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7
THE PHASES OF MONKHOOD

The samanera and the bhikkhu are two religious statuses recognized in
traditional Buddhism and found in all Theravada countries. The samanera
(neen in North-eastern Thai) is usually translated as `novice'. The word
itself means `ascetic'. The classical rule is that to be admitted as novice
the candidate must be at least eight years of age. We have already noted
that a novice is not properly a member of the Sangha. Although he can
conduct certain rites he cannot take part in the assembly of monks dealing
with matters of discipline and administration. He is subject to the observance
of ten precepts.

The bhikkhu (phraa in Thai) alone receives the upasampada (ordination).
Bhikkhu means `mendicant' and is usually rendered in English as `monk'.
The classical rule is that to become a monk a man must be at least twenty
years of age, and on ordination he undertakes to observe the 227 precepts.
It is also set down in traditional texts that in order to become a novice
or a monk the candidate should have obtained the consent of his parents,
and that he is debarred if he is suffering from certain diseases (including
epilepsy and leprosy) or if he is in debt, or is a slave or a soldier (or
otherwise engaged in the king's service).

The ceremonies by which a novice is admitted and a monk ordained
are also set down in texts and the Theravada countries follow fairly
closely the prescribed procedure. But there are sequences and details of
great anthropological interest that have been incorporated into the rites,
and which I shall describe later as witnessed in Baan Phraan Muan.

The ideal progression in the North-east (and in Central Thailand) was
one through three positions: from dekwat (temple boy) to novice to
monk. (In actual practice there have been and are discontinuities which
have increased in recent times.)

The dekwat is a young boy who lives either in the wat or in the village
with his parents, who ministers to the needs of monks and novices, and
is at the same time taught the rudiments of reading and writing at the
school run by the monks. This is the traditional conception, and, apart
from the fact it was by being a dekwat that a village boy could in the past
(when no government-run schools existed) learn to read and write, it is
clear this preliminary training was for some of the boys the first stage in
the ladder of religious statuses.

Thus while today, in the village of Baan Phraan Muan, the institution
of dekwat is non-existent, it was important in the past. Around the turn
of this century the abbot of the local wat ran a school for about six or
seven boys who lived in the wat. They were taught to read and write
the Thai script. By about 1930 the government had proclaimed a programme
of compulsory primary education. The abbot still ran the school and
was paid for it, but the number of students, boys and girls, had swelled
to eighty, and it was not necessary any more to be a dekwat in order to
learn.[1] Soon afterwards secular teachers were appointed, and although
until 1966 the school was held in the wat premises—in the sala (preaching
hall)—it had become divorced from the control and participation of the
resident monks and novices.

A word also about the religious status of bhikkhuni (female mendicant),
usually translated as `nun'. Although ordained nuns were a feature of
ancient Buddhist India and appear to have been a feature of Thailand
in the past, it is said that the ordination succession has been lost. There
are no bhikkhuni in the village of Phraan Muan. In other parts of Thailand
there are some (old) women who, though not initiated, approximate this
vocation, but they are not held in esteem and are peripheral to institutional
Buddhism. The salvation quest is very much a male pursuit. The inferiority
of women in respect of the Buddhist quest is doctrinally well established.
But we shall see that they can receive the fruits of male merit acquisition
and are in important ways the `support' of the religion.

NOVICES AND MONKS

In theory novicehood not only precedes monkhood but is a preparation
for it. The religious vocation in Buddhism (as in any of the `world religions'
which have their dogma and doctrine set out in texts) can be followed
properly only with the aid of literacy. A novice therefore is supposed to
acquire progressively over the years the doctrinal knowledge, to learn
the chants and the ritual procedures. Then as a monk he ascends into
the higher reaches of Buddhism. While this conventional progression
was to some extent true in the past, it is much less evident today. It is
therefore necessary to establish the underlying pattern and the contemporary
changes.

Novicehood is entered upon in adolescence, usually between the ages

of twelve and eighteen. A requirement (which is a regulation of the
Sangha) today is that a candidate shall have passed the fourth grade in
the primary school. In the past it would appear that most novices were
initiated in late adolescence—after a gap of some years following the
early schooling as dekwat. It was usual for a good number of these novices
to stay in the wat until they were twenty years old and then to become
ordained as monks. Thus in terms of numbers novicehood was not in the
past (nor is it today) a popular form of religious service, for adolescents
became novices primarily in order to learn for a couple of years as
a prelude to monkhood of some duration, if not life-long vocation. (Quite
distinct from this kind of novicehood is the institution of temporary
novicehood that is entered upon for a few weeks by grandsons or sons to
make merit for a dead grandparent or parent.)

