Samui is a popular destination for foreign tourists who go there for the sun, sea and surf. But, there is also something there that reminds us that we are not permanent fixtures on this planet. In Buddhism, people are taught about the impermanence of life which is why sometimes you might see corpses at Thai temples. They act as a reminder. A macabre example of this can be seen at Wat Kunaram, towards the south of Koh Samui.

Luang Pho Daeng used to be the abbot of Wat Kunaram. He used to be a happily married man with children. But, when he was 50, he decided to devote the remainder of his life to the monkhood. He ordained in 1944 and became well known for his meditation techniques. As a result he had many followers. When he reached the age of 79, he knew he was soon to die and so decided to sit and meditate until the end. He died a short while later in 1973.

Apparently it was his own wish for his body to be kept in this upright position. As you can see, his body is remarkable well-preserved considering that he died nearly 40 years ago. There is even some hair on his head. I am told that he is wearing sunglasses as his eye balls fell back into his skull some years ago. You are allowed to take pictures at this temple, but please do so in a respectful manner.

To commemorate the 175th anniversary of Wat Bowon Niwet Wihan and the completion of its major restoration work, the temple recently organized a temple fair. Wat Bowon Niwet Wihan, in Bangkok’s Bang Lamphu area, was open daily for the general public to pay their respects to the important Buddha statue and nine sacred landmarks.

Wat Bowon Niwet is located on Phra Sumen Road in the Bang Lamphu area.  Built in 1829, it is the shrine-hall of Phra Phuttha Chinnasee, a very beautiful Buddha image which was molded in about 1357.  This is one of the most important temples of Bangkok, whose one-time chief abbot was King Rama IV before he ascended the throne. King Rama IV and King Rama VII, as well as His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej had resided here during their monkhood.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra officiated at the ceremony to start the construction of the royal crematorium for Her Royal Highness Princess Bejaratana, at the ceremonial ground on the southern side of Sanam Luang in Bangkok. The ceremony took place on 16 January 2012 at 11.30 hr, with Deputy Prime Minister Police General Kowit Wattana reporting the progress of the preparations for the royal crematorium to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

At the ceremony, Prime Minister Yingluck paid respect to deities by lighting candles and joss sticks and presenting offerings to their statues. After a Brahmin finished chanting, Prime Minister Yingluck applied gold leaves on the main pillar of the crematorium and sprinkled consecrated water on the pillar. The Prime Minister also presented offerings to the Buddhist monks attending the ceremony.

Princess Bejaratana passed away at the age of 85 on 27 July 2011 at Sirirat Hospital in Bangkok. The body of the Princess is now lying in state at the Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall in the Grand Palace compound. The royal cremation of Princess Bejaratana is scheduled for 9 April 2012. The royal crematorium will then be open to the public to inspect until 17 April 2012.

Source: Public Relations Department of the Royal Thai Government

Wat Bowon Niwet is an important royal temple in Bangkok’s Phra Nakhon District. Before King Rama IV ascended the throne, he was the first abbot. Other kings also resided here for a while. The present king, was ordained here and so it is an important pilgrimage site. For the past five years, the temple has been undergoing renovation and this is now complete. To celebrate this, and the 175th anniversary of the temple, there will be a worship fair from 11th to 15th January 2012.

In this picture, from today’s copy of the Bangkok Post, senior monks and laypeople look at two gold plated spires to be placed on the heads of the Phra Phuttha Chinnasee Buddha image and of a replica at Wat Bowon Niwet. The Sukhothai-era bronze image is in the attitude of subduing Mara. Picture is by Apichart Jinakul.

For more information about this temple, please visit SacredSiam.com

During January 2012, a total of 1,127 monks will be taking part in the Dhammakaya Pilgrim Project where they will be walking through five provinces that were recently hit by the floods. The pilgrim route covers the provinces of Ayuthaya, Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Nakornpathom, Supanburi and Bangkok. The 365 kilometer pilgrimage started on 2nd January and will run until 25th January 2012.

This activity is a lesson that shows the general public how the itinerant monks exercise their mindfulness, patience and practice their walking meditation while on a pilgrim. Along the way, monks will spread loving-kindness for the well-being of all Thais. During each overnight break, the monks will practice meditation and chant prayers. The monks will also provide necessary maintenance service to the places that they visit and distribute relief supplies to local people in need.

During the time of the Buddha, there was once an outbreak of cholera where many people died. The people invited the Lord Buddha and 500 of his disciples to come and bless the city. Before they arrived, the people cleaned the streets and laid out thousands of rose petals. After his visit, the sick became better and everything went back to normal. In order to recreate this event, the entire 365 kilometre route through the provinces that had been flooded will be covered with rose petals. All local people are invited to come and join in with this event. Click here for a schedule.

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Thai Buddhists like to start the new year by offering alms to monks. They believe that by making merit in this way that they have given themselves some good luck for the new year. The events were organized all around Thailand but these pictures were taken by the Bangkok Tourist Division at Sanam Luang.

People started arriving at Sanam Luang in Bangkok as early as 6 a.m. They stood behind tables  where they placed the food and essentials. The ceremony itself started when the Bangkok Governor arrived at 7 a.m. to light the candles and incense sticks. After a religious ceremony, 285 monks then went up and down tables accepting dried food and essentials from the people.

Source: Bangkok Tourism Division

Today, people from all around the country are coming together to celebrate the 84th birthday of H.M. The King. Many of them are wearing pink which is an auspicious colour believed to help make the King better. The Thai monarch has been in Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok for several years now. About 1,000 well-wishers gathered at the City Hall Plaza in Samut Prakan to give alms to 99 monks in honour of His Majesty.

