjoy (sanuk) present life but at the same time, they aim to live it with decorum, good behavior and self control as these are superior principles in the attainment of final enlightenment.
Believing in reincarnation means that each individual's karma (destiny) determines their fate; an old Thai proverb says ‘Do good and receive good, do evil and that is what you will get”. 
By leading a superior life and observing the 5 important teachings -- helping the poor; kindness towards others; donations to monks on their early morning rounds; contributing to the temple and meditation -- attaining enlightenment becomes possible. I also just learned that merit can be transferred to others if people wish to.
The belief that spirits inhabit everything that surrounds us provides contentment and comfort to the majority who by ‘making merit’ along the way -- in the manner of good deeds to others and offerings to the spirits, the monks and the Buddha -- will unquestionably afford enhanced spiritual enlightenment and immortality of the soul.
Monks get the highest merit points because they have accepted life in poverty, their only possessions being their robes, food bowl, a bag, a hand paper fan and an umbrella.
In all probability, believers of animism seek to make sense of natural disasters and a violent world; appeasing the spirits with material offerings provides them with a refuge and a passage to level-headedness and tranquility.
By Edie Wilcox@ March 2006