Both traditionally and today, the usual time for becoming a monk is
early adulthood (twenty to twenty-one years), and prior to marriage.
In the village it is unusual for a married man to renounce family life;
however, as might be expected, it is not unknown for an old man to
become a monk towards the end of his life, especially when he is no
longer a family head or has no family.

The formal restrictions to entry as novice or monk are in practice
minimal. We have seen that a minimum educational qualification is
required of the novice (and therefore of the monk). Formal permission
to be initiated is obtained from the tambon (commune) abbot. This is
really a paper formality and virtually all village candidates for ordination
are accepted, provided the local village abbot agrees to recommend.
The ordination ritual asks of the candidate whether he is free of certain
impediments which are not seriously restrictive.

There are two remarkable divergencies in the village from the doctrinal
assertion regarding the salvation quest of the monk as a world-renouncer.
First, that both in the past and in the present, ordination to monkhood
has been more popular than novicehood; secondly, the period of service
as monk has been for the vast majority of cases of short duration, followed
by resumption of lay life, marriage, and the founding of a family. A minority
continue as professional monks, but are not necessarily committed to
life-long service. This feature calls for an anthropological interpretation,
since no explanation is provided by the doctrinal texts.

There are elders in the village who have travelled the path from temple
boy to novice to monk and then to lay life. The following biographical
facts, relating to three elders who are the village's most illustrious citizens,
provide good illustration. Phautu Phan (`Grandfather Phan'), who is
over seventy years old (1966), is the village's most renowned mau ya

(physician) as well as mau khwan (lay ritual officiant at khwan ceremonies),
and a leader of the lay congregation at Buddhist rites. From the age of
twelve to sixteen years he was a novice, and became thoroughly literate
in Tham and Lao dialects. He became a monk at the age of twenty-one
and continued for three years of service and study. Achaan Pun is an
ex-abbot of the temple and a leader of the congregation. He is sixty-four
years old. He went to the temple school as dekwat from the age of ten
to twelve years; at eighteen he became a novice for two years and then
a monk, which he remained for seven years, becoming the abbot in his
fourth year. After some time he resumed lay life, and is now a householder.
Phau (`father') Champi, aged fifty-nine, is perhaps the most respected
elder of the village and the successor of Phautu Phan, who is now too
old to be active. Champi started to go to the village school at the time
compulsory education was first proclaimed, and studied there for five
years (from the age of nine to fourteen); at seventeen he became a novice,
and stayed on in the temple to become a monk three years later. He gave
up his robes after one year as monk.

The contemporary complication is that since secular schooling, especially
secondary schooling, is available, a lesser number of boys become novices
because the monastery is not the sole institution of learning nor is its
learning competitive with that transmitted by schools preparing for
secular occupations. But the institution of novicehood is by no means
dead; it is, however, becoming increasingly shorter in point of service,
and increasingly approximates the temporary vocation of monkhood
which can and does persist without interference because of its brevity.
Nonetheless, it is still true to say that novicehood represents apprenticeship
to professional monkhood. The minority who function as monks for
some length of time or indefinitely tend to have novicehood behind
them.

With these preliminaries stated I can now deal with some statistics
relating to the annual intake of monks and novices into the village wat,
and the length of their service. I shall first give the picture for 1961, and
then make brief statements for the years 1963-6.

Before the onset of the Lent season[2] in 1961 three young men were
ordained as monks in Baan Phraan Muan. Two were twenty-one years old
and the third twenty-three; all three left the priesthood at the end of Lent
in late November, about four months later. Two other monks who had
been ordained previously stayed on after Lent. One was the abbot of the
wat, who was twenty-two years old and had been ordained in 1959 (after
a spell of novicehood in 1954). He gave up his robes in early 1962, when

we were in the field, but returned to monkhood later in the year in
November. The fifth monk was ordained in early 1961, having been
a novice in 1957; in 1962 he was still in robes, although it was certain he,
too, would give them up at any time.

In 1961 three youths were ordained as novices; two were seventeen
and one was eighteen—somewhat older than the usual age of ordination
to novicehood. In a village those who become novices are likely to stay
on in the wat in that status for a longer period than most of the young
men who are ordained as monks. However, it is the custom that a monk—
irrespective of when he was ordained—must complete one entire Lenten
season, whereas a young boy may be ordained as a novice for a few
weeks only, in order to make merit for a dead relative, usually of the
grandparental generation.

All the monks and novices referred to above—except one—were sons
of village households; the odd man out was in fact no stranger: his parents
had migrated and he was ordained in what was considered the traditional
village wat of his parents.

