Sak Yant (sacred Buddhist) tattoos?

[mccw]

If interested to know there are forms of "magic" tattoos all over world form the older religions/ knowledge. If you investigate they are all working off a very similar system/ understanding.

[Thighlander]

The USMC has adopted new tattoo policy....http://usmilitary.about.com/od/marines/a/tattoo.htm

but yes, it seems like people have their heads up their . The difference in the service and respect you get as a traveller, here and many other places, if you are clean and neat vs. not clean and neat are obvious. It applies to airport security, checkpoints, immigration, hotels, and many other forms of customer service. Tattoo, beard, body odor, circus pants is not what I would call "staying under the radar."

[northernjohn]

Keep in mind that tattoos done by monks are going to be more expensive (sometimes laughably so) and more amateur than the same thing by someone who has years of experience in tattooing and is actually skilled and artful.

I mean you could say, "Yeah, I got this tattoo, but it was done by a monk in a temple," or "Yeah, I got this cool traditional tattoo in Thailand, then had a monk in a temple bless it (for a fee)."

Or, you could buy an amulet to wear around your neck and avoid the later regrets of getting a tattoo, crap or not.

Will a regular tattooer give you a sacred Buddhist tattoo?

They will give such a design.

Just design- no power.

Any one can tel the real compared to the fake/ tattoo shop ones also because the real made by the manual jabbing leaves the tattooed area slightly raised; where as a tattoo made by a gun/machine is smooth to the touch.

One could get it blessed; but it's likely not as effective because the tattoo masters know exactly what they are doing and actually speak/ read the Pali or old Lana or Khermer script (script varies depending on the tradition the master has learnt in). My first was from a shop because the old monk I mets eyes weren't do good any more so he say go to a shop and come back for blessing. (This is 10years back) But when I found the other master for a next beginning he did "fix" a few of the characters and add a bit to the script.

The designs on the internet leave out key parts for purpose that people can not copy them- it's just for example how it looks like.

There are two elements at work in these things really- most important is the power of the Master (Monk or Brahmin / Shaman). Second is the artist skill aesthetically wise.

Many Thais get the tattoos done in oil - so nobody can see they even got it done. Purely for the power.

Lots of other ceremonies I have witnessed. Like a voodoo magic to bring cheating husbands back to their wives; or large congregations calling on the Gods for protection and fortune.

These things are not the Buddhas teachings. But they are not denied as real either. So the "Buddhist tattoos" label is not really a correct one and such questions as "did Buddha have tattoos" is irrelevant ; these tattoo are just a part of a wider spiritual system which can be attempted to be used for worldly effects

Thanks for the explanation.

[northernjohn]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/08/05/canadian-professor-made-to-leave-burma-due-to-anger-over-buddha-tattoos-on-leg/

Is it worth getting deported?

You are not even in the right country mush less ball park.

[Thighlander]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/08/05/canadian-professor-made-to-leave-burma-due-to-anger-over-buddha-tattoos-on-leg/

Is it worth getting deported?

You are not even in the right country mush less ball park.

Usually, I would respond, but since you have continually been recognized as the worthless posts, all-time leader, I won't bother. Maybe you can find a used set of Encyclopedia Britanicas...study up, and you might be able to convince some folks you have a triple digit IQ.

[rakchaingmai]

check this guy out on Facebook .

https://www.facebook.com/arjanpibangkating?fref=ts

[daoyai]

If interested to know there are forms of "magic" tattoos all over world form the older religions/ knowledge. If you investigate they are all working off a very similar system/ understanding.

True that, that system/understanding is called superstition.

[mccw]

If interested to know there are forms of "magic" tattoos all over world form the older religions/ knowledge. If you investigate they are all working off a very similar system/ understanding.

True that, that system/understanding is called superstition.

Is ignorance bliss?

[daoyai]

If interested to know there are forms of "magic" tattoos all over world form the older religions/ knowledge. If you investigate they are all working off a very similar system/ understanding.

True that, that system/understanding is called superstition.

Is ignorance bliss?

Possibly as the tattoed folks may blissfully proceed believing their tats give them magic or protective powers.

[mccw]

If interested to know there are forms of "magic" tattoos all over world form the older religions/ knowledge. If you investigate they are all working off a very similar system/ understanding.

True that, that system/understanding is called superstition.

Is ignorance bliss?

Possibly as the tattoed folks may blissfully proceed believing their tats give them magic or protective powers.

And so if it is a placebo but has still positive effects what does it matter?

