Buddhism practice in Thailand vs that in Viet Nam
I went for a backpack trip in Thailand with my sister 2 years ago. When I was walking down a street along a residential area in an early morning in Bangkok, I saw many monks walking around. Moreover, there was always a guy following each monk and carrying a big basket of heavy things. I was surprised because in Viet Nam, the monks are not known for being out of temples at this early hour, and I could not find any temples in the map around this residential area. “What they are up to at this time and this place? Shouldn’t they be at the temples?” I found the answer a few minutes later when I walked in a Thai food store. I saw there were bags of pre-packed cooked food at the food stalls. Surprisingly, people bought those bags of food mostly to offer to the monks walking by.
This is what was happening. Men and women walked toward the monks, gave the food offerings and graciously bowed until their heads touched the ground in front of the monks. The monk received food offerings and handed it to the guy whose main job was to carry the food. Then the monk spoke to that person. The monk seemed to give his blessings for the person.
I sat there, and observed the whole scene in silence. Actually I was shocked because in Viet Nam it is seen as “begging” if the monks walk around with bowls in their hands. Vietnamese usually ignore those monks unless they come to us and specially ask for money or food. It is definitely unusually to see people bowing in front of a monk to offer him food voluntarily. Usually, Buddhist believers would go to the temples to give their offers and donation.
However, apparently, in Thailand, that was the norm for many monks to walk around to receive food offerings. I heard from a friend that in Thailand, monks can only eat food that has been given to them, and they can't eat past noon. So if they don't get an offering in the morning, they have to go all day without eating.
Now, I want to explain why Vietnamese do not have such an offering practice as that in Thailand.
Buddhism is practiced widely in Thailand. In fact, 95% of Thais are Buddhist. Hence, I would argue that Thai society is a homogeneous religious environment; hence giving and receiving offerings are not only done in the temples. They can be easily seen in the streets outside of a temple as well.
In Vietnam, because of the diverse religious background and the large number of non-practising Buddhists, I would argue that the practice of offerings can only be done within the temples. If that is practiced outside of the temples, it could make believers of other religions misunderstand since believers of other religions do not understand the Buddhism purpose and rules.
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Hey Van,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that you felt surprised in this situation as I am aware that monks in Thailand do walk on the streets and people offering them food as they do. If I recall correctly, there was a short story about this practice in Singapore's primary school Chinese language textbooks.
Possibly, they wanted us to be aware of practices of other cultures around the region given Singapore's multi-cultural environment. You mentioned that Vietnam is has a diversity of religions, a little like Singapore, and maybe this in itself is another intercultural interaction.
cheers
Hi Sister,
ReplyDeleteThe culture difference sometimes causes a bit shock for us as you were in Thailand.
Your story is told very concisely and understandably. Your language use in the post is quite fluent. Honestly, I have been trying to find and pick your minor mistakes but I am not really capable of it.
The last sentence could be improved. I have a small suggestion on changing it. It could be like "If IT is practiced outside of the temples, it could make believers of other religions misunderstand since THEY do not understand the Buddhism purpose and rules."
Regarding to this conclusion sentence, I would wonder "what do the believers misunderstand ?"
So your ideas would be clearer if you can elaborate bit more about it.
Thanks for your sharing and see you in class.
Jake
Thank you very much, Van, for sharing your experience/observation in Thailand and your analysis.
ReplyDeleteBasically, what you're focusing on is the different norms in the behavior of monks and the reaction by people in the local community, right? Your description makes it clear that in Thailand, in contrast to Vietnam, people openly make food offerings, to the extent that food is prepared for this purpose by vendors.
You then mention that in Vietnam, because of the multiple religions, the practice is different.
I will not pretend to be an expert, but I have read quite a bit on Vietnamese culture and history, and I wonder if you think that the influence of Catholicism, at least in the south, could be a factor in the difference in norms. Also, I wonder about the influence of communist ideology.
Whatever the case, this is a stimulating post. I really appreciate your hard work!
Dear Brad,
ReplyDeleteThis issue is very hard to explain. Catholicism could be a factor in the difference in norms. However, the believers’ population is small; and they live mostly in urban areas. I am not sure about which part of the communist ideology that could influence the practice of the Buddhist. Speaking of the communist ideology, I do no think that I, or we Vietnamese, especially my generation, truly understand and practice the communist ideology/ies. We are just less democratic and we do have a lot of governmental subsidization for school and heath care which are not very good.
Anyways, I do think that for a religion is to be widely practiced as in Thailand, the government policy has a significant role. “In Thailand, as in other Theravada Buddhist kingdoms, the king was in principle thought of as patron and protector of the religion (sasana) and the sangha” (Wiki - Buddhism in Thailand). At least, in Viet Nam, just like in Singapore, the government has little role in the practice of the religions, including Buddhism, Catholicism, and other religions. That could be the reason for the difference in norms.
I talked to my parents about religion and Buddhism because I knew that my parents, especially my mom, have a huge respect for Buddhism even though she does not practice any religion. Interestingly, she told me that she does not believe in the temple services (or she does not have time for them). All you have to do is to practice the Buddhist teachings: do not kill animals, be polite, help people and be honest. That is a kind of practicing the Buddhist religion for her. Don’t you feel it is strange?
Van
Hi Van,
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about religions beliefs.But as different cultures will denitely have conflicts, i believe same thing in religous field.
I think Singapore has been a great place that mixed with difference races and cultural belief. I never see a better place more hornmony than singpore. Everyone is accepted in Singapore regardless what you believe.
I think you have this sharp observsion.For me, if I saw such things happen,I usually accept it as for granted and will not give more in-dept thought to it.which I should learn to be more sensitive and give more deeper thinking about the world we are living.
Thank you for your post!