The year 1962 was a lean one for the village wat. The abbot himself
had left the wat and no new monks or novices were ordained. But in 1963
there was a relatively large number of ordinations: five monks (three
aged twenty and two twenty-one) were ordained. All spent about seven
or eight months in the wat and resumed lay life in January 1964 during
harvesting time. In the same year, seven novices ranging in age from
twelve to fourteen years were ordained; their period of stay at the wat
varied, ranging from four months (two cases), eight months (two cases),
and ten months (two cases) to sixteen months (one case).

In 1964 four young men, three of whom were twenty-one years old
and the fourth twenty-four years, were ordained; they, too, left the
wat at the beginning of the following year after eight months of service.
Four novices of age twelve to thirteen years also took robes: one left after
five months, another after nine months, the third after thirteen months,
and the last was still a novice in 1966. During the Lent season of 1966,
there were six monks and five novices in the wat, of whom five monks
and four novices were newly ordained.

The point that emerges from these facts is that annually a group of
young men and youths from the village are ordained, and at the conclusion
of Lent or soon thereafter the majority resume lay life. At the village level,
then, monkhood does not normally imply professionalism or life-long
vocation. If ordination to monkhood is in religious terms a rite of initiation,
in social terms it is distinctly a rite of passage for young men before they
marry and set up their own households.

The turnover in the population of monks in Baan Phraan Muan is
dramatic. Usually the abbot of a village wat and one or two other monks
form a core of professionals or semi-professionals who give continuity
by being in robes for some years. Abbot Tongloon, the present abbot,
a young man only twenty-two years old, is one of the few professional
monks produced by the village. He had his normal village primary schooling
from age nine to fourteen; immediately afterwards he became a novice,
and remained so until he was twenty. He was then ordained a monk.
He has passed three nagtham examinations and after his second was given
permission by the clerical authorities to teach monks and novices in the
village. While the abbot of a village temple may in fact decide to be a
life-long priest, others who see a service of more than one Lent usually
resume lay life after at most three years. In fact the main continuity in
the Baan Phraan Muan wat was provided by an elderly monk, born in the
village, who had been the local abbot for several years before being
promoted abbot of a larger temple in another district. However, he
retained his interest in and control over the affairs of wat Phraan Muan:
he was consulted in financial matters, he conducted the ordination ceremonies
or gave his approval to prospective candidates, and he was the
chief officiant at major annual collective rites such as Bun Phraawes. It is
interesting that there were in Phraan Muan two ex-abbots who at the
time of fieldwork were elderly household heads.

The fact that, at the village level, true religious professionals are few
and monkhood is virtually a rite of passage—not indeed for all young
men but for a good number of them—can be established by statistics
relating to the religious service performed by a sample of 106 family
heads out of a total universe of 182 households. Over half of the family
heads had served as monks, about a third as novices, and nearly a fifth
as both. This lends substance to my assertion that both monkhood and
novicehood must be viewed as rites of passage; this in turn raises the
question of how they are integrated with various levels of social structure
and how they also reflect underlying social principles.

Why do youths and young men lead a monastic life as a phase of their
lives? While of course a novice or a monk makes merit for himself by
assuming a religious role, a frequent statement made by both layman
and novice/monk is that becoming a monk confers merit on one's parents.
It is said in the village, for instance, that a novice in his first year makes
merit for his mother, in his second for his father. This is interesting in
view of the popular evaluation of women as religiously `inferior' to men,
since only the latter can become monks. A frequent occasion on which
a young boy becomes a novice is when a parent or grandparent dies, and

the youth is required to make merit for the deceased in order to further
the latter's progress after death.

Monkhood is of greater religious merit than novicehood. That a son
should show gratitude to his parents by being ordained is part of village
ideology and village expression of filial piety. The very `sponsoring' of
an ordination ceremony is considered a meritorious act par excellence.
This ceremony, then, lends itself to a conspicuous public statement of
religious piety. At the village level, and in popular Buddhism generally,
merit accrues to everyone who contributes to the holding of a ceremony.

THREE RITUALS: ORDINATION, DE-ROBING, AND
HONOURING THE MONK

The rest of this chapter is devoted to the description and analysis of
three rituals. The first two dramatize the entry of a man into monkhood,
and his departure from it; the third concerns the monk who decides to
remain in robes and is periodically honoured by his lay supporters. These
rituals use symbols and express themes which we shall meet again and
again at different levels and in different contexts of behaviour.

Ordination

I have already stated that the procedure for ordination (upasampada) is
laid down in the texts and followed in various Buddhist countries, but
that the simple classical rite has been elaborated on in different social
contexts. Within Thailand itself there are differences of detail. The rite
is called bun buad in Phraan Muan village. I shall describe briefly the
major sequences in the rite of ordination in the village so as to bring
out both the merit orientations of the actors and the social implications
of what is at first sight a purely religious event.

