Crisis of the soccer team stuck in Flooded Caves

12 boys and their assistant coach have been trapped in flooded caves in Chiang Rai for the past 2 weeks.  3 of the boys and the assistant coach were rescued last night and the rescue operation continues for the other 9 boys.  The plight of the boys has caught the attention of the world and is on the top of the news cycle in many countries.  It has pushed into the background the other major news in Thailand of 2 tour boats which sank of Phuket with over 40 people drowned in the accident.  

During the week I took a team from Australia to a temple in Chiang Mai to a "Monk Chat" where you can talk with monks about Buddhism.  One of the team asked how as a Buddhist they could help these boys.  I didn't catch the nun's answer completely.  I'm not sure if she implied that they would make merit and that merit would be shared with the boys?

The next time I go to a "Monk Chat" this would be the question I would ask.  How does Buddhism help in situations like this?  As Christians we would pray to God for his help for rescuers and and boys to bring them out safely.  What would Buddhist do?  Was a result of the boys bad karma that they ended up in a situation like this?  Or was it just a foolish decision to go into the caves just before the rainy season?From the news report the assistant coach sounded like he was a very good towards the boys in taking care of them.  He was an orphan though but he was in the monastery before becoming the assistant coach.  I did see some monks at the rescue site.  

Our prayers are with the rescue team and the boys.  May all of the 9 boys be brought out safely.  

Conversations on the Way

Wearing Amulets for protection

Whenever I go on a journey on a plane, bus or train, I ask God for an opportunity to have a spiritual conversation with the person sitting next to me.  I hadn't caught a train in Thailand for many years as air travel is so cheap in Thailand.  But this day I was on a 3rd class (no aircon) train to Lopburi where I was to give a couple of talks on Bible Storying and about opportunities in North Thailand.  

I sat down opposite this man, but it took a while for me to start a conversation.  I noticed that he was wearing rings on every finger on both hands and so I asked to tell me about his rings.  Most of them bore the image of a famous monk in his area.  He also was wearing amulets with his picture as well.  

He was a policeman but helped out at the temple where this monk was the abbot until he had passed away about 3 months ago.  

He was more than happy to chat and invited me to visit the temple where this monk used to be the abbot.  

I was able to have a conversation with an older couple on the plane down to Bangkok, with this man on the train to Lopburi, an older Thai woman on the train back to Bangkok and then on the plane back to Chiang Mai.  I told the story of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14) for both the people on the train, in response to their comment that "all religions teach you to be good" which is a universally held view in Thailand.

I didn't get to share a Bible story with the people on the plane.  Whether I tell a Bible story or not really depends on where the conversation is at with the people and their level of engagement.  After a few questions if the person doesn't seem interested in continuing the conversation I don't force it.  

I've noticed a huge difference in the number of conversations I've been able to have since I've been intentional in asking for prayer conversations and in initiating conversations.  

Unusually, on the train back to Bangkok, the old lady opposite me was the one to initiate the conversation by asking me if I was Japanese!  I can't remember if I gave the Thai greeting "Sawatee Khrap" first though.  I think it is good form to give a greeting or at smile to someone who is going to sit next to you.  The old lady said that she never usually initiates a conversation with a stranger on a train but she did this time.  Answered prayer?  We spoke for almost 3 hours together on the trip down to Bangkok.  I learnt a bit about Buddhism from her.  She appreciated that I was a good listener and that I tried to learn about Buddhism from her.

Hell City

The Entrance to Hell City at a Temple in Chiang Rai

I had an interesting cultural experience when I took a team up to visit the work in Chiang Rai.  We were taken to a temple which had this "Hell City" inside the entrance to the temple.  It was a scary place even in the day time, but it would definitely be eerie and scary at night.

According to this buddhist website Buddhists don't believe that heaven or hell are eternal places but just temporary.  Buddhist believe that it is "unreasonable to condemn a man to eternal hell for his human weakness but quite reasonable to give him every chance to develop himself.   From the Buddhist point of view, those who go to hell can work themselves upward making use of the merit they had acquired previously".  Interesting they say "Buddhist never try to introduce Buddhism by frightening people through hell-fire or enticing people by pointing to paradise. Their main idea is character building and mental training. Buddhists can practise their religion without aiming at heaven or without developing fear of hell." I'm not sure if this is entirely true in practice if the "Hell City" at this temple is anything to go by. 

 Awaiting judgement and sentencing.

