The first time I saw a photograph of somebody I knew from
when they had spent a short period as a Buddhist monk it took me a while to
work out why they looked so strange. It wasn’t the saffron robe nor his shaven
head, it was the fact that his eyebrows had been shaved off.
The tradition amongst Thai Buddhists is that at some point a
son will usually be ordained as a monk, at least in part to earn merit for his
parents. Over the years the usual period spent in monastic life has shortened
from a few months to a few weeks to in some cases only a weekend now but still
the tradition continues.
The boy on the right has clearly just done his duty
and made his parents proud.
Photograph taken at “Saturday Walking Street”,
Chiang Mai, Thailand.
No comments:
Post a Comment