The rite of admission for a novice does not require a separate description.
The usual practice is for novices to be admitted at the same ceremony
at which monks are ordained before the Lent season. In the sequence of
rites at a monk's ordination, the candidate is first initiated as a novice
and then ordained monk by virtue of additional ceremonial sequences.
Thus the admission ceremony for a novice is the first part of the ceremony
for a monk, and for ceremonial as well as practical reasons a joint initiation
rite is feasible. In Phraan Muan village it is the custom to hold village-supported
collective rituals in which novices and monks are ordained as
a group. A novice or a monk can of course be initiated separately.

I have already, in Chapter 5, elucidated the importance of the rain
retreat (Vassa) in early Buddhism as an important marker in monastic

life. True to the classical time-table, the rain retreat (called Khaw Phansa =
entering Lent) as practised in the village (and elsewhere in Thailand) is
timed to coincide with the height of the monsoon rains. The ordination
of monks and novices typically takes place in the preceding few weeks
before the start of the Lenten season in July. Since the Lenten season
coincides with the monsoon rains we see how conveniently the ordination
of young men fits into a particular stage of the paddy cultivation cycle.
They are usually ordained during the growing phase of rice, when there
is little work to be done in the fields and their labour is not required.

Ordination rites (bun buad) take place over two days. The candidate
(called nag, which is explicitly recognized as referring to Nag or Naga,
the serpent) spends an initial period of `separation', which lasts seven
days, at the wat; the ostensible reason for this is so that he can spend
the time learning the precepts, the words (in Pali) with which he requests
permission to be ordained, and the answers to the questions that will
be put to him at the ordination rite at the wat.

The day previous to the ordination is called wan ruam (or wan hoam);
the day of ordination is wan buad. The word ruam means `bring together'
and signifies the preparations of kinsmen and fellow villagers for the
following day. They gather at the house of the nag to make delicacies,
betel packets, cigarettes and candles. The most important feature of
preparation is the assembling of the ritual articles of ordination, the eight
requisites of the monk (kryang buad or kryang meng). The articles listed
by the local villagers are: a set of robes (two garments), an umbrella,
a monk's bowl, a pair of slippers, a lamp, a razor and a spitton.[3] These
articles are bought by the parents. Relatives and friends on this day
contribute money-to-the-parents (ngoen phau) and other articles for the
monk's use, like pillows and cushions. It is said, significantly, that pillows
are usually contributed by the girl friends (phuu saw) of the nag.

On the morning of wan ruam the head of the nag is shaved at the wat
by the abbot; the parents and kin of the nag do not participate in this
sequence. The significance of head-shaving as symbolic renunciation of
sexuality is, I think, clear enough (see Leach 1958). Then the nag comes
home, where he is dressed in pha mai (a loin cloth usually red or green
in colour) and pha biang khaw—a long white cloth worn diagonally over
the left shoulder. (`White colour means the Buddhist religion', said an
informant. The nag shows his transitional status by wearing both a white
cloth and a contrasting red or green cloth.)

In the afternoon takes place the most important ritual sequence of
wan ruam—this is the ceremony of sukhwan nag performed at the sala
by the elders of the village (phuu thaw) for all the nag who will be ordained
on the next day. The `requisites of the monk' have already been deposited
in the sala and a conical ceremonial structure (pha khwan) prepared.
The monks of the wat do not participate in this ceremony. It is one of the
general class called sukhwan rites, the ritual details of which will be
analysed in a subsequent chapter. Here I shall focus on what is implied
in `calling the khwan'.

The calling of the khwan (spirit essence) has a dual purpose. The first
is the familiar one of calling the khwan of the nag to enter his body, which
is followed by the sprinkling of perfumed water (nam haum) and the
binding of the wrists. The elders give the nag morale and charge him
with confidence before his change of status. Secondly and more relevantly
to our present interests, a part of the text recited by the officiant, a lay
elder, emphasizes that, in becoming a monk, the nag is fulfilling his filial
obligations. To him are described the burdens borne by his mother—
during her pregnancy, at childbirth, and in bringing him up.

The khwan ceremony[4] is followed by the chanting of monks, who now
participate for the first time. The monks perform suad-mongkhon nag
(chanting for the prosperity of the nag).[5] Just as the lay elders hold
a threshold and blessing ceremony for the nag, so do the monks, to enable
the nag's change from a secular to a sacred status.

Now to describe wan buad. The sponsors of the ordination ceremony
(usually parents) as well as the villagers take food to the sala in early
morning to feast the monks. Then a drum is beaten and the villagers
congregate to form a procession. The upacha (principal officiant at the
ordination), the two achaan suad (the two teacher monks who will direct
and assist each nag) and the nag themselves are carried in palanquins to
the wat. The procession circumambulates the sala three times in a clockwise
direction (wian sai); the parents and relatives of each nag wash his
feet with perfumed water (`to wash away all defects because the "nag"
is leaving a layman's life'), and then the nag are carried into the bood.

