Thailand - Day 5, Chang Mai, Monk talk

 

Still not well - constant coughing, little sleep, low energy - I opted to sleep in and enjoy the hotel while the others

left for a morning of

shopping at the market

for fresh ingredients for their

cooking class.

They then ate the dishes they had prepared. All photos by Ammy.

 This was part of the tour that I was really looking forward to but did not feel it was appropriate to cough through a cooking class and was preserving my energy. My hope is that at a future date I can get together with Nic and Dave and Mark and Emma and learn from them as I do love Thai food and would love to cook it.

I joined up with the group again

for the

Monk chat.

We met with Pra KK (Pra meaning 'monk'), He has been a monk for 30 years. Is a "forest monk" from the countryside so wears a dark coloured robe, city monk robes are orange but the head monk  can determine the robe colour for the monks at that temple.

He outlined the basics of Buddhism and wrote it out on a white board.

After that we had a Q and A period and asked about anything we liked about Buddhism and monkhood. He then lead us in a brief movement meditation. It was very interesting and seems like such a peaceful and sustainable philosophy.

When I got closer to this vehicle I realized it was a school bus. The children at this school, run by monks, wore the orange robes.

Thai education in the past began with temples as educational areas. The Buddhist monks were the instructors for the offspring of the villagers, and villagers enrolled their offspring to be disciples of the Buddhist monks in the temples to receive education. The Buddhist monks conducted education on the doctrines from the Pāli Canon, the Pali language, the Thai Language, and elemental subjects. Later, education management evolved from performing within the temples. In some areas, the Buddhist monks in the local donated some land from the temples to build a school that conducted education for students within the national curriculum. In addition, some temples had built schools for the education of Buddhist monks. These schools administered education on Dhamma, the Pali language, and secular subjects related to the national curriculum of ordinary students. Later, Thai Buddhist monks became knowledgeable and played the role of instructors for local schools. In addition, the Buddhist monks also sponsored scholarships for both secular and priests. Until now, Buddhist monks persisted in dedicating and involving in Thai education.from thaijo.org

Black-crested Bulbul, I think.