American Buddhist Net

Regardless of whether or not the monks have "tamed" them, these animals are still wild at heart and hence unpredictable...I foresee eventual tragedy in this.

Hmm, the tiger in the photo looks pretty zonked. I wonder if any "special ingredients" are added to the boiled chickens he's "filled up with" prior to tourist visits... Robyn
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By RICHARD WHITE

A TODDLER creeps up behind a snoozing tiger — and incredibly, PETS it.

The big cat is one of three which have been totally tamed by monks at a Buddhist temple.

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By Shanthy Nambiar and Suttinee Yuvejwattana

Aug. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Paiboon Marvin started wearing dresses and makeup before he became a teenager. Now 16, he wants to be castrated as the next step toward becoming a woman.

Until recently, that wouldn't have been a problem: Boys of any age in Thailand could have their testicles removed for as little as 5,000 Baht ($150) with no questions asked. Now Paiboon may have to wait two years because the procedure will be outlawed for those under 18, after pressure from gay rights activists who say youngsters may follow a trend and regret it later.

``I don't think I'm too young to do it,'' says Paiboon, wearing a green-ribboned top, shorts, mascara and pink lipstick. ``I know I won't change my mind. I've known since I was a kid that I'm not male.''

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An age-old Buddhist ritual, 'wing ma', involves both local children and adults

Sunday August 03, 2008
Story by PLOENPOTE ATTHAKOR

Holding a colourful loincloth firmly in her hands, Suchada Oonhasut is ready for her mission - to run around the main chapel of Wat Suwannaram in an act of worship.

The mission to be carried out by the 13-year-old girl is part of a ritual called wing ma kae bon (riding on horseback as an act of worship), which is performed by thankful worshippers whose wishes have been granted by Phra Satsada, the sacred Buddha image of Wat Suwannaram in Bangkok Noi district. The loincloth symbolises a horse. The girl will run three times around the main hall of the temple.

The girl and her running mate, Monchai Kramwong, will mimic a horse's neigh from time to time during the ritual, which is well-known not only to locals but also people in other districts. They will both receive 200 baht for the mission, which will last about 10 to 15 minutes.

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Aug 01, 2008

If you live in or have visited Bangkok, you are probably under the illusion that Thailand is a modern society and you could be excused for thinking that. Sure, it's modern in the way that shopping malls, underground and sky trains, large movie theatres and enormous supermarkets are modern. But, in thought and in action, the Thais are often actually not very modern at all and, in fact, are the products of a culture of superstition and folk beliefs.

Not that I'm knocking it. In fact, I love the superstitions, spirit worship and folk beliefs that Thais believe in. Buddhism is still the main religion of Thailand, yet most Thais actually believe in a mixture of Thai Buddhism, superstition and folk religions. Every day, just in my normal life, I experience an example of some of this superstition and folk magic, and work today was no exception.

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APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

Thailand will host the world's first international meeting on fireflies with over 200 firefly experts from 20 countries taking part to discuss the latest findings on the lightning bugs. The International Symposium on Diversity and Conservation of Fireflies will be held at the Botanical Garden Organisation in Chiang Mai from Aug 26-30.

Suyanee Vessbutr, chief of the organisation's technical and research department, said the symposium was a follow-up of a meeting of firefly experts from around the world in Portugal last year.

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Below is a response to one reader's criticism (scroll down the page about halfway for his letter) of Spiritual mothering, a Bangkok Post article we posted a few days ago. Robyn
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
JACQUELINE KRAMER

...In regards to mothering not being a devotional path, the Buddha based his teachings of loving kindness on a mother's love. Mothering opens the heart. Watching the breath without opening the heart can become a mental exercise that feeds the ego rather than frees the ego.

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Wednesday, Jul. 30, 2008
Ian MacKinnon

Worship is generally not a life-threatening pursuit. But devotees across Asia could be taking their life into their hands every time they go to a temple to pray, according to a study by a Thai doctor.

Burning joss sticks lit as an offering in shrines and temples fill the air with cancer-causing toxins that are every bit as deadly as traffic fumes and cigarette smoke, says Dr Manoon Leechawengwong.

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By Andrew Symon

SINGAPORE - A face-off between troops from Thailand and Cambodia over contested territory immediately surrounding an ancient temple on their mutual border threatens to delay even longer the resolution of a more economically significant border dispute between the two sides.

Tension over the temple complex, known in Thailand as Preah Vihear, escalated this month when it was listed as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization national heritage site.

To the south, a 27,000 square kilometer area in the northern Gulf of Thailand known as the Overlapping Claims Area (OCA) and potentially rich in fossil fuel reserves has long been contested by the two countries.

