Celestial Phenomea - Myths And Superstitions?

[sailaway2000]

Lots of smart people on this forum (and I do hope the replies will be intelligent and well informed).

Throughout history the arrival of comets have been harbingers of great calamity and/or superstitious ritual.

What is the history of Thailand with respect to Comets?

What are the myths or superstitions, religious and/or social, surrounding these astronomical phenomena in Thailand?

Thank you,

Mark

[Several]

Well, all the astrology I've come across here is Chinese. Unless individual tribes have astrological meanings I'm not sure the Thais do, though I might be mistaken. Buddhism is obviously a major force in shaping the culture here and the teachings of the Buddha don't include fortune telling. In fact it is an excommunicable offence to claim supernatural powers including divination. Though that rule is somewhat relaxed here chronolgically speaking Thailand isn't old enough to have made enough astronomical observations to ascertain predictable patterns. Plus its cloudy alot.

Associating cometary visitations with bad juju might hark back to some pre-ice age event. Even stone age peoples recorded phases of the moon, solstices etc. Other than having no tv it may be that there was some catastrophic event that changed world climate and started sky watching. Millions of mammoths died simultaneously and are frozen solid everywhere in the northern hemisphere from Russia to Canada. If this was cometary impact it could explain ancient cultures obsession with celestial motion. Over time this became mythology and a belief that the motion of heavenly bodies determined our destinies.

This is not what Buddha taught. He states it is the Kammic effect of our choice of action that dictates the circumstances we find ourselves in. Really the only astronomical aspects relevant to Buddhism are the phases of the moon and eating before the sun reaches its zenith. So they are used to measure time rather than predict events.

But I could, as always, be wrong.

[sabaijai]

Moving to General Topics, where you might see more responses. It's a questions that's not directly concerned with Buddhism, though it might seem so at first

[BigJohnnyBKK]

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[Rob8891]

This thread was up very recently....Maybe it will help you

http://www.thaivisa....et#entry5754772