temporary monkhood when a family member passed away

[ETatBKK]

hi there

in the Thai family when someone passed away, they send a young family member to the temple and be a temporary monk for a week or so. my understanding that this is not a temporary monkhood (that the period of time may be longer).

my questions :

- what does it call in Thai and in English ?

- what does it mean in the religious ?

 

thanks

ET@BKK

[khaowong1]

It depends on the age of the person they send to be a monk.  You have to be 20 to be a fully ordained monk, otherwise you are just a novice monk.  I can't remember the Thai names for them.  In my 7 years as an ordained monk in Thailand, I saw many young men ordain for a month or 3 months because of a death in the family.  Back 10 or 15 years ago, it was considered to be mandatory for a male member of a family to ordain for even a short period of time, before he became a bread winner for the family or started his own family and I've seen that also.  Now, not so much. 

[ETatBKK]

4 minutes ago, khaowong1 said:

It depends on the age of the person they send to be a monk . . . I saw many young men ordain for a month or 3 months because of a death in the family.  Back 10 or 15 years ago, it was considered to be mandatory for a male member of a family to ordain for even a short period of time . . .

thanks khaowong

yeah, it was about 10 years ago, the young man was about 13 years old, he just stayed for couple of weeks, and the family was proud of this.

what is the meaning of this in the Buddhism ?

[Neeranam]

บวชเณร Buat naen is ordain as a novice monk.

 

บวชพระ  Buat phra is ordain as a monk. 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2021 by Neeranam

[khaowong1]

23 hours ago, ETatBKK said:

thanks khaowong

yeah, it was about 10 years ago, the young man was about 13 years old, he just stayed for couple of weeks, and the family was proud of this.

what is the meaning of this in the Buddhism ?

To be honest with you, it has nothing really to do with Buddhism.  The main reason it became a thing to do in Thailand, was that several former Kings did it before becoming King.  Rama IX did it and it became kind of the thing to do.  The current King didn't so it will probably fade in time.  

 

[khaowong1]

23 hours ago, Neeranam said:

บวชเณร Buat naen is ordain as a novice monk.

 

บวชพระ  Buat phra is ordain as a monk. 

 

 

Thank you Neeranam, I had forgotten.  

[ETatBKK]

On 1/14/2021 at 11:45 PM, Neeranam said:

บวชเณร Buat naen is ordain as a novice monk.

 

บวชพระ  Buat phra is ordain as a monk. 

 

 

thanks Neeranam

 

learn two more words ☺️ would Thai really care the difference between a monk or a novice monk, in terms of their respect to the monk and the religious ?

[ETatBKK]

9 hours ago, khaowong1 said:

To be honest with you, it has nothing really to do with Buddhism.  The main reason it became a thing to do in Thailand, was that several former Kings did it before becoming King.  Rama IX did it and it became kind of the thing to do.  The current King didn't so it will probably fade in time.  

 

thanks khaowong

good to know it is a Thai influence than a religious tradition !!  I thought that it is making a merit, or a kind of paving the way or RIP to the decease.

[khaowong1]

13 hours ago, ETatBKK said:

thanks khaowong

good to know it is a Thai influence than a religious tradition !!  I thought that it is making a merit, or a kind of paving the way or RIP to the decease.

Yes, it is also about making merit for a deceased family member.  Which is what I saw while a monk in Thailand more than just about everything else.  But even then, most of the time it wasn't about learning more about Buddhism than making the family look good in the neighborhood.  Have you ever seen the bumper stickers on auto's, " My son is a honor student at John McGraw High School", same kind of thing.  

[ETatBKK]

On 1/16/2021 at 10:35 PM, khaowong1 said:

Yes, it is also about making merit for a deceased family member.  Which is what I saw while a monk in Thailand more than just about everything else.  But even then, most of the time it wasn't about learning more about Buddhism than making the family look good in the neighborhood.  Have you ever seen the bumper stickers on auto's, " My son is a honor student at John McGraw High School", same kind of thing.  

ha ha ha . . . catch it !  this is likely the Asian family value and believe ! 

[bankei]

I think it is all about 'making merit' for the deceased person. Nothing much to do with Buddhism per se. These temporary novices seem to be treated differently for the other novices. They shave their heads and put on robes for a few days and then are out as quick as they can.