Stepping out into the peaceful night air we were instantly blasted by the thumping sounds of Thai rock music.

“Where is the music coming from?” Kyle asked as we left our house for an evening walk.

“I think it is coming from Wat Saw Hin, but I’m not sure,” I responded as we began to walk.

Within minutes we discovered that my assumption was correct, but what we saw surprised us.  Inside the temple compound was a stage set up with live musicians singing and dancing on it.  Seeing this on the temple ground seemed to fly in the face of everything we have understood Buddhist temples to stand for.  Typically the temple grounds are a very quiet, peaceful and reverent place for Buddhist worshipers to come to.  As we continued walking around the walls outside the temple we thought we could hear a Buddhist religious service taking place on the opposite end.  Being extremely curious about what was going on inside the walls we decided to go in and take a look.

There was indeed a religious ceremony going on as we entered, so we stopped to watch.  Over one hundred people sat in chairs with their hands folded in prayer.  They all sat around a beautifully decorated statue of a giant / god.  At one point, one of the officiating monks walked around the crowd sprinkling “holy water” on everyone, the twinkle in his eye seemed to say that he was really enjoying this “religious duty.”  There were also people selling lottery tickets, just hanging around the crowds waiting for the ceremony to end so the worshipers could buy tickets.

Being curious about what else was taking place, we decided to explore further.  We were surprised to see a Clint Eastwood western film (translated into Thai) being projected onto a large screen, a live play about a princess, a Thai rock concert, and carnival-type games, all taking place simultaneously along with the religious ceremony.  Kyle even told me that as we left the temple he noticed a boy, about 16 years old drinking alcohol just outside the temple grounds.

Since this experience left us perplexed we decided that we would ask our monk friend Sanga about it on our next visit.  Sanga told us that the statue they were worshiping was a Hindu god that is believed to grant good luck (that would explain the lottery tickets).  He continued to explain that most of the statues seen around Buddhist temples in Thailand are of Hindu gods.  The ironic thing is that the original Buddha never intended his followers to worship images of him or any other god’s, but only follow his teachings; but in every temple you will find many images.  Sanga shared that many Thai’s are only interested in performing the ceremonies that will earn them merit rather than conforming their lives to the Buddhist moral code of conduct, the 5 precepts (Don’t drink alcohol, Don’t kill, Don’t lie, Don’t steal, Don’t have illicit sex), and following the Buddha’s teachings.  He also said that some temples will allow worldly entertainment on their grounds because many of their financial supporters push for it as a way to attract more people to the temple.  However he said that he felt like it would be best for things like that not to take place at the temple; we could tell he felt burdened by some of the compromises taking place within his religion.

On a slightly different note, two Sabbath’s ago Sanga and another monk came to church with Kyle and I! The church warmly welcomed them, making sure that their time at church was pleasant.  Sanga was excited about the whole experience since this was his first time ever coming to a Christian church or hearing a sermon.  We had to smile as they took pictures of the service, food, and the portrait of the Ten Commandments hanging on a church wall.  “This must be what foreigners look like when they visit the temple,” we thought to ourselves.  After church Sanga and his friend had an opportunity to speak with the pastor for over an hour and discuss the differences and similarities between the two religions.  Please continue to pray for Sanga and us as we continue to meet weekly to discuss religion.  Also, there are currently riots going on in Bangkok, as many are disgruntled with the current political situation, please keep this situation in your prayers as well.  May the Lord bless you all!

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