For the Shan people the paui sang long ordination is an important Theravada Buddhist ritual that symbolizes the Gautama Buddha’s path to enlightenment. The Shan ordination takes place every two or three years when they have an appropriate number of boys at a certain age. It cannot be held every year due to the cost and only the wealthy people in the village can afford to sponsor the entire event which is done by a couple like husband and wife. A three day ritual that involves villagers partying, sponsors offering food and luxury donations towards the novice monks. In Theravada Buddhism, the paui sang long ritual has its own set of rules that collide with the Buddhist philosophy; two major conflicts between them are the massive festival that celebrates the ordination of young boys and the donation of luxury gifts and money to the monks and novices. But despite the differences the one similarity is wanting to do good and gain merit by helping the ordination without any false intention behind the action.
…show more content…
A beautiful, colourful, full of happiness and energy the Shan people of the northwestern Thailand celebrate the ordination of young boys who are to become novice monks. A lavish and festive ceremony of paui sang long contradicts with the Theravada Buddhist philosophy of modesty and the belief of non-attachment. Despite that notion Harvey says “Buddhists enjoy and appreciate festivals as time for reaffirming devotion and commitment, generating karmic fruitfulness for the individual and community, strengthening community ties and values, and merry-making”. One of the central teaching in the Theravada Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths and the first one is dukkha the course of suffering because everything comes to an end. The Shan ordination is an example of dukkha as a result of the festival that brought happiness to the people and the boys who were the centre of attention in the whole event. Eventually the celebration will come to an end, the boys will enter the sangha and the people will return to their old day to day tasks. The emotion of happiness is no longer there which is the root cause of suffering that is the attachment to the world and not being able to escape the samsara. To end our suffering we must first remove the cause such as greed, attachment, and desire, which require a great discipline. Especially when the ideal goal for the monks is to reach the Arhat, the monks have to discipline themselves from the worldly desires. As they do celebrate the Gautama Buddha’s path to enlightenment, there are missing out the point of do it yourself part. Theravada Buddhism expects only monks who chose to leave their families and the life of luxury who took the vows to achieve enlightenment and follow Buddha’s teachings. Dana is an important teaching in Buddhism, it is the perfection of charity and without it the monks and monasteries would not survive. In the process of donation it does not matter how big or small the donation is, but what is needed with a good intention behind and in return a person will gain good merit for their generosity. Monks are not allowed to touch or handle money or any things that causes attachment, but can only focus on their studies in achieving the Arhat. In the Shan ordination, donation is a big part of it and during “the next three days, the procession will …show more content…
The sponsors receive a higher status for their work and the volunteers gain good merit for helping with the event. Many get involved in the ceremony in order to make merit and mothers who are willing to give their son away to be ordained would receive the highest merit. The “Giving may initially be performed for the sake of material karmic results,…The constant practice of giving also aids spiritual development by reducing possessiveness,…and expressing non-attachment and renunciation, reflected in the practice of ‘giving up’ home and family life to become a monk or nun.” Non-attachment is talked about frequently in Buddhist philosophy because is the hardest thing to do, for example giving up your child to become a novice. In Buddhas teaching, Vessantara Jataka gave away his children in order to achieve the highest level of non-attachment and that is seen as a great karmic
A beautiful, colourful, full of happiness and energy the Shan people of the northwestern Thailand celebrate the ordination of young boys who are to become novice monks. A lavish and festive ceremony of paui sang long contradicts with the Theravada Buddhist philosophy of modesty and the belief of non-attachment. Despite that notion Harvey says “Buddhists enjoy and appreciate festivals as time for reaffirming devotion and commitment, generating karmic fruitfulness for the individual and community, strengthening community ties and values, and merry-making”. One of the central teaching in the Theravada Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths and the first one is dukkha the course of suffering because everything comes to an end. The Shan ordination is an example of dukkha as a result of the festival that brought happiness to the people and the boys who were the centre of attention in the whole event. Eventually the celebration will come to an end, the boys will enter the sangha and the people will return to their old day to day tasks. The emotion of happiness is no longer there which is the root cause of suffering that is the attachment to the world and not being able to escape the samsara. To end our suffering we must first remove the cause such as greed, attachment, and desire, which require a great discipline. Especially when the ideal goal for the monks is to reach the Arhat, the monks have to discipline themselves from the worldly desires. As they do celebrate the Gautama Buddha’s path to enlightenment, there are missing out the point of do it yourself part. Theravada Buddhism expects only monks who chose to leave their families and the life of luxury who took the vows to achieve enlightenment and follow Buddha’s teachings. Dana is an important teaching in Buddhism, it is the perfection of charity and without it the monks and monasteries would not survive. In the process of donation it does not matter how big or small the donation is, but what is needed with a good intention behind and in return a person will gain good merit for their generosity. Monks are not allowed to touch or handle money or any things that causes attachment, but can only focus on their studies in achieving the Arhat. In the Shan ordination, donation is a big part of it and during “the next three days, the procession will …show more content…
The sponsors receive a higher status for their work and the volunteers gain good merit for helping with the event. Many get involved in the ceremony in order to make merit and mothers who are willing to give their son away to be ordained would receive the highest merit. The “Giving may initially be performed for the sake of material karmic results,…The constant practice of giving also aids spiritual development by reducing possessiveness,…and expressing non-attachment and renunciation, reflected in the practice of ‘giving up’ home and family life to become a monk or nun.” Non-attachment is talked about frequently in Buddhist philosophy because is the hardest thing to do, for example giving up your child to become a novice. In Buddhas teaching, Vessantara Jataka gave away his children in order to achieve the highest level of non-attachment and that is seen as a great karmic