Buddhist prayer to monks for blessing
About this recording
Kristin Post
- Creator
- Kristin Post
- Date created
- September 28, 2000
- Duration
- 0:58
- Location
- Trang, Thailand
- File
- MP3
- License
- This recording copyright ©2001. Terms of use
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- Search LEARN NC for Buddhism, faith, festivals, food, prayer, reincarnation, religion, Thai, Thailand, Theravada, and Trang.
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This prayer was recorded in Trang, Thailand, a small town near the southeastern coast.
The people of the town were gathered together to honor the monks in the town by giving them rice and other food. When food is given, a special prayer is said. This part of the prayer is in Thai, the national language of Thailand.
In Thailand, the most common form of Buddhism is Theravada. This is the oldest surviving Buddhist school and comes from Sri Lanka. One important doctrine of this religion is that insight must come from experience and critical investigation rather than “blind faith.”
This prayer is about “bun,” which is a good deed. Giving food to a monk is a good deed. This prayer is asking that this good deed be released to someone else.
Many Buddhists believe that the good deeds you do in life are saved up. If you have done many good things in life, this may assist you in the next life. If you do a bad deed, this has to be paid back in the next life. When good deeds are done, a prayer can be offered to ask that this good deed go to someone else — your enemies of your past life; your relatives, living or dead; or someone you have hurt whether or not you meant to.
From my journal:
The temple across the street has ceremony. I sit with a school teacher and her family. People have food all over this table. Put money in little “flower pots.” Monks and children pray. Then go out and leave food on the street for ancestors.
