Stillness of Faith

Written By: Wui Jia

Stillness is the day that takes its first breath.

That is, before one is greeted by the sound of shuffling footsteps.

A monk clad in orange robes walks down the path, hands clutching a metal bowl. Like clockwork, two women, a graying elderly lady and a middle aged lady, coincidentally appear at the gateway of a coffeehouse, holding food packets for almsgiving. The monk stops at the coffeehouse, and both women gingerly place the food offering into the metal bowl he has been holding. Then, dropping to their knees, the women bow and clasp their hands in an attitude of prayer. The monk chants, his voice undulating like incoming waves that hit the shore with the grace of flowing silk. Hypnotic.

Juree receiving blessings from a young monk

As the sleepy morning stirs in its early hours, the road gently bustles with a flurry of activity. Food stalls erected along the road display a vast array of instant noodle packets, bananas, cooked rice, chap choy styled vegetables, and dok bua or lotus flowers. Itinerant sellers of birds that flop in baskets and eels that slither in plastic bags of water walk up to passersby, offering live goods that wait to be liberated into their natural habitats. Monks solemnly walk past the food stalls, occasionally stopping to receive offering from customers who have just made their purchases from the stalls. On bended knees, devotees close their eyes in meditated bliss, allowing waves of blessing pronounced by chanting monks to wash over them.

Lotus flowers as offerings to Buddha

“By giving the monk the offering, you are telling your dead mother or father, ‘Here is some food for you in heaven’,” says Juree (one of our student guide’s) describing the symbolism of almsgiving. Upon the bestowing of alms to monks, the devotee holds dead relatives in memory, worshipping family that has passed on via the ritual of food offering. Unlike conventional Western practices of mourning, the deceased are consistently acknowledged in public enactments of rituals and practices.

Phra Kru Srivichai, one of the most venerated monks in Chiang Mai who had contributed widely to the community, passed away in the year 1938. Yet, today, pilgrims burn incense with an uncanny devotion as they visit his shrine at seven in the morning, gracing his golden statue with fresh garlands of flowers. While his embalmed body remains seated in a posture of meditated serenity in Wat Phra Singh, followers pay homage to his golden form at the foot of Doi Suthep (the word doi means mountain in Thai). Phra Kru Srivichai was known for his noble, selfless character; he reportedly helped the poor and the sick, refusing to accept gifts and offering them to the needy instead. He defied authorities of his time by ordaining monks without obtaining official permission. He also built schools, hospitals and roads. One of his most famous projects was the building of a road up the Doi Suthep, leading to a temple that contains the relics of Buddha.

Passers by stopping to do prayers

While other devotees gravitate towards the magnetic golden figure, offering food and joss sticks at the altar before kneeling down in reverent awe to petition their personal desires, monks collect alms from devotees along the road of Suthep. A jogger, glistening in sweat, unhesitantly halts his run upon seeing one of the monks. He makes a purchase of food offering and places the offering into the metallic bowl. After kneeling down to receive a pronouncement of blessing, the jogger casually resumes his run, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. Such is the fluidity in which the practice of charity is woven into the lives of believers.

Monks lining up to receive donations

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost’s poem is commonly taken to imply non-conformism. People like Phra Kru Srivichai probably identify with the road not taken. Corporations jostle one another unabashedly, vying for the greedy eyes of the consumer looking at the world through the candy flavoured prism of materialistic success. We grow emptier as we attempt to fulfill our own worldly desires, resulting in an outbreak of depression and other diseases of the soul. Perhaps life would be more meaningful if we offered to fill the bowls of other lives instead of attempting to fill the bottomless ones that so profoundly characterize our dissatisfied existence.