Then begins the ordination rite proper which is composed of (variant)
procedures laid down in Buddhist liturgy accompanied by others of
local derivation. (See Kaufman 1960 and Rajadhon 1961 for descriptions
of the ceremony in Central Thailand, and Yoe 1896, Ch. 12, in Burma.
Also see Paul Levy 1968 who reports variant procedures.) I shall hereafter

describe the ceremony as if only one monk is being ordained, for the
same description applies to collective ordination under the same upacha.

A sangha or chapter of monks will have been called and sits in the
bood: it consists of the upacha (the principal ordainer), two achaan suad
(literally the teacher-monks who chant at the ceremony, but who also
act as the candidate's mentors) and other monks in attendance. A chapter
of a minimum of five monks is necessary to validate ordination.

The parents of the candidate stand by the requisites of the monk, with the
father holding the robe. The nag first approaches his father, does obeisance
to him (by prostrating in an attitude of worship), and asks for the robes.
The father hands him the robes and leads him by the hand to the upacha.

The nag, having done obeisance three times to the upacha, then asks
for permission to be ordained. The upacha holds the nag's hand and
recites the formula of meditation on the perishable nature of the human
body. As the villagers put it: `The nag is told that head hair (kesa), body
hair (loma), fingernails (nakha), teeth (danta); these things are impermanent.'
The upacha then places the phabieng (a yellow sash) on the nag's shoulder.
The nag approaches the two mentors, carrying his robes, and they help
him to don them. He requests the ten precepts and the mentors administer
them, he repeating after them. Now the nag is a novice. This is the end
of the first stage of the ceremony called pabbajja (to go forth).

Certain subsequent steps (upasampada) make him a monk and grant
him admission to the Sangha. The novice's parents hand over the alms
bowl and gifts in cash and kind to the upacha, who slings the bowl on the
novice's shoulder. The novice again returns to his mentors, who take
him aside and one of whom interrogates him as to whether he has the
proper qualifications for monkhood. (The questions asked are whether
he is a human being, a male, of the right age, has secured the consent of
his parents, is free of debt and of certain diseases, and is not a fugitive
from justice.) Having satisfied themselves, the mentors report to the
assembly and request it to admit the ordinand. The second achaan then
informs the novice of he more important rules by which he will have to
abide (concerning food, garments, residence, the medicine he may use,
the crimes that involve expulsion, etc.), and gives a moral discourse on
the vocation of the monk.

The mentors begin the chant called suad nag which extols the glories
of being a monk. The chanting concludes with a full-throated, majestic
and jubilant victory blessing (chayanto) while the new monk `pours water'
(yaad nam) as a sign of transferring merit to his parents and kin; the
parents themselves enact the same rite to impart some of the merit they
have acquired to their dead parents and other ancestors.

The final sequence is the feasting of monks, kin and villagers by the
parents of the newly ordained monk.

The foregoing description brings out the following salient features
which surround and penetrate a religious installation. It substantiates
village ideology. The sponsoring of and participation in an ordination
rite is a channel for acquiring merit; parents as the sponsors are primary
recipients; kinsmen and fellow villagers are secondary recipients. Ordination
becomes a matter of collective interest to the village in the same way as
do mortuary rites, as we shall see later. Moreover, it is clear that ordination
is an event in which merit is transferred by the monk who is of a filial
generation to his elders, who in fact install him in this office. It is relevant
here to note, for example, that when the ordaining monks at the end of
initiation chant their blessings, the newly ordained transfers merit to his
parents and kin by means of water-pouring. We thus begin to see, in the
institution of monkhood, a pattern of reciprocity and exchange of values
between the parental and filial generations in the village—a theme which
I shall elaborate as we study other aspects of religious behaviour.[6]

At this point it is relevant to comment upon one symbol which will
recur later in its multiple facets. We have seen that the candidate for
ordination is called nag and that villagers explicitly identify this word
with the Nag (or Naga), the water serpent. Why should a man in his
transitional status just before ordination be called a nag?

The accepted explanation of this usage is the story that a Naga, during
the time of Buddha, assumed human form and was ordained as a monk.
One day he was discovered in his true serpentine form when he was asleep.
The Buddha expelled him from the Order, for only a human being can
be a monk.[7] But the Naga pleaded that if his religious desires could not
be fulfilled through monkhood, at least he should be remembered by
calling every initiate nag before ordination. I shall develop the Naga
symbolism later. I wish to suggest here that the point of this story is
that a human being in entering the status of ascetic monk leaves behind
and renounces the attributes of nag—virility or sexuality, and similar
attributes of secular life; or, to put it differently, nag and monk (phraa)
are opposed states and through ordination a man makes the passage from
one status to the other.