The placebo effect is well documented- no active ingredients on pills for example but a higher rate get better than those given nothing at all. What is that then? Power of the mind having effect on the body.

[twiggy1306]

I have allready 8 sak yant tattoos

1 in tattoo shop

3 by monks

4 by sak-yants

the best is arjan KOB in ayutthaya near the old floating market

And dont go to wat bang phra, the monks are tired to see farangs!!!

feel free to contact me by PM

Hi!

Can you tell me more about Arjan Kob. I would like to go to him for a sak yant tattoo.

Is he choosing the tattoo and how can i pay him respect? What is the best way to contact

him.

thank you

[MisterTee]

I have allready 8 sak yant tattoos

1 in tattoo shop

3 by monks

4 by sak-yants

the best is arjan KOB in ayutthaya near the old floating market

And dont go to wat bang phra, the monks are tired to see farangs!!!

feel free to contact me by PM

Hi!

Can you tell me more about Arjan Kob. I would like to go to him for a sak yant tattoo.

Is he choosing the tattoo and how can i pay him respect? What is the best way to contact

him.

thank you

Follow DaddyWarbucks' advice and get a check-up from the neck up before getting any kind of a tattoo.

That is especially relevant before allowing yourself to be tattooed by some primitive practitioner whose standards of hygiene are as low as his grasp of what superstition means and what ridiculous follies it can lead people into.

[mccw]

Important to training your mind with meditation too. Keep the 5 sin.

You Must be control the power and not let it control you. Many people turn in to rowdy drunks because they can't handle it.

This is if you get the real deal Sak Yant.

Train to catch and observe all emotions , feelings, sensations and not be slave to them.

Focus your awareness through the breath cycle.

Chock dee

[MisterTee]

Important to training your mind with meditation too. Keep the 5 sin.

You Must be control the power and not let it control you. Many people turn in to rowdy drunks because they can't handle it.

This is if you get the real deal Sak Yant.

Train to catch and observe all emotions , feelings, sensations and not be slave to them.

Focus your awareness through the breath cycle.

Chock dee

Meditation techniques to quiet our inner primate and try to find some point of contact with what may exist beyond our ken are certainly worth pursuing.

Letting some charlatan tattoo your body with meaningless graffiti is a textbook example of reversion to a state of savagery or idiocy.

If you sincerely believe in the efficacy of sak yant or ritual tattooing in general, I would ask you, with due respect, to explain the difference between a "...real deal Sak Yant" and a bogus one.

[mccw]

Mister tee.

If you develop your meditation practice you may eventually see and feel the energies at work in and flowing through existence.

Awareness of Energy is detailed as one of the conditions of enlightenment.

Ofcourse the words of others can not make you believe or open your awareness; so I suggest you endeavour with your practice until you know for yourself the facts rather than close your mind to such things when no experience. Calling out derogatory names and disrespect does one no favours either. It's a kin to disrespecting the heavens. The existence of such things you can know for yourself as reality; not just philosophise, intellectualise nor requiring "faith".

The difference between "real deal" Sak Yant as opposite to a normal tattoo shop is then that the energies are infused to the disciple through the tattoo, prayers and ceremony that make up the Sak Yant.

Not even every claimed master will really have a power to do it. But some do.

[MisterTee]

Mister tee.

If you develop your meditation practice you may eventually see and feel the energies at work in and flowing through existence.

Awareness of Energy is detailed as one of the conditions of enlightenment.

Ofcourse the words of others can not make you believe or open your awareness; so I suggest you endeavour with your practice until you know for yourself the facts rather than close your mind to such things when no experience. Calling out derogatory names and disrespect does one no favours either. It's a kin to disrespecting the heavens. The existence of such things you can know for yourself as reality; not just philosophise, intellectualise nor requiring "faith".

The difference between "real deal" Sak Yant as opposite to a normal tattoo shop is then that the energies are infused to the disciple through the tattoo, prayers and ceremony that make up the Sak Yant.

Not even every claimed master will really have a power to do it. But some do.

Calling a spade a spade and a charlatan a charlatan is not "...disrespecting the heavens."

I'm willing to listen to a reasoned argument if you would be so good as to put it forward.

[mccw]

If your mind is closed to the possibilities then you will never know.

Keeping an open mind but being wary of charlatans is quite different and perfectly sensible.

In the same way some monks do bad things, some people do bad things, it does not mean goodness doesn't exist in humans.

[seesip]

There is a tattooist who specializes in sak yang near Hang Dong. He also uses a tattoo gun which helps with a dark even line. I know a few people who have been tattooed there and they were happy with the results. I also know that some Thais who get tattoos buy their own needles and ink, as a way of guaranteeing quality control. I can find the shop if you're interested you can pm me.

