 | Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand |  |
THE `SUKHWAN' AS A RITUAL TECHNIQUE
I will now sum up the logic of the structure of the sukhwan ritual and the
effect it is meant to transmit.
Village theory is that persons in particular situations experience mental
turmoil or disturbance, which is represented as the flight of the khwan,
a spiritual essence. We noted that the ceremony is held not so much to
cure a disease—organic or mental (`madness')—but to charge or restore
morale, especially at rites of passage or situations of transition. The
ceremony is a cultural imperative, which implies that society attributes
to the celebrant the state of mind in question; essentially the ritual is
devised to say something to the celebrant and to create in his mind certain
effects.
The general form of the ceremony, whatever the occasion at which it
is performed, is the same: the calling of the khwan and the physical
transference of it. But each of the three situations we examined has its
particular features as regards the kinds of persons present at the rite in
a supporting role. In marriage, the elders, both male and female, are the
sponsors, gift givers, receivers of respect from the couple, and the chief
binders of khwan; at the same time, young persons sit with the couple
and hold the cord and charge them with vitality. In ordination the elders
once again figure importantly, but the special feature of initiation into
ascetic monkhood in theory excludes any layman (except the officiant)
from holding the cord; but it is possible, I think, for elders also to do so.
At the rite of pregnancy, only elderly women hold the cord and act as
witnesses; the husband's presence is recommended.
These patterns of participation of supporting witnesses of specified
status link meaningfully with the messages transmitted by the sacred
words, the recitation of which comprises the major part of the ritual.
In marriage certain cultural norms are transmitted: the elders together
with the gods, it is said, are assembled to legitimate the union; the couple
is subjectively influenced to accept each other as desirable sexual partners;
and finally, kinship norms are inculcated in detail. In ordination, the
ordinand is told that filial obligation is the justification for his having to
awaits him as a maker and transferrer of merit. The situation of the
pregnant woman is somewhat different—she is after all in an uncomfortable
physical condition and moreover faces an objective danger. Childbirth
is, in the village in question, a dangerous occasion and the mortality of
mother and child a real danger. The ritual therefore is more therapeutic
in construction, more concerned with moulding the mind. The method
we observed was directed to making the pregnant woman consciously
focus upon and become aware of her present condition with all its discomforts,
to binding her to her husband and the reality of married life,
to making her imaginatively experience childbirth, and to formulating for
her the care of the baby as a desirable and desired end. The image created
of a successful childbirth and the support derived from elderly women,
who have been successful mothers themselves, are effectively conceived
modes of assurance and of restoring morale.
Thus the sacred words have an ambit of significance—defining status
and role requirements, binding a person to his role or status (internalization
of norms), using of word pictures to revive past experience,
formulating present experience and anticipating the future, painting the
ritual situation as a grand mythological event in which the actors become
gods themselves—apart from that of the technology of the ritual as such,
which takes the standard form of invoking the errant khwan and transferring
it to the body. But even here, certain objects like candles transmit subtle
messages which reinforce the messages transmitted through words.
We are now in a better position to understand why the words recited
in sukhwan ritual have necessarily to be in a language that can be understood
by the participants. In so far as the ritual is instrumentally constructed
to act as a prophylactic or therapy, the contents of the verbal message
have to be understood for achieving the specified effect, which is of course
buttressed by the other message contents and the role of elders. By
contrast, the semantics of the rituals conducted by monks are more
complex and the effects sought non-specific. On one side are the lay
worshippers, who by ethical intention and the act of giving gifts express
a kind of renunciation; on the other side, the monks by virtue of their
ascetic qualities and acts are the proper vehicles for transferring grace.
The ritual words and acts are interconnected through metaphorical and
metonymical devices, and while the understanding of their immediate
meaning is not necessary for the laity, they do believe in the efficacy of
the transfer of grace through the power of the sacred words, because
of their three-dimensional links with Buddha, the Dhamma and the
Sangha.
| Buddhism and the spirit cults in North-east Thailand | |