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The ceremony was opened by Wanida Bunprakhong, the new Governor of Samut Prakan. She first paid homage to a Buddha image and then took part in chanting. Attending the event were many local government officials who all came together to pay homage to His Majesty. A similar event was being held at the same time all around Thailand. H.M. The King is regarded as a father to all Thai people as they love him so much. This day is also celebrated as National Father’s Day.

After the chanting had finished, the Governor led the local people in giving alms to several hundred monks. Tables had been set up around the parade ground and local people had gathered behind them since early morning. They did this to make merit on behalf of H.M. The King. To make the most merit, the food should have been prepared by themselves before they arrived and not bought at a food stall. Leftovers from the night before must never be given to monks.

The local people stood behind the tables as the monks slowly made their way down the row. People were giving fresh food as well as pre-prepared packages such as pot noodles that you can see in this picture. As some of these items were too big for the alms bowls, each of the monks were assisted by temple boys who carried big sacks. The monk then emptied their bowls into these sacks. By the end of the alms giving event, the pick-up trucks from the temples were full with sacks of food. Local people also gave the monks purple orchid flowers and also envelopes containing money.

After the alms giving had finished, Wanida Bunprakhong and local people made merit for H.M. The King by releasing 1,000,000 sea creatures into the Chao Phraya River. This is a common event done to make merit for birthdays. People usually release birds or fish. I thought that 1,000,000 was a staggering number to release in one go, but it turned out to be very small shrimps. These were in plastic bags which people emptied out into a large tub of water. From this there was a pipe which washed the shrimps out into the river below. This evening, Wanida Bunprakhong will lead the local people to light candles to wish the monarch a happy birthday.

The Vegetarian Festival has now reached its seventh day in Samut Prakan. Last night, many devotees went to the City Hall Plaza to float krathongs on the Chao Phraya River. This was done as a kind of invitiation to the dead souls to come to a feast on the following day.

This is what happened today at Rong Jay Thong Siang in Taiban. Hundreds of local people came to the VegetarianHouse to offer food first to their own dead ancestors and then to all the dead souls.

In addition, they bought a food package consisting of a bag of rice and bananas. These were then later distributed to the poor. The Vegetarian Festival finishes on Thursday 6th October with a giant parade through town early in the morning.

Everyone knows about Loy Krathong that happens on the full moon in November. However, not many people know that we have another Loy Krathong in October. The phrase “loy krathong” means to float a bowl shaped container. It is not a festival like Christmas which celebrates a particular event. You can actually float a krathong at any time of the year. The annual event I went to tonight was called “Loy Krathong Jay” and is part of the ten day Vegetarian Festival that we are having in Thailand at the moment. The ceremony started at Rong Jay Thong Sian, near Taiban Circle in Paknam, and then all the participants walked all the way down to the Chao Phraya River at the City Hall Plaza. They were accompanied with musical instruments for their fifteen minute walk through the town.

We were lucky with the rain this year as it stopped shortly before the ceremony was due to start. A table was set up with candles and a food offering for the ancestors. Three monks led the chanting. The idea behind this ceremony is to change your misfortune and to float away your bad luck on the krathongs. But, this ceremony was also held to transfer this merit to the dead souls in the water and on earth. Each krathong had incense sticks which were lit before it was floated on the water. One horse-shaped krathong was also set on fire which is a common thing in Chinese ceremonies to pass merit onto dead ancestors.

The whole ceremony was over within 15 minutes. After the last krathong had been floated on the water, everyone then set off for the walk back to the Chinese temple. We are now more than half way through the Vegetarian Festival. There are more ceremonies to make merit for ancestors. On the last day, Thursday 6th October 2011, there will be a big parade through the town. I will be bringing you pictures of this parade next week. I have also posted some pictures of the vegetarian food that I have been eating over at www.ThaiFoodPhotos.com. More pictures from tonight can be seen on my facebook page.

Yesterday marked the official start of the Vegetarian Festival in Thailand. In Samut Prakan it runs from 26th September to 6th October 2011. We went to Thong Siang Vegetarian House in Samut Prakan to watch this opening ceremony. The event was a signal for the nine Gods to come down to earth. Something similar happened all over Thailand. During the following ten days, people will keep a strict vegetarian diet and also obey ten basic rules which will help cleanse their mind and body. The symbol for the festival is a small yellow flag with the words in Thai “jay” which means “vegetarian”. In Thai culture, yellow represents Buddhism and good moral conduct. When looking to buy vegetarian food, we need to look out for the small yellow flags on the foodstalls.

According to legend, the nine Gods come down from heaven to inspect the earth and to record the good and bad deeds of everyone. So, during the festival it is important for Chinese people to be on their best behaviour. Refraining from eating meat means less animals being slaughtered which will gain them some merit. People taking part in the festival will often wear white and will visit their local shrines to pay respect to the spirits. If you want to visit a shrine then you should wear white too out of respect. In addition to not eating meat, strong smelling vegetables cannot be eaten. Such as garlic, onion, spring onion, Chinese chives and Chinese parsley. In Thailand, many popular Thai dishes are replicated by using tofu and extra mushrooms.

These days, it is not only people of Chinese descent that are following the strict vegetarian diet. It is also Thai people and foreigners who are living here in Thailand. Here are the ten rules that you must keep during the festival:

1. Keep your body clean during the nine days of the festival
2. Use special kitchen utensils that have never been used to prepare and cook meat
3. Wear white or yellow during the festival
4. Make your mind pure and mentally calm
5. Do not eat meat or animal products such as milk and butter, and strong smelling ingredients such as garlic and onion
6. No sex
7. No alcoholic drinks or tobacco
8. People who are mourning should not attend the festival
9. Pregnant ladies should not attend any of the ceremonies
10. Ladies who are having a period should not attend any of the ceremonies