As you have now entered into the main hall of the Temple, I would like to share some guidance with you about Thai culture that will help you in situations where you are in and around Thai people.
Feel free to take a seat and relax.
These things that I am going to teach are things that are nice to know. If for any reason you do not remember these things and you are around people who become angered due to you not practicing these things, it is important to understand that, those people are causing their own anger. It is not you that would cause someone else to be angry, that is not possible. But instead, it is one’s own mind, their cravings/desires/attachments that would cause their mind to be angry.
It is not other people that are causing you to become angry, instead, it is one’s own mind that causes it to become angry or, experience any other discontent feelings.
This is a fundamental aspect of The Teachings of The Buddha, that can be independently verified. All The Teachings of The Buddha can be independently verified.
And, while we understand that everyone is causing their own anger, it is nice to be around people who are not angry. So, learning and practicing these three things will help you to better associate with people within Thai culture.
1.) When Thai people enter into the main hall of a Temple, or anytime they are around a Buddha statue, they will typically do so with their head a bit lower than the primary Buddha statue. This is out of respect for The Buddha. And, this is typically made very easy to accomplish because, the Thai people will usually place Buddha statues quite high.
2.) When gesturing towards a Buddha statue, people will oftentimes use a full hand rather than, pointing their finger.
3.) When sitting among others, or in the main hall of a Temple, Thai people consider it to be disrespectful to point your feet towards others. This is due to, in the past, people use to walk around with no shoes. Shoes did not exist in the past. Therefore, people would have dirty feet and entering into a situation where others are sitting, it was considered to be disrespectful to point your dirty feet towards others.
The Thai people think in the same way about pointing the feet towards the main altar at a Temple, they consider it to be disrespectful to point your feet towards statues of The Buddha.
The reason why people think in this way is, due to misunderstandings that exist today, people think the spirit of The Buddha exists in these statues. That is not what was taught by The Buddha.
The Buddha never taught to make statues of him, and he did not teach that his spirit resides in these statues. In fact, The Buddha did not even teach that a spirit does or does not exist. But, now, 2,500 years after the death of The Buddha, there are many misunderstandings in the world around what he taught. Therefore, you will see people that will treat statues of The Buddha, as if, he is literally sitting there right in front of you. You might even see people bathing statues, feeding them, and doing any number of other things, treating the statue as if it is a human being.
This is not what would lead to one’s Enlightenment however, at least you will know where this thinking is coming from.
If you and I are ever in the same environment, you are more than welcome to sit however you like. If you point your feet towards me, that is up to you. I have no expectation of how you should or should not sit. But, that is not the case for everyone. So, it is oftentimes wise to practice the culture of the people around you, which will help minimize the opportunity for other people’s mind’s to become discontent due to, their cravings/desires/attachments not getting triggered.
Again, if you forget these or otherwise do not practice them, no worries, that is up to you. If anyone gets angry that you are not practicing these cultural protocols, they are causing their own anger, not you. But, at least you will know a bit about Thai culture and have some basic understanding to help you.