I wonder what the Buddha would have said? Visiting the temple to pray to a fungus

[webfact]

I wonder what the Buddha would have said? Visiting the temple to pray to a fungus

 

Image: Daily News

 

BANGKOK: -- Villagers are clambering over themselves to go and make merit at a north eastern temple after reports that a magical fungus is producing lottery numbers.

 

Reports that the numbers came up in the last draw mean ever more locals are visiting the Wat Kong Phle Yai temple in Don Tan district of Mukdaharn, reported Daily News.

 

The behavior begs the question as to what the Buddha may have thought of such superstition - especially bearing in mind adherents are supposed to shun the material world and all its trappings.

 

The abbot doesn't seem to care about that - Phra Sirimangkharo is raking in a nice little earner in return visitors donating to his swelling coffers.

 

He said that the fungus - a huge black and white thing that grew on a log outside the monks' quarters - is believed to be magical.

 

Apparently prayers to the fungus got the 684 number on September 1st. There were many winners in the locality he gave part of their lucky haul back to the temple as a merit payment.

 

Now they are waiting with baited breath to see if the latest numbers come up again for the next drawing on Saturday. The numbers are 326, 42.

 

The abbot said the log was originally used as a seat but after some buckets were left on it after a festival at the temple the huge fungus grew in the semi-dark.

 

"When we took the bucket off I was startled." claimed the monk. “I thought it was a snake under there". The fungus was cut out and put on display in a shrine where visitors now prostrate themselves before it and pray for the numbers.

 

Source: Daily News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2016-09-15

[NongKhaiKid]

Not much left to say about this sort of thing.

Must be ok through if it's being endorsed by the local abbot.  

[jaltsc]

There's a sucker born every minute, and there is always someone to take advantage of his naivety. 

[alocacoc]

It might sound crazy, but, my remote control for the air-condition is also able to predict lottery numbers. Now I'm about to build a shrine for the remote control.

[ezflip]

I don't think Buddha would have approved this at all. Sort of goes against everything he was teaching. Oh well, this is Thailand after all...

[rkidlad]

Religion: where people who think pretending to be good will get you into some form of heaven. 

 

Ridicule is the only cure for this nonsense. 

[lemonjelly]

These stories make smile, it's one of the reasons I love being here. The world would be a boring place without a little mysticism here and there. 

[Sphere]

It's possible that Buddha is considering litigation to cancel his Thai franchise agreement.

 

[Alive]

Is that the real title to the story? That title could be put on a lot of news stories and happenings in Thailand especially those related to the supposedly Buddhist government and the way it deals with the opposition. I don't believe the Buddha would ever take away voices and punish people for speaking. But this fungus story really shows Thailand true character; it might even qualify for Thainess.

[Pimay1]

These charlatan monks will go to any measure to fleece poor ignorant people out of their hard earned money. Shameful.

[jamesbrock]

34 minutes ago, webfact said:

I wonder what the Buddha would have said?

 

One wonders what the Buddha would have said about the vast majority of Theravada Buddhism!

[ezzra]

Let's put it this way, Buddha and all other deities in the world are all men's invention,

as without people in the world, this world wouldn't have the needs for gods

and god like to worship, therefore, as such , it stand to reason that it is ok to ask

your creation anything you like really, and auspicious lottery numbers from a fungus

is one of them....

s

[PatOngo]

326 and 42.....got it.....fungus, bring me home!

[Kasset Tak]

Much of what's considered to be Buddhism in Thailand is in reality animism. That is whats happening when you merge different religions over hundreds maybe even thousands of years. Look at the Karen tribe whose religion today is reflecting animism, Buddhism and Christianity after centuries of mergers from Buddhism and Christianity in to what in the beginning was animism. Another example are all the different Christian congregations that all originated from 1 strand... and the American evangelist movement is really way of from Jesus original teachings!   

 

[Fookhaht]

Holy Fungus!

[dcnx]

56 minutes ago, ezflip said:

I don't think Buddha would have approved this at all. Sort of goes against everything he was teaching. Oh well, this is Thailand after all...

