Thailand Monks

The Thai's are mainly Buddhist in fact 94% of them are. They believe in The Lord Buddha, The Dhamma, (the way he taught) which can lead to Enlightenment and Nirvana, and the Noble Order of Enlightened.Religion plays a central part of community life and the monastery offers refuge for those seeking solace.  Often the father of the family retires to the monastery after the death of his wife. The monks follow a simple life a which starts early in the morning.  They walk around the areas adjacent the temple to receive alms from the local community. This is where practically all of their food comes from. Socially, every Thai male is excepted to become a monk for a short period in his life, optimally between the time he finishes school and the time he starts a career or marries. Men or boys under 20 years of age may enter the Sangha as novices - this is not unusual since a family earns great merit when one if its sons 'takes robe and bowl'.
Traditionally, the length of time spent in the 'wat' is three months, during the Buddhist lent (phansa), which begins in July and coincides with the rainy season. However, nowadays men may spend as little as a week or 15 days to accrue merits monks. There are about 32,000 monasteries in Thailand and 460,000 monks ; many of these monks are ordained for a lifetime. Of these a large percentage become scholars and teachers, while some specialize in healing and/or folk magic. The Sangha is divided into two sects : the Mahanikai (Great Society) and the Thammayut (from the Pali dhammayutika or 'dharma-adhering). The latter is a minority sect (the ratio being one Thammayut to 35 Mahanikai) begun by King Mongkut and patterned after an early Mon form of monastic discipline which he had practiced as a monk ('bhikkhu'). Members of both sects must adhere to 227 monastic vows or precepts as laid out in the Vinya Pitaka - Buddhist scriptures dealing with monastic discipline. Overall discipline for Thammayut monks, however, is generally stricter. For example, they eat only once a day - before noon - and must eat only what is in their alms bowl, whereas Mahanikais eat twice before noon and may accept side dishes. Thammayut monks are expected to attain proficiency in meditation as well as Buddhist scholarship or scripture study ; the Manahanikai monks typically 'specialize' in one or the other. Other factors may supersede sectarian divisions when it comes to disciplinary disparities. Monks who live in the city, for example, usually emphasize study of the Buddhist scriptures while those living in the forest tend to emphasize meditation. .
A Monks Typical Day The Sangha World in Thailand consists of about 200,000 monks and 85,000 novices at most times of the year. However, these numbers increase during the Buddhist ‘lent’ to 300,000 and 100,000 novices. Young boys may become novices at any age, but a man cannot become a monk until he reaches the age of twenty. He can then remain a monk for as long as he wishes, even for just one day. Three months is more usual, although some choose to remain in monkhood for the rest of their lives. There are over 29,000 temples in Thailand and the daily routine of the monks in all of them is pretty much the same... 4.00 am - The monks wake up and meditate for one hour, followed by one hour of chanting. 6.00 am - The monks walk barefoot around the neighbourhood while the local people make merit by offering them food. 8.00 am - Returning to the temple, the monks sit together to eat breakfast, then make a blessing for world peace. Before 12.00 noon - Some monks choose to eat a light lunch at this time. This is the last solid food they are allowed to consume until sunrise the following morning.

1.00 pm - Classes in Buddhist teaching begin. Some monks may attend school outside the temple. 6.00 pm - A two-hour session of meditation and prayer begins. 8.00 pm - The monks retire to do homework. Besides these duties, all monks are given specific roles to play in the day-to-day running and maintenance of the temple and its surroundings. After being in the monkhood for several years and demonstrating extreme dedication to both social work and spiritual study, a monk can be promoted gradually until he reaches the Sangha Supreme Council, the governing body presided over by the Supreme Patriach.

All monks must follow 227 strict precepts or rules of conduct, many of which concern his relations with members of the opposite sex. When a monk is ordained he is said to be reborn into a new life and the past no longer counts - not even if he was married. Women are, of course, forbidden to touch monks and should not even stay alone in the same room as a monk. If a woman wishes to offer an object to a monk, it must pass through a third medium, such as a piece of cloth. In fact, monks always carry a piece of cloth for this purpose. The monk will lay the cloth on the ground or table, holding on to one end. The woman places the offering on the cloth and the monk then draws it away. Thai monks can be seen wearing various shades of robes, from dark brown to the familiar brilliant saffron. There are no rules, but the darker shades are preferred by monks in the Dharmmayuth sect and Thu-dong or forest monks.