[lomprebernard]

Arjan kob, you go there any time from 10am to 6pm, you will find some catalogs with his FARANG PRICE
you choose and he do or he said you coming tomorow
You have to come with flowers with 3 incense stick, and a yellow candel, and a white envelop with your "donation" inside

If arjan Kob is too busy you can choose his son, name is arjan Oh
same quality !!! they work together!

The best is to come with translator people for your personal request yhey dont speak english

I have allready 8 sak yant tattoos

1 in tattoo shop
3 by monks
4 by sak-yants
the best is arjan KOB in ayutthaya near the old floating market
And dont go to wat bang phra, the monks are tired to see farangs!!!

feel free to contact me by PM

Hi!
Can you tell me more about Arjan Kob. I would like to go to him for a sak yant tattoo.
Is he choosing the tattoo and how can i pay him respect? What is the best way to contact
him.

thank you

[twiggy1306]

Thank you! If i understand it right, i can choose the tattoo and the place on my body.

[twiggy1306]

Is there a website with all the sak yants and their meanings?

[Squeegee]

Is there a website with all the sak yants and their meanings?

buddhisttattoosforconsumers dot biz

Also, the smart phone app Monk Chat can connect you (plus you get free Idol Worship stickers for sending to your friends list).

[mccw]

If you get one; I suggest you do the traditional way; not a modern "gun" / machine. You'll be amazed how many Thai will come and touch the tattoo to see if it's raised or not. They will judge it to be a lame fake mostly if you have smooth skin from a modern machine.

[MisterTee]

Arjan kob, you go there any time from 10am to 6pm, you will find some catalogs with his FARANG PRICE

you choose and he do or he said you coming tomorow

You have to come with flowers with 3 incense stick, and a yellow candel, and a white envelop with your "donation" inside

If arjan Kob is too busy you can choose his son, name is arjan Oh

same quality !!! they work together!

The best is to come with translator people for your personal request yhey dont speak english

I have allready 8 sak yant tattoos

1 in tattoo shop

3 by monks

4 by sak-yants

the best is arjan KOB in ayutthaya near the old floating market

And dont go to wat bang phra, the monks are tired to see farangs!!!

feel free to contact me by PM

Hi!

Can you tell me more about Arjan Kob. I would like to go to him for a sak yant tattoo.

Is he choosing the tattoo and how can i pay him respect? What is the best way to contact

him.

thank you

This doesn't sound like a mystical experience of numinous beauty - it sounds like a typical rip-off by mercenary Thais making fools out of gullible farangs.

Complete with "FARANG PRICE"

The whole thing is a farce.

[daoyai]

Arjan kob, you go there any time from 10am to 6pm, you will find some catalogs with his FARANG PRICE

you choose and he do or he said you coming tomorow

You have to come with flowers with 3 incense stick, and a yellow candel, and a white envelop with your "donation" inside

If arjan Kob is too busy you can choose his son, name is arjan Oh

same quality !!! they work together!

The best is to come with translator people for your personal request yhey dont speak english

I have allready 8 sak yant tattoos

1 in tattoo shop

3 by monks

4 by sak-yants

the best is arjan KOB in ayutthaya near the old floating market

And dont go to wat bang phra, the monks are tired to see farangs!!!

feel free to contact me by PM

Hi!

Can you tell me more about Arjan Kob. I would like to go to him for a sak yant tattoo.

Is he choosing the tattoo and how can i pay him respect? What is the best way to contact

him.

thank you

This doesn't sound like a mystical experience of numinous beauty - it sounds like a typical rip-off by mercenary Thais making fools out of gullible farangs.

Complete with "FARANG PRICE"

The whole thing is a farce.

A small price to pay to be secure in the knowlege that not only is the tat infused with that special energy BUT it will also pass the random Thai touch test for authentic texture !

[onthedarkside]

3 off topic posts have been removed. Add nothing to the topic.

[CMHomeboy78]

Tattooing in Chiang Mai was first commented on - to the best of my knowledge - by M. Grandjean, the French Catholic missionary, who visited the city during the first three months of 1844.

