Thai Amulets / Pendants...

[Rags]

I found an old topic on the TV Buddhism forum discussing Buddhist amulets, and it got me thinking about how many non-Buddhist Farangs wear these traditional style Thai or Buddhist amulets – and why?

My wife gave me a gold chain and ‘lucky’ amulet for my birthday about 8 years ago, and although I am neither Buddhist nor Thai, I have worn it ever since. The amulet has an engraving of King Rama V on one side and a picture of a Wat on the other. (For the record we are not talking ‘Mr.T’ style chains here, and you will be pleased to hear that I am not inclined to flaunt the amulet with shirts open to the navel etc… )

So, why do I wear it? First and foremost, I wear it as it was a thoughtful present from my darling wife and it makes me think of her when I see it or touch it.

There is however another reason, which is slightly harder to explain, that it somehow provides me with a link to Thailand. I guess to some extent that it is also a personal statement that the wearer is committed to Thailand, and is not to be confused with some fly-by-night tourist.

How about you guys? Do you wear an amulet, and if so why?

[daveb1]

There is however another reason, which is slightly harder to explain, that it somehow provides me with a link to Thailand. I guess to some extent that it is also a personal statement that the wearer is committed to Thailand, and is not to be confused with some fly-by-night tourist

I agree with the above comment my partner bought me a small gold buddah on a gold chain(my partner is from the UK as well not Thai) and it makes me feel the same way I am also nearer to Buddism than any other religion in my beliefs

[Steve2UK]

There is however another reason, which is slightly harder to explain, that it somehow provides me with a link to Thailand. I guess to some extent that it is also a personal statement that the wearer is committed to Thailand, and is not to be confused with some fly-by-night tourist

I agree with the above comment my partner bought me a small gold buddah on a gold chain(my partner is from the UK as well not Thai) and it makes me feel the same way I am also nearer to Buddism than any other religion in my beliefs

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I definitely echo that. 20 years ago, I was given a very simple copper amulet (it shows a revered monk from a wat in Isarn). I was just sharing drinks with a bunch of Thai "mates" on a beach at Hua Hin, so you couldn't really call it a special occasion or from a special person (no offence to the guy who gave it to me).

At the start, it had at least a kind of sentimental value and reminded me of the pleasure of being in LOS. Since then, after many more visits and a growing interest in Buddhism, it's come to mean much more than that. When Thai's see it and ask me if I am Buddhist, I don't feel ready to say a simple "yes" yet, so I generally say something to the effect that I'm not 100% but I am interested in and attracted to Buddhism.

Now, if I ever have to take it off and forget to put it back on, I almost feel a panic until I've retrieved it and have it round my neck again.

[SEAtramp]

You should always remove your amulet when having sex.

Difficult for me as i have one tattood on my body.

[Steve2UK]

You should always remove your amulet when having sex.

Difficult for me as i have one tattood on my body. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wasn't going to get into the details of when/why I remove it, but since you mention it........... yep, that's when I do remove it.

[johnh101]

Now, if I ever have to take it off and forget to put it back on, I almost feel a panic until I've retrieved it and have it round my neck again.

I have three, one from the wife, one from her father and one I got years before. I wear them every day only taking them of for shower, sleep and sex, or if ever I am shirtless. I never flaunt them (medallion man style) and only my very close fiends and family even know I wear them.

But if I ever forget to put them on, I always realise when I start to not feel right.

[Rags]

Interesting to hear that some of the above posters gained a 'Buddhist outlook' on life after they started wearing an amulet.

Have any of you other Non-Buddhist Farangs found yourself becoming more spiritual beacause you wear an amulet, or does it just remind you of your loved one?

[aaaaaa]

You should always remove your amulet when having sex.

Difficult for me as i have one tattood on my body. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wasn't going to get into the details of when/why I remove it, but since you mention it........... yep, that's when I do remove it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

that's sufficient confession already ! now, don't go into more details - how often and for how long ! otherwise you might end up in having to admit that you barely even wear it !

[Flysiam]

Interesting to hear that some of the above posters gained a 'Buddhist outlook' on life after they started wearing an amulet.