 

Regardless of what they claim, or what type of Buddhism they say they are, most Thais are anything but Buddhist. Yea, that's Buddha in the temple, but most of them haven't a clue about his teachings. They make merit to get things in return. Buddha is a wishing well here,  nothing more. 

[taichiplanet]

42 is the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything!

[Somtamnication]

Depends on what kind of fungus it is. 

 

[Lupatria]

Someone once said: 67 mio. mushrooms. They grow in the dark and are fed on BS.

[docshock13]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

Let's put it this way, Buddha and all other deities in the world are all men's invention,

as without people in the world, this world wouldn't have the needs for gods

and god like to worship, therefore, as such , it stand to reason that it is ok to ask

your creation anything you like really, and auspicious lottery numbers from a fungus

is one of them....

s

Dont mean to split hairs, but Buddha was a man (born Siddartha Gautama) not a figment of anyone's imagination. Regardless, the way Thais worship him as a god is antithetical to his teachings. But as another poster has pointed out, Thai Buddhism is a rather strange melange of animism, mysticism, superstition and Buddhist teachings. 

[The Deerhunter]

Simple!  I understand and have read on these pages and elsewhere that Buddha said "do not pray to me. I am not a god!"

[dcpo]

It's kinda weird how Thais get from the teachings of Buddha to their belief in spirits and magic fungi that tell them lottery numbers. But then, it's kinda weird how Catholics get from the teachings of Jesus to massive cathedrals stuffed with gold and a man living in his own private city who tells them what to do (not that they actually listen to him if they don't agree with what he's saying). Human nature. It is what it is.

[JAG]

2 hours ago, ezflip said:

I don't think Buddha would have approved this at all. Sort of goes against everything he was teaching. Oh well, this is Thailand after all...

I should imagine that the Buddha has probably long since given up bothering about the whacky things some of his followers here get up to. 

[Andyfez]

What would he say/ "looks like a fun guy'........

[Emster23]

"Now they are waiting with baited breath to see if the latest numbers come up again....." Baited? Worms? Dry Flies? The proper word is "bated"..... although the hook already seems set with the worshipers.

[elgordo38]

3 hours ago, NongKhaiKid said:

Not much left to say about this sort of thing.

Must be ok through if it's being endorsed by the local abbot.  

Bringing in the sheaves to keep the lock boxes full. I think I have a fungus on my foot. Note to self pray over foot fungus tonight. 

[Catoni]

3 hours ago, jamesbrock said:

 

One wonders what the Buddha would have said about the vast majority of Theravada Buddhism!

  

     Well... actually... Theravada Buddhism is probably much closer to what Siddhartha Gautama Buddha taught than any other school of Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism is closer to original Buddhism than the various forms of Mahayana Buddhism such as Zen and Pure Land, Tibetan and Tantric Buddhism for example. 

       But still, over the past 2,500 years or so... it too has drifted from what Gautama Buddha would approve of.  

 

The basic teachings are still correct....  the base is there...  It's what has been added to it over time that has changed it from what it originally was. 

    In actual fact...  Lord Buddha himself would not even approve of statues representing him, or of Sai Sin strings or water libation then pouring it on a tree etc.  Lord Buddha would not approve of Sak Yant tattoos with their magical prayers.  I myself am guilty of getting Sak Yant tattoos from a Theravada monk using Khem Sak.      

 

  You have to take into account...  Theravada Buddhism in some places, like Thailand and Cambodia, and probably also Myanmar and Laos, has been...shall we say.. "influenced" with Hinduism and local variations of Animism and local "magic" things over the centuries..  Modern technological society with the desire for gadgets and wealth, has also not helped. 

 

  So today... there are a great many corrupt monks as we are aware...  all around us..   Many corrupt priests and pastors in Christianity.. Jesus would not approve..  But now and again.... you might find one who is very sincere.. and trying their best to be faithful to the basic teachings.. 

 

     You can still find real, serious, Buddhist monks who truly do their best to follow Buddha's teachings with purity. Even outside of southeast Asia.  But you have to search much longer now to find them.    The search is worth it.  

[TheFishman1]

TIT. Thailand Buddha different thing

[returnofthailand]

Buddha would have had a big laugh. Buddha are human like you and I.

[mesterm]

Insane.