His observations are interesting and worth quoting verbatim:

"There are ordinarily distinguished two kinds of Laocians [Kohn Muang] - one of whom are called Thaung Dam, that is, Black-bellies, and the other who are called Thaung Khao, that is, White-bellies. They are thus named because the men of the race of Black-bellies, when they arrive at the age of fourteen or sixteen years, are accustomed to have drawn upon their bodies different figures of men, flowers, elephants, tigers, serpents, and other animals. This operation they perform by making, by means of many needles joined together, a number of punctures upon the epidermus; they then apply a black ink, which brings out all the designs traced upon the skin; they quietly bathe themselves afterwards, and the impression is ineffaceable. The tattooing is not executed without pain; for they are obliged to bind the patient, who generally continues sick for fifteen days, and sometimes even dies. However, as the young Laocians cannot obtain wives if they lack this kind of beauty, there is not one amongst them who does not voluntarily submit to this painful operation. The White-bellies on the contrary, are contented with their natural graces."

Chiang Mai girls didn't escape Grandjean's notice either:

"As regards the women, they are more active, more industrious, and more intelligent than the men. They have an undoubted empire over their husbands and can drive them away when they are not content with them."

Plus ca change...

[northernjohn]

_{Funny how the human mind works. Do's it matter if they are powerful or not. It is scientifically proven that the belief in the mind has power to change things. Ask any scientist about the placebo affect. Yet here we have so called experts claiming it is nonsense. The reality is it is what the person believes it is. Myself I am a skeptic. If I get a tattoo it will be just to get one no special power in it. Perhaps a wizard or a leprechaun.}

[MisterTee]

Tattooing in Chiang Mai was first commented on - to the best of my knowledge - by M. Grandjean, the French Catholic missionary, who visited the city during the first three months of 1844.

His observations are interesting and worth quoting verbatim:

"There are ordinarily distinguished two kinds of Laocians [Kohn Muang] - one of whom are called Thaung Dam, that is, Black-bellies, and the other who are called Thaung Khao, that is, White-bellies. They are thus named because the men of the race of Black-bellies, when they arrive at the age of fourteen or sixteen years, are accustomed to have drawn upon their bodies different figures of men, flowers, elephants, tigers, serpents, and other animals. This operation they perform by making, by means of many needles joined together, a number of punctures upon the epidermus; they then apply a black ink, which brings out all the designs traced upon the skin; they quietly bathe themselves afterwards, and the impression is ineffaceable. The tattooing is not executed without pain; for they are obliged to bind the patient, who generally continues sick for fifteen days, and sometimes even dies. However, as the young Laocians cannot obtain wives if they lack this kind of beauty, there is not one amongst them who does not voluntarily submit to this painful operation. The White-bellies on the contrary, are contented with their natural graces."

Chiang Mai girls didn't escape Grandjean's notice either:

"As regards the women, they are more active, more industrious, and more intelligent than the men. They have an undoubted empire over their husbands and can drive them away when they are not content with them."

Plus ca change...

Was there no mention in Grandjean's account of the mystical properties of Sak Yant?

From what he writes it sounds like tattooing was done for vanity and the ability to get a wife - and perhaps some prime poon-tang before marriage, and maybe afterwards a little on the side.

It's a well known fact that soldiers were often tattooed with Sak Yant to ward off bullets. It would be interesting to see how many farangs among the "true believers" would go before a firing squad to test the efficacy of their newly acquired bulletproof Sak Yants.

[CMHomeboy78]

Was there no mention in Grandjean's account of the mystical properties of Sak Yant?

From what he writes it sounds like tattooing was done for vanity and the ability to get a wife - and perhaps some prime poon-tang before marriage, and maybe afterwards a little on the side.

It's a well known fact that soldiers were often tattooed with Sak Yant to ward off bullets. It would be interesting to see how many farangs among the "true believers" would go before a firing squad to test the efficacy of their newly acquired bulletproof Sak Yants.

Good point... I was going to comment on that, but didn't want my post to ramble on too long.

Grandjean's sole purpose in coming to Chiang Mai was the mass conversion of the entire population of Lanna T'ai to Christianity. His mission was a conspicuous failure; as subsequent attempts down to the present day have been. Buddhism is too deeply ingrained here.

Any relationship between tattooing and mysticism he would have regarded as "heathenish practices" and dismissed without further investigation. He only had eyes to see the superficial aspect of it.

Ignorance and arrogance combined with an often nasty animus toward Buddhism have doomed missionary efforts from the beginning.

As far as the protective properties of Sak Yant are concerned, I'm not a believer myself, but I do believe - as NorthernJohn pointed out - in the placebo effect. To me, that is proof positive that mind has the power to influence matter. Albeit in ways that we don't understand, and may ultimately be beyond our comprehension.

Anyway, lighten up. This is Thailand... a pretty good place to be, especially this time of year.