This interpretation throws light on another custom reported for Central
Thailand by Rajadhon (1961) and interpreted by him in a rather simpleminded
way. The young man who has consented to become a monk is
taken in procession on the eve of his ordination so that he can pay his
respects to his senior relatives and superiors. On this occasion he carries
with him weapons. Rajadhon interprets this as an act of safeguard against
enemies who see this as the last chance to avenge an injury, because
a monk in robes is inviolate and sacred. It is more illuminating to see the
parading of weapons as a ritually heightened expression of the candidate's
secular attributes of virility and aggressiveness which he will shed when
he becomes a monk and adopts the value of non-violence (ahimsa) and
celibacy.

Finally, while the ritual as a whole states a reciprocal relation between,
on the one hand, parents and kin (and laymen in general) and on the
other the monk, it also emphasizes the essential features of a monk's
life that distinguish it from a layman's. The public avowal of the precepts
and rules of monastic discipline, and the pointed admonition of the
upacha as to the impermanence of the body, are reinforced by another
ritual feature widely encountered in Thailand. When the assembly of
monks makes the actual pronouncement of ordination, no pregnant woman
should be present. If she is present she will suffer a hard labour. What
better statement that the monk's renunciation of lay life is the opposite
of sexuality and birth?

De-robing

A noteworthy feature of Buddhist monastic life is the recognition that
a monk may give up his robes as freely as he assumed them. The circumstances
under which monks may wish to de-robe have been expressly
recognized from early times. They are: inability to remain sexually
continent; impatience of restraint; a wish to enter upon worldly engagements;
the love of parents or friends; or doubts as to the truth of the
system propounded by the Buddha (Hardy 1860, p. 46). But lest this
privilege be abused by a monk, who while in robes might offend against
the rules of discipline and then invoke the privilege to escape sanction,
it was decreed that no monk shall give up his robes without express
permission being granted by a legally constituted chapter of monks.

Building upon this traditional rule, the village rite of de-robing shows
interesting elaborations. We have already seen that the period of religious
service is short and that there is a rapid turnover in the religious personnel
of the village wat.

There is absolutely no odium attached to leaving the wat to resume

lay life. When a monk or novice feels he wants to leave he must first
inform the abbot and then his parents. He also takes flowers and candles
to pay his respects to the upacha and achaan suad who officiated at his
ordination. With the abbot's agreement secured, an auspicious date and
time are ascertained by the parents by consulting the maulek (astrologer).
On the appointed day, the monk approaches the abbot and other assembled
monks in the bood with khanha (five pairs of candles and five pairs of
flowers) and hands them over. He asks in Pali for permission to leave
monkhood; the abbot removes the sangkati (robe worn on the shoulder);
then the monk changes into lay clothes and approaches the abbot again
to receive the five precepts. It is easily seen that these acts are a precise
reversal of those enacted in the ordination rite. After de-robing, the
ex-monk has to stay in the wat for one to three nights (and days), and
during this time clean the khuti (monk's residence), toilet, and sala in
order to remove `all sins committed while he was a monk'.

The ex-monk leaves the wat in a direction determined by the astrologer,
carrying an umbrella and his suitcase. At the gate of the wat he is met and
welcomed by a `virgin' who takes his hand and leads him out. The girl
is chosen by the outgoing ex-monk and is usually his girl friend. As one
informant put it: `The girl receives him because they haven't conversed
with each other for a long time and therefore she missed him.' It is
believed that the virgin will bring him good luck and prosperity. (I will
comment later on this incident signifying man's passage from the sacred
to the secular world.)

The rite of honouring the monk

A remarkable ritual in North-east Thailand, which is organized and
sponsored by the villagers themselves, has for its purpose the honouring
of monks by investing them with titles as a mark of appreciation for their
piety and services. A monk of long-standing service may earn an array
of ranked titles over the years. The ritual highlights not only the prestige
and honour that attaches to the vocation of monk but also the symbiotic
relationship of the monk and his village congregation.

The holding of these rites is also reported for Laos, and there is some
evidence suggesting that the city of Vientianne (Wiangchan), which is
an important centre of Buddhism, may have been a focal point for their
elaboration and spread.

Informants reported that traditionally in the North-east eight grades
of titles were recognized. I give them in ascending order: (1) Somdet;
(2) Hua[8] Saa; (3) Hua Khoo (Khruu) (`teacher'); (4) Fai; (5) Daan;

(6) Lug Kaew (`precious child'); (7) Yaud Kaew (`precious top'); (8)
Lak Khan (`golden post'). Some of these titles have straightforward
meanings, given here in parenthesis. A work on Laos (Pathoumxad in
Berval 1959) reports six grades recognized there, namely Somdet, Sa,
Khru, Lakkham, Lakkeo and Nhotkeo.

