The Spirit of Things

A colleague lost her father to cancer last week, and as is the custom here I went to the funeral. It was a sad but interesting event for me. Can I say that? Because in truth, it was one of the more enlightening events I’ve been to in Bangkok. I sat next to a junior in my team who was able to explain, over the 2 hours the Thai Buddhist ceremony, his own experience as a monk and student of Buddha. (Everyone talked and carried on and ate and ran amok during the evening – it was not a very solemn affair)

From what I’ve seen of Buddhism here, it’s is quite different from the Japanese variety I experienced. In Tokyo most people only deal with Buddha in the same way Aussies experience God – as the BIG GUY who rates the occasional mention at a birth, a funeral or a national holiday. In Bangkok, Buddha is weaved much more tightly into the fabric of their daily lives. People wai when walking past a shrine, at least one male in the family becomes a monk for a while, and the constant annual holidays and festivals (I’m not complaining) are centered around temple visits and following the ‘right’ path.

My colleague Karn explained there were 8 simple rules for following this path that devout Thais adhere to, and although few would follow the all, he does. They revolved around doing the ‘right thing’ – at work, with family, eating and drinking etc. But for him, what was important were the 3 guiding principles behind these rules; impermanence, mindfulness and samsara.

Impermanence was the point of the funeral ceremony, a reminder that life is short and that all things change and die. It’s especially pertinent for Thais because of their belief in re-incarnation and the cycle of death and re-birth – where the only thing we take into the next life is our unconscious knowledge and experience of the right Buddhist path. To not follow that path is to be condemned to an endless cycle and no nirvana.

That’s where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness is the constant awareness, moment by moment, of your existence and your actions. It’s one of the central themes of mediation – which is something that most Thais I know either practice or have had a crack at. Some say it’s the reason Thais retain their composure so well, others say they just like sleeping a lot and this is the closest they get to doing it during the day, but either way it’s a big thing here. I’m sure I’ll get away on a meditation weekend with my colleagues soon. Or maybe I’ll just head to the pub again, we’ll see.

The last principle Karn talked about was Samsara; the frustration of constantly wanting things and never being satisfied. He actually talked about his time as a monk – and about his youth in a heavy metal band and the drug & alcohol problems led him there. Hard to believe this clean-cut 24yr old had been through so much, but here he was having been to hell and back describing how Buddha helped ease the need to have it all, before it was too late. It was pretty cool, although kind of ironic that you had two guys in advertising talking about the virtues of not wanting stuff. Our new ad was out for Heineken the next day, so not sure how much Karmic merit we were going to get from Buddha for that.

Anyway, all sounds very worthy I know, but the conversation turned to some pretty creepy stuff as well. Thais as it turns out, with their belief in re-incarnation, are also big believers in ghosts. And everyone has a story – including Karn.

Last year he had gotten up from his house to get some food at night (He lives with his mum and brother.) He’s in the kitchen and this young guy walks right by him and brushes his neck. Karn thought he was his brother’s mate, but when ‘the mate’ walked out he went out straight through the wall. (Yeah right, just like the Dulux paint ad. Sad, but that’s what I thought) Anyway, he freaked out and next day his mum got the local shrine maker to come and build a small spirit shrine in the backyard to appease the ghost. Most houses have them here.

The mother didn’t say anything about the ghost to the shrine maker. But after the workman finished he told Karn’s mum that the young male spirit said for Karn not to worry, that he had scared the ghost shitless, and to leave him some food next time! Maaan, hearing ghost stories at a funeral gives me the creeps. But no sooner had he told this tale from the crypt then everyone started to tell their own ghost story, and before I knew it the service was over.

A bizarre and interesting evening. And just so you know as I went to bed that night, I accidentally left the bathroom light on.