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Monks and locals join forces to safeguard Nan's cultural heritage

29th July 2008
Story by ROJANA MANOWALAILAO

Exquisite wooden Buddhist statues have been traded for a lone drum that was used for temple activities.

Buddhist manuscript chests, intricately crafted temple window frames and doors and other artefacts have been sold in order to modernise temples.

Ancient Buddhist buildings and temples have been wrecked and left as junk.

"For many people, development means to rebuild, not to preserve," said Dr MR Rujaya Abhakorn, who is a mentor to Unesco's Cultural Survival and Revival in the Buddhist Sangha Project in Nan, a northern province of Thailand.

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Forest shelter has food, clothes and vital schooling

July 28, 2008
By Chularat Saengpassa

The only hope for some 20 stateless children is a small shelter run by a lone Buddhist nun, Maechee Pimjai Maneerat.

Tucked away in lush forest, the shelter provides clothing, food and schooling. It means a lot to the underprivileged children. They really have nowhere else to turn.

"I have been here for four years already," 12-year-old Naneung says. He doesn't know if he will ever see his elder brother again.

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A gap year student describes how learning meditation during a stint in a Buddhist monastery in Bangkok changed her life

July 26, 2008
Clara Tait

I don't know what I expected to happen while I was in Thailand on my gap year, apart from some kind of weight loss from dysentery. The year didn't start well: I'd suffered from anorexia during sixth form and my recovery had included a humiliating cycle of bingeing and starving.

By the time I arrived in Thailand in February of this year, the bingeing had won out and I was heavier than I had ever been. Aged 18, I covered up in frumpy kaftans, feeling fat and middle-aged. My hope was that I would get a nice tan and return home triumphant, skinny, gorgeous and happy.

In reality, I found myself with no money, no friends and a large dose of homesickness, and ended up staying in a Buddhist monastery in Bangkok for six weeks. I lived with the monks, meditating for eight hours a day. And, to my surprise, this turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened to me.

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By HTET AUNG Friday, July 25, 2008

MAE SOT, Thailand — Sitting in a small truck crammed with passengers and packages, I waited for the short but exciting ride from Mae Sot Market to a small pier on the bank of the Moei River, known in Burma as the Thaungyin River, which serves as a natural border between Thailand and Burma.

The other passengers are neither foreigners nor Thai tourists, keen to explore the beauty of the Burma’s natural environment in the southeastern frontier.

They are all small and medium-size Burmese retailers returning to Myawaddy with goods bought from the Mae Sot Market.

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By KER MUNTHIT – 5 hours ago

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Thailand accused Cambodia of eyeing even more of its land and leaflets appeared in the Cambodian capital calling for a boycott of Thai goods, as a military standoff over disputed border territory entered a second week Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Cambodia asked the U.N. Security Council to intervene in the dispute over the 1.8 square miles of land near the ancient temple of Preah Vihear, warning that the two sides were at "an imminent state of war."

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Tuesday, 22 July, 2008, 01:35 AM Doha Time

PREAH VIHEAR: They may wear flip-flops, but most the Cambodian forces facing Thai troops at a border standoff are battle-tested former Khmer Rouge fighters, officers and soldiers said yesterday.

More than 500 Thai troops and well over 1,000 Cambodian soldiers have been stationed for a week around a small Buddhist pagoda on the slope of a mountain leading to the ruins of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple.

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By SETH MYDANS
Published: July 21, 2008

KANTHARALAK, Thailand — Hundreds of Thai and Cambodian soldiers faced off at the ruins of an ancient Hindu temple here for a sixth straight day on Sunday, in a modern-day echo of the age-old clash of empires across Indochina.

The temple, perched high on a bluff on a disputed patch of border, may be the prize. But the conflict has also created a secondary, more prosaic target: an embattled government in Bangkok, where the opposition is using the historical dispute and nationalist fervor as weapons.

The fires of nationalism have spread in both nations over the past few weeks. Old grievances have flared, and troops and heavy weapons have been mobilized in the mists above the jungle. Over the weekend, truckloads of reinforcements from each country were seen heading toward the temple, called Preah Vihear.

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Both nations to hold talks on dispute today

July 21, 2008

PREAH VIHEAR: Cambodia complained to the UN Security Council that Thai forces have violated its territory near a World Heritage Site temple, as more than 4,000 troops from the two sides were deployed in the border region Sunday.

