Early Religious Influence

At the beginning of each school day, there was a flag-raising ceremony and singing of the national anthem. Afterward the class would say a prayer in Pali, the religious language of Buddhism. Our school curriculum included basic Buddhist ethics and morals; otherwise we did not receive much religious instruction.

In most Buddhist homes, there is a small altar with an image of Buddha that is used for daily prayer and meditation. Here candles are lighted and incense is burned. Families of Chinese descent usually have additional altars for the worship of ancestors or to appease different spirits and deities.

Believing that there is good in all religions, Buddhists readily adopt and incorporate ideas and practices that they feel are good and can help them in one way or another. As a result, many people in Thailand worship not only at the Buddhist temple but also at one or more of the numerous Chinese and Brahman shrines.

Although our family was not particularly religious, the influence of religion was constantly present in our lives. For example, monks with clean-shaven heads and dressed in saffron-yellow robes would make their daily alms visits soon after daybreak. They would walk barefoot along the road or paddle a boat along the klong, stopping to let the householders ladle out rice and put other food into their alms bowls.

From a very early age, I was taught respect for Buddhist monks as those who have adopted a life in imitation of the Buddha. They were to be regarded as having great wisdom, and we were encouraged to value highly their opinion and counsel.

During World War II, Bangkok experienced air raids. So my mother took me to her relatives in one of the provinces. Since the local wat, or temple, was nearby, I became well-acquainted with the monks. Some of them made and distributed Buddhist amulets. In the walls of the old chapel, there were thousands of tiny images of Buddha made of cast lead. A number of us boys helped to clean them. Then the monks would inscribe on them a few letters in the ancient Khmer script and say incantations to make the images potent as good-luck charms.

I was fascinated by the idea that wearing such an image of Buddha around the neck could provide protection from harm and ensure good fortune. So I started to collect amulets. I stayed with the monks at the wat for a few months, and during that time, I was introduced to meditation, fortune-telling, and other spiritistic practices.

Although less than 1 percent of Thailand’s population belongs to Catholic and Protestant churches, I had heard that Christians believe that a person named Jesus is God and that Catholics worship the ‘Mother of God.’ Yet, such beliefs seemed to me to be unrealistic. How could somebody who died on a cross create the world? I did not consider this to be true wisdom.

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