Have any of you other Non-Buddhist Farangs found yourself becoming more spiritual beacause you wear an amulet, or does it just remind you of your loved one?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Definitely reminds me of my friends who gave me mine - I have worn it for more years than I can remember. I, too, am asked by Thais if I am Buddhist when they see me with it on - a simple 'no' - but they know that I respect their religion and am somehow 'tied' to their culture by my wearing it. I am in no way more spiritual by wearing a hunk of stone in gold... it is jewlery for heavens sake. but something a friend gave me - therein lies the meaning. Noting more - yet nothing less.

[Rags]

"...it is jewlery for heavens sake..."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interesting choice of phrase...

[Flysiam]

"...it is jewlery for heavens sake..."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Interesting choice of phrase...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ahhh yes - must have been a Freudian slip, as it were! Good catch! None the less... stone is stone and gold is...but gold

[billd766]

I have 4 Buddha amulets which I wear most of the time but take them off to shower and sleep. There are some other items such as a chrysallis and an animals tooth as well. All except 1 Buddha were given to me by my wife over a period of time and the other Buddha was given to me by the forest monk at the local temple. They are not encased in gold nor do I wear a gold chain, just a simple nylon cord.

I lost my favourite Buddha one day and my wife found it a few days later on the ground at home. All I thought of at the time was that I was sad that I had lost something that was important to me from my wife and that if anybody did find it that they had as much good luck as I did. When my wife told me that she had found it I was greatly relieved.

I am not a Buddhist though I would like to be but I need to speak Thai better first so that I can talk to the monks to learn more.

I rarely wear it at home and almost never without a shirt as it is a private thing to me.

[Dara]

I am not a Buddhist though I would like to be but I need to speak Thai better first so that I can talk to the monks to learn more.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are good books on Buddhism in English that you can read, and the good thing about it is that Buddhism can just be a way of life and that you can be a buddhist along with anything else that you believe in.

Asking a thai monk about Buddhism can be tricky because there are so much other practices that are mixed in with Buddhism in Thailand (Animism, Hinduism, Brahmanism, etc.) and some people really don't distinguish one practice from another. Some times it's easier just to go straight to Buddha's teaching and get the essence - and when you do that, you might realize that Buddhist teaching is quite similar to many other belief systems....

[Ajarn]

Interesting to hear that some of the above posters gained a 'Buddhist outlook' on life after they started wearing an amulet.

Have any of you other Non-Buddhist Farangs found yourself becoming more spiritual beacause you wear an amulet, or does it just remind you of your loved one?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm not Buddhist, only because I don't join clubs.

But, I know a good teacher when I see one.

Wearing the amulet helps to remind me off his teachings, which helps to keep me from going postal...

[bina]

also the thing about amulets is:

i think sabaijai or maybe pandit? wrote an excerp from a story of a man who gave his mother a piece of rock from some holy budhist place but actually he lied about where it came from; on her deathbed she told her son that she knew that it wasnt really from the place, it was the intent behind it i.e. reminding her of the precepts etc etc etc...

i gave a very very good friend of mine a 'hamsa' that was mine originally; it is a non religious amulet borrowed from arab culture that north african jews adopted against the evil eye and now everyone wheres them or puts one in there house (a good house warming or wedding present)... they are nto religious but carry some kind of cultural 'weight' or links between things.... religious orthodox jews wouldnt be caught dead wearing a 'hamsa' for instance as their belief is entirely in god w/o amulets... similar to many 'real' budhists saying that the amulet itself has no powers, just reminds you of who u are and what u should do....

anyway, my friend carries it around with him together with his budhist amulets... again since he is old fashioned buddhist w/o a lot of the fortune brahmism etc stuff, for him, the amulets are just reminders (present from now dead brother, etc etc) he says the real power comes from using his head, not believing in a piece of jewelry (as an other poster said)-- this said by an uneducated issan man who once wanted to become an ordained forest monk but went to work to support his widowed mother instead.

[khunlungphudhu]

Forty years ago I was given an amulet by my wife, and I still wear it today, even though I have since remarried, been given more amulets by my second wife and her family, and on numerous annual visits to my first wife's family in Chiengmai I am always given yet more.

They each have special memories for me and as such are treasured in a very special way.

I look at them and know that I am a very lucky guy!