The two countries are to hold talks today in Thailand aimed at resolving the dispute, but a Cambodian general said he had little hope they would succeed. Cambodia’s mission at the United Nations submitted a letter to the chairman of the Security Council and the chairman of the General Assembly to “draw their attention to the current situation on the Cambodian-Thai border,” Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said Sunday.

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Both sides urged to resolve issue in spirit of Asean solidarity

Sunday July 20, 2008

...Not everybody was happy over the Buddhist Lent period. Normally it is a boom time for shops which supply goods for monks, as Buddhists buy items - such as candles - to give to monks for merit-making.

But not this year, said Amaraporn Potjanasophanakul, the owner of the JU shop in Chachoengsao.

She complained of a downturn in business and blamed not only the weakened economy for falling sales - but also local children!

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Sun, 20 Jul 2008

Preah Vihear, Cambodia - Preah Vihear local Sor Sarom went to the pagoda on the first day of Buddhist Lent as she always does, and found herself being held at gunpoint by a man dressed in black. "It brought all my memories of the Khmer Rouge back. I was terrified. He just came out of the shadows inside the temple," the 50-year-old said.

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A U.S. biologist hopes to find the largest freshwater fish in the world. His project could help protect the species.

From the Associated Press
July 20, 2008

SAMUT SONGKRAM, THAILAND -- Rushing across a temple parking lot, British angler Rick Humphreys yells, "We've got a fish."

He jumps into a small motorboat on the Mae Klong River in time to see Wirat Moungnum bring the prize to the surface: a rare giant freshwater stingray that weighs as much as 44 pounds.

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Saturday 19 July 2008
By AFP

Cambodia and Thailand further increased their forces in the fifth day of a tense standoff on disputed land near an ancient Hindu temple on the border, officials said Saturday.

More than 500 Thai troops and well over 1,000 Cambodian soldiers are stationed around a small Buddhist pagoda on the slope of a mountain leading to the ruins of 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

"Now there are nearly 400 Thai troops stationed in the pagoda. I'm not sure how many are stationed in the jungle," said Brigadier Chea Keo, commander of Cambodian forces in the area.

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Bangkok City Hall is campaigning to cut down on the sale and consumption of alcoholic beverages on national holidays

by Supoj Wancharoen, The Bangkok Post, July 18, 2008

Bangkok, Thailand -- Measures to turn people away from selling and drinking alcohol are expected to yield tangible results over Buddhist Lent period, which begins today and will end on Oct 14.

The 2008 Alcohol Control Act is now in place, banning the drinking of alcohol in temples or places for organising religious rites, public health service locations, hospitals, government offices, schools and other places of education, and petrol-filling stations.

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07/18/2008
By SOPHENG CHEANG

...On Thursday night, 61 monks along with 13 nuns and lay people came to the Buddhist pagoda some 220 yards west of the Preah Vihear complex to celebrate the start of Buddhist Lent.

The Cambodian monks must remain on the temple grounds during the three-month period. The age-old practice is traditionally to prevent them from trampling new plants and insects.

About 50 Cambodian troops entered the pagoda hoping to stay the night to provide security for the monks and nuns, but the Thai soldiers moved to evict them, prompting the gun-pointing, Cambodian Brig. Gen. Chea Keo said.

Chea Keo said the incident lasted about 10 minutes before the Cambodians departed.

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Patrick Falby
AFP

PHNOM PENH: Cambodia backed off from talk of a Thai incursion Wednesday as troops from both sides held positions on the border near an ancient Hindu temple at the center of a territorial dispute.

Officials from both countries moved to resolve the disagreement peacefully a day after Cambodia said troops from Thailand had entered the country.

About 200 Thai troops and 380 Cambodian soldiers Wednesday were stationed at a Buddhist pagoda on the slope of a mountain leading to the ruins of the 11th?century Preah Vihear temple.

Asked if the incident amounted to a Thai invasion, Cambodia''s government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said, "I think it''s better to say this is some kind of misunderstanding," noting that the soldiers were interacting peacefully.

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July 16, 2008

Fewer people are making merit these days because of tough economic times, a Bangkok University poll reveals.

The July 12 to 14 survey of 808 Bangkok residents aged over 18 found 56.6 per cent admits the harsh economy means fewer meritmaking events and smaller donations. The rest says it's experienced no change.

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16 July 2008

YALA, Thailand : Thailand's army is increasingly using controversial "re-education" camps to indoctrinate young Muslim men in the hope of stopping them from joining a bloody insurgency, officials and activists say.

Detained suspects in Thailand's southernmost provinces have been forced to go through re-education programmes since the separatist conflict erupted four years ago in Muslim-majority provinces along the Malaysian border.

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