These grades and titles should not be confused with the honorific titles
conferred by the King of Thailand on monks occupying high offices in
the formal ecclesiastical hierarchy or positions of importance in royal
wat. (See Appendix to Chapter 5.) This Bangkok system of titles ranges
from four sub-grades of Phra Khru, to various grades of Phra Raja Gana,
and finally to Somdet, the highest being that given to the Supreme Patriarch
(Somdet Phra Sankarat). It is curious that the highest (Somdet) title in
the royal honours is the lowest title in the village. The noteworthy feature
of the village Somdet ceremony lies not in this curious anomaly, but in
the fact that parallel to the system of royal titles there has been a traditional
recognition system maintained by village congregations. This has not
been reported in historical or contemporary literature on Thailand.

Of the eight grades reported in the North-east, only the first three are
of relevance for us.[9] These titles are invested on certain monks by virtue
of the village congregations conducting a water-pouring honouring
ceremony. When a monk is invested with the Somdet title villagers give
him a piece of silver whose length covers from `eye to eye' (Somdet raub
thaa); with the Saa title the silver extends from `ear to ear' (Hua Saa
raub hoo); and with the Khruu title the length of silver covers the circumference
of the head (Hua Khruu raub gnon). The sheet of silver is the most
important of the gifts given to the monk by the villagers on this occasion.
It has inscribed on it the names of the honouring village and the monk
honoured. It is reported that sheets of gold accompany higher titles. The
details of the ceremony are fascinating and have a far-reaching symbolic
significance.

A former abbot of the village of Phraan Muan, who is now a district
ecclesiastical head, explained the circumstances leading to the ceremony
thus:

The villagers then choose an auspicious day. The ceremony is never
conducted during the Lent retreat season, but it is timed to take place
along with the normal ordination ceremonies just before Lent. The most
popular day is the occasion of ordination connected with the rocket
festival of Bunbangfai, which will be described in Chapter 16.

Thus the Somdet ceremony is conducted together with the annual
ordination of village youth as monks and novices. The monk who is
going to be honoured (referred to as hod) is carried on the shoulders of
villagers in the same procession as that in which the candidates for ordination
are carried. (The procession is referred to as hae nag hae hod.)
While the postulants undergo the ordination ceremony, the Somdet-to-be
sits as a spectator. It is only after the nags are ordained that the Somdet
ceremony starts.

First the monk (hod) is led out of the bood by the chief priest (upacha)
who conducted the ordination: the latter leads, holding one end of a stick,
while the Somdet candidate follows holding the other end. The stick is
called mai gaiyasid, and it is said by villagers to be the sacred wand
wielded by Non Thu, the servant of Phra Isuvan (Vishnu) in the Ramayana
epic. The wand is so powerful that any person at whom it is pointed will
die. The upacha leads the monk to a special altar built in the temple
compound. Buddhists, males only (because monks are forbidden to touch
females), lie flat on the ground and upacha and hod step on them on their
way to the altar. There are two interpretations advanced by villagers to
explain this walking on human bodies. First, that the villagers trampled
on will acquire merit; second, and more importantly, it is believed that
the act of trampling drives away illness (haj rog pay). It is clear, then, that
both the upacha and the hod are thought of as persons charged with sacred
power, and it is noteworthy that the symbolism of the wand derives from
Hindu mythology incorporated into Buddhism.

The altar must now be described. The symbolism recorded is that
reported by village informants. There is a stone slab on which the postulant
will kneel; under the stone are placed seven leaves from the bo tree
(under which the Buddha himself sat and found enlightenment). The
slab is called the altar (silaa) of Buddha. Eight bundles of leafy stalks of
a tree called yaphrae are also placed under the stone—it is said that
Lord Buddha made an altar with the same stalks, which then turned into
a stone altar. The most important part of the altar is a long hollow
piece of wood (sometimes bamboo) carved in the form of a Naga, the
water serpent, with a deep groove the length of the spinal column. This

Naga is suspended over the stone slab with the head of the Naga
right above it. A hole is made in the Naga's throat; under this hole
is tied a piece of cloth containing the silver described above and a Buddha
image.

The postulant is made to kneel on the stone. Three candles are lit and
placed on the Naga's head. The upacha and the other monks chant suad
mongkhon (chant of blessing). The upacha pours water into the Naga's
groove; it flows through the throat, seeps through the cloth, and falls
on the postulant's head. The monks then pour water, followed by all the
villagers present, especially the elders both male and female.

