Devotee donates gold to Thai statue after land sale

[webfact]

 

A Thai woman devotee made a grand gesture of gratitude by donating gold necklaces, bracelets, and rings to a revered statue after selling her land for over a million baht. The act of devotion took place at Wat Sawang Arom in Nakhon Pathom, as believers and lottery enthusiasts gathered before the government lottery draw.

 

The serene premises of Wat Sawang Arom in Nakhon Chai Si district, Nakhon Pathom province, buzzed with excitement as believers and lottery enthusiasts flocked to the temple, seeking blessings and lucky numbers on the eve of the government lottery draw scheduled for March 1. A particular focus of these activities was the statue of Ta Thong Ngiew Rai, which stands alongside a sacred water basin believed to grant luck and fortune.

 

In a striking display of faith and thankfulness, a woman, after successfully selling over 20 rai (approximately 32,000 square metres) of previously unsellable land, presented a series of gold offerings to the statue of Ta Thong Ngiew Rai. The land, located in Trat province, had been unattractive to buyers due to poor conditions and frequent flooding.

 

Despite this, the woman managed to sell it for 1.5 million baht (US$ 41,776) after making a vow to the revered figure.

Natthaya, a 35 year old hospital worker from Chanthaburi province, was among those who made the pilgrimage to the statue. She fulfilled her promise, made after her wish to sell the land was granted, by bringing 30 pig heads, 10 boiled chickens, 100 chicken eggs, gold bracelets, necklaces, and rings, along with 100 Pho leaves, to the temple as offerings, reported KhaoSod.

 

The ceremony of fulfilling the vow was led by Arun Rungreung Mueng Yot, who chanted prayers to ensure the successful completion of the act. Natthaya then placed the gold bracelet, necklace, and ring on the statue of Ta Thong. She expressed her intention to offer the gold to Ta Thong Ngiew Rai to Phra Khru Yutithamnuyut, the abbot of Wat Sawang Arom, explaining her previous plight with the land and her recent fortune.

 

Having witnessed the one-month turnaround from her prayer to the successful sale, Natthaya was both grateful and amazed. She also entrusted the gold to the temple for safekeeping, suggesting it could be used as part of the sacred alloy should the temple cast new religious icons, thereby contributing to the perpetuation of Buddhism.

Lucky numbers

After the offerings were made, the abbot presented Natthaya with a framed picture and a lucky money envelope for prosperity. She also took a chance at finding lucky numbers in the water basin, claiming to have seen the digits 6, 8, 7, and 4, 7.

 

Meanwhile, lottery ticket sellers at the temple capitalised on the event, displaying numbers associated with the water basin and Ta Thong Ngiew Rai for the upcoming draw. The numbers 2, 0, 3, 4, 1, and the powerful Friday numbers 6-3-5 were all highlighted, providing an array of choices for hopeful customers.

 

by Nattapong Westwood

Picture courtesy of KhaoSod

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-02-29

 

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[stoner]

pretty sure buddha would not be cool with this.....

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

the sacred alloy should the temple cast new religious icons, thereby contributing to the perpetuation of Buddhism.

 

[hotchilli]

36 minutes ago, stoner said:

pretty sure buddha would not be cool with this.....

 

3 hours ago, webfact said:

She expressed her intention to offer the gold to Ta Thong Ngiew Rai to Phra Khru Yutithamnuyut, the abbot of Wat Sawang Arom

I bet he is.

[Thingamabob]

A grand gesture of stupidity more like.

[john donson]

Buddhism replaced by materialism, or is it more animalism... in my village, at whatever thing, people donating tables of fruit, but those people would not give 5 baht to a beggar

[ChaiyaTH]

2 hours ago, john donson said:

Buddhism replaced by materialism, or is it more animalism... in my village, at whatever thing, people donating tables of fruit, but those people would not give 5 baht to a beggar

There never was true buddhism in mainstream Thailand, only few specific ones. It is black magic mainly, you are not supposed to ask for good luck in the first place. I mean buddha did not even care about temples, it is not relevant at all, it was only build for him by devotees who wanted him to have a nice place to stay when visiting. You can meditate anywhere, including in the toilet.

 

I can count on one hand the amount of Thais I know, that actually do active and real meditation or study the theory into detail. It's already half a miracle if they even know where he was born. They likely will say India instead of Nepal, not knowing that what once was India is now Nepal.

Edited February 29 by ChaiyaTH

[spidermike007]

This is the polar opposite of any sort of spiritual or beneficial belief system. It is tribal superstition. I doubt it even has anything to do with Buddhism. 

 

Statues do not grant favors. 

 

Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy, the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth.

—  Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher & writer

 

With our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition. … We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. We might get away with it for a while, but eventually this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

— Carl Sagan

 

An extraterrestrial being, newly arrived on Earth - scrutinizing what we mainly present to our children in television, radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, the comics, and many books - might easily conclude that we are intent on teaching them murder, rape, cruelty, superstition, credulity and consumerism.

— Carl Sagan

 

One of the greatest gifts science has brought to the world is continuing elimination of the supernatural, and it was a lesson that my father passed on to me, that knowledge liberates mankind from superstition. We can live our lives without the constant fear that we have offended this or that deity who must be placated by incantation or sacrifice, or that we are at the mercy of devils or the Fates. With increasing knowledge, the intellectual darkness that surrounds us is illuminated and we learn more of the beauty and wonder of the natural world.

— James Watson