 The punishment for adulterers.  Climbing up this spiky pole, speared in your private parts, bitten by dogs, crows poking out your eyes and snakes biting you.

 Sinners being thrown into a boiling pot

Awaiting reincarnation.  Only humans can be saved so if you are an animal you must be reincarnated as a human before you can receive salvation. 

Buddhist House Warming Ceremory

Couple of weeks ago we were invited to our friend's new house ceremony.  The invitation said that the ceremony would start at 9:09am.  There were 9 monks at the ceremony. Have you guessed that "9" is an important number?

It was the first time for us to go to such a ceremony.  Many of the parents I know from our son's Taekwondo were there which made it fun.  The food was very tasty and lots of it too!  It wouldn't be a Thai event without ear piercingly loud music (and some dancers too).

It was a good cultural experience for us.

Mistakes you make living cross culturally

When our son was chosen by his teacher to be the class representative for the upcoming Teacher's day at school  last week we didn't think much about it.  We just thought it involved giving a 'wai' (A Thai greeting where you put your hands together like when you pray) to the teacher.  The teacher asked us to buy some things which we didn't know the meaning but we were going to ask our neighbours to help so no big deal.  However, today talking to our househelper, who is a Christian, she explained that what our son will be doing is part of a Buddhist ceremony and not only will he have to "wai" the teacher, but a monk as well.

If we had known earlier we would have told the teachers that we were Christians and that because of our beliefs it is not appropriate for our son participate in Buddhist rituals.  However, he and the other representatives from the other classes have been practicing what they are to do in this ceremony for the last few days.  Teacher's day is tomorrow, so it is too late to replace our son with someone else.

It raises difficult questions as to what is cultural and what is religious in Thai society?  The 'wai' is so much a part of Thai society that to not 'wai' someone would be quite rude.  However, does a 'wai' to a monk make it something different?  Is that idoltory? 

We want to convery the message that we respect Buddhism and Buddhist, yet there are somethings we as Christians cannot do as it is dishonoring of God.  Making these choices as a newish missionary is so hard as you don't understand the culture nor can you probably seek clarification as our language is yet inadequate.

A Buddhist response to a Christians book on Buddhism

This is an interesting book by a Thai Buddhist who became a Christian and then wrote a book from his perspective critiquing Buddhism and teaching Christians how they can better reach Buddhists. I found the book helpful but Cioccolanti pushes some non-evangelical views which are unhelpful and distracting from the book's main purpose. You can find a more thorough review by a more experienced missionary here. What was interesting though was a comment left by a Buddhist on Karl's blog which gives a Buddhist perspective on the book and Christianity.

"Hi Everyone,
I’m a practising Buddhist but I do learn from the Bible.

All I can say about this book is that I think the author has very superficial understanding of the religion.

I think it’s quite silly of him to go around converting Buddhist to Christians because it is such a waste of time. Considering the fact that there are so many countries living below the poverty line, I feel that Buddhist are the least of his concern. Just look at Mother Theresa. She didn’t go around converting people. All she did was to help people regardless of all religions.

I think the author is very sly, as he got a number of reviews that were quite positive. However, if u look at it carefully, the reviewers are all Christians… Of course, they do not know what’s going on. If a Buddhist said that it is a good book about Buddha, then it will be a true review. Unfortunately it is not..

Sometimes, I think that because of all these “definition” it separates people and that is the cause of all the problems in the world. I have realized long ago that one has to be objective, learn from ALL religions, pick out the best and apply it to one’s own life.

After reading the scriptures and text from both religions, I think that Buddha is more defined. He will define what he says. But he’ll always say that one must practise because words cannot describe the experience that he has experienced.

I think the Jesus’s teaching are more cryptic and more open to interpretation. So one needs to let go of his ego in order to receive his teachings. I could go on for days but I think that’s all for now.

I suggest to all not to take his book so literally. I think there’s a very good book (although it’s not suitable for beginners) titled: In Buddha’s Words edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi. I’ve read this book and I think it’s great.

I think one has to have a certain depth to comment about the different aspects of religion. Unfortuantely, the author doesn't have any depth at all. One must understand that one will only see what he wants to see. So, unless your background is clear, you will not be able to see the truth about things."

This is very typical of how Buddhists view Christianity and why it is so hard for Buddhists to become Christians. They find no issue with taking the good bits out of all religions and believe that Buddhism is superior to Christianity.