After the water-pouring the villagers carry the monk into the sala
(preaching hall), and there present him with the eight articles of ordination.
Each of the robes is chanted over and a sacred mark (pin thu) put on it.
The monk takes off his wet robes and puts on the new ones. One of the
villagers, acting on behalf of them all as the lay sponsor (chao paab),
holds a gong in front of the monk, who then recites a prescribed gatha
(verse) called seeha nathang (the `roar of the lion') and hits the gong with
his fist in three episodes (first once, then twice, then three times). The
louder the noise the better, for the monk thus proclaims his victories.[10]
Then the lay sponsor reads what is inscribed on the piece of silver: that
the villagers have `hod song' the monk of such-and-such a name. The
promoted monk, who is now a Somdet, chants a blessing to all the
assembled villagers.

The symbolism in this drama, and what it signifies in village religious
action, can be fully understood only when we have reviewed a variety of
rituals. Here let me indicate a few features. Water-pouring is an important
ritual act: the theory is that by pouring water people pay respect to their
superiors (youth to elders, villagers to monks and the Buddha statue)
and honour the celebrants. Another meaning is that it symbolizes the
transfer of merit by one who has acquired merit to others. Thus, in
addition to the manifest meaning of showing respect, we might recognize
the meaning that he who is being honoured is also being cleansed and
purified; looked at from this point of view it is the pourer who is in some
way transferring vitality.

The most spectacular ritual object in the ceremony is the Naga, the
water serpent. Villagers say of the role of the Naga in the ceremony that
`the naga lives in the water; it is cool; the naga is also a friend of the

Buddha'. We have noted that the water poured ultimately falls on the
head of the monk, seeping through the serpent's `poison bag' which
contains the silver sheet and the Buddha statue. In India the poison of
the sacred cobra is referred to as its milk, which is a fertility symbol.

The many faces of the Naga will occupy us throughout much of this
book. In the Somdet ritual two aspects are in the forefront. First, as
a symbol of rain, fertility and coolness, the water discharged by the
Naga cleanses and fertilizes the honoured monk. The power that is
discharged is not that of fertility in the form of sexuality but rather the
transformed force of purity deriving from the silver and the Buddha
image. The initial energy comes from the animality of the Naga, however,
and the adoration of lay householders.

Secondly, the Naga's role in the ritual and the villagers' reference to
its being a friend of the Buddha invoke a remarkable piece of Buddhist
mythology, celebrated frequently in Siamese architecture and sculpture.
When Gotama retired to meditate under the shade of the midella tree
at the time he attained enlightenment and Supreme Buddhaship, there
arose a storm and a wind. Whereupon the snake god Muchalinda entwined
himself seven times around the sage's body and spread his seven hoods
over his head, thus giving him protection. While the ritual as a whole
invokes this incident, there is one important difference: whereas the
serpent protected the Buddha from the storm and wind, here it acts as
a vehicle for the precipitation of fertilizing and purifying water. The two
themes are juxtaposed.

Now these symbolic values of the Naga as presented in this ritual
appear markedly in contrast to the meaning of Naga I developed in the
ordination rite (bun buad), where the candidate for ordination in his
secular status is represented as the virile and aggressive Naga who is by
virtue of ordination transformed into the non-violent and asexual monk.
Nevertheless there is no contradiction but only a difference in emphasis.
Expressed are the twin notions that lay life is different from ascetic life,
and that it is the source energy of worldly life that has to be transformed
into the energy of asceticism.

Viewing the ceremony of honouring in relation to the institution of
monkhood itself, it is clear that it is a kind of second ordination. It is
significant that it is the villagers who in appreciation of a monk elevate
him in this fashion. The theory is that in honouring him, they themselves
make merit. For is not a virtuous and pious monk the proper vehicle for
the transference of merit and blessings back to the layman?

It is a great honour for a monk to be invited to undergo the Somdet
ceremony. Most frequently it is the abbot of the village who is thus

honoured. All the past abbots of the village of Phraan Muan have been
invested with the title; so has the present abbot. A Somdet when he gives
up his robes and reverts to lay life will be addressed as jaan (achaan),
which literally means `teacher'. In fact, the abbot of Baan Phraan Muan
and all ex-abbots are addressed and referred to as jaan so-and-so. A monk
who has undergone two such ceremonies to become Saa, or three ceremonies
to become Khruu, is addressed and referred to by his title as
Hua Saa or Hua Khoo if he is still in robes and as jaan saa or jaan khruu
when he gives up his robes.

Long after I had written this description of the monk-honouring
ceremony as it is performed in the North-east, and its interpretation,
I was pleased to come across Paul Levy's (1968, pp. 34-6) summary
of an account of the same ceremony performed in Laos. In some details
the account differs from mine but more importantly it certainly supplements
and reinforces it.