Actually, the idea of spirit house is not a part of Buddhism, but it’s Hindu’ s influence on Buddhist practice in SE Asia. Hindu existed in India long before Buddhism. Siam or Thailand, and Cambodia are very good examples of the mixing two different belief systems harmoniously with local pagan practices.
Originally, the Lord Buddha had forbidden the buildings of monasteries and Buddha statues. People who believe in Buddhism should follow the teachings. Only after the Buddha’s death that Buddha statues and buildings of worship were created by lay people who were too unsecured in their practice.
Local Thai pagan tradition includes village’s spirit house for the whole village to worship the spirits who are protecting the land. They offer food, drink, flowers and incense to the spirits regularly so that they would continue to be protected from bad ghosts and calamity.
There is no blood sacrifice for spirit houses. Red is an auspicious colour which is believed to please the spirits! Red is the colour of victory and success that’s why you would see red colour in important ceremonies such as red cloth and red flowers.
Sadly, in the age of consumerism and materialism, most Thais are no longer seriously practicing Buddhists! They just perform rites and ceremonies. I could hardly find any Thai friends who actually read Buddhist textbooks or translated scriptures. The influence of Hinduism is widespread, so we could see non-Buddhist statues in Buddhist temples just to please visitors and to get more donation in those boxes.
Thais go to temples to pray to Shiva and Ganesha including Buddha statues to ask for their blessings and help! They give money expecting a return! They don’t understand Buddhism. What they perform is against what the Buddha taught!
It’s easier to bribe some gods and spirits than to practice mindfulness meditation and read Buddhist texts! It’s consumerism and materialism in full swing at the moment.
Mind you, I don’t have anything against Indian gods, the Buddha actually talked about them in scriptures. But to find one’s own salvation and enlightenment, the journey has to be taken by oneself. One cannot depend on any gods or spirits to bring about spiritual freedom
and enlightenment!
Cheers.
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thanks for the lesson. My listing of the blood sacrifice was based on one Thai person telling me that... your description sounds far more concise :)
Thanks! I know most Thais think they are real Buddhists and that they know everything without much readings or studies. I had a hard time trying to educate and train people with very little reading ability but with lots of confidence in their beliefs. It amazes me that they believe that whatever they said is the truth. This is a sad consequence of bad politicians trying to destroy the previous education system and installed a modern system which produced people who cannot read nor think analytically! They have been trying to dumb people down for years.
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