disposition 9
I went to the head monk’s office to ask for permission to travel to Thailand. The head monk allowed me to travel and to learn about other cultures so that I am able to teach those new knowledge to the rest of the village. However, he was unable to help me with the funding as it would take up a huge amount of money from the temple’s donations. They were only able to provide me with the transport from the village to the airport. I had to come up with the money by myself. I needed all the help I could get and that was a start.
I went back to my house and counted the money that I had saved. I had enough money to pay for half the plane ticket. This meant that I had to help out around the village and work to get the rest of the money. I noticed that since the village was having a relatively nice weather, the crops were growing well. Many farmers were producing huge yields from their crops. I decided to ask around the farms and see if any of the farmers needed help harvesting their crops.
The next morning, at the crack of dawn, I saw my neighbor out in his farm working hard and harvesting his crops all by himself. I ask him if I could work for him and told him that I needed the money to pay for a trip to visit my relatives. He agreed and told me that I needed to be ready for work by four in the morning every day until the crops are all harvested. I started work immediately. I spent the whole day harvesting different types of crops. At many times in the day, I questioned myself if all this hard work was worth it. But I kept on telling myself that I have done worse things than this and what is a little hard work if it means you get to see your family.
A few days had passed and I finally had the money to pay for my ticket. I asked the village’s traders if anyone of them were going to town and had access to a travel agent to help me book a ticket to Bangkok, Thailand. The trader told me that it would take him about two days to reach the nearest town and to book the tickets. He said that all in all, it would take him five days to go reach town and return back. He left for town to get the tickets.
I waited anxiously for the next five days for the trader to return. On the fifth day, as the hours passed, I felt more and more sad that he was not able to get the tickets and I was not going to Thailand. As dusk was approaching, I heard a knock on my door. I opened the door and the trader standing on the other side with the tickets. I thanked him and went over to see the head monk and tell him about the tickets. The head monk saw the tickets and was very happy for me. He arranged for some of the local traders that were heading for the Lhasa, a town where the Lhasa Gonggar Airport is located. I am to leave first thing the next morning.
I rushed back home as fast as I could and filled with excitement and started packing for my trip. I did not know what to expect and packed whatever I thought was necessary. Once I was done packing, I went around the village saying goodbye to my friends. I went back to my house to get and called my cousin telling him the details about the flight and after that, I got some rest before my long journey to Lhasa.
The next day, I gathered my belongings and met up with the traders for my trip. It was going to be a long journey and it would take two and a half days to reach. But it would be a breeze as compared to the expedition to the cave that I was a part of not too long ago.
Two and a half days passed and I was finally at Lhasa. I said thanks and goodbye to the traders that helped me get here and made my way to the airport. But it was the first thing that I was in Lhasa and I did not know where the airport was. I asked the locals for some help and not long after I made it to the airport with half a days left to spare before my flight. The flight to Bangkok was only ten hours. A shorter time as compared to the time it took to get from the village to here.
I boarded the plane and prepared myself for the flight. After a short ten hour flight, I reached Bangkok. As I cleared customs and was on my way out, I saw my cousin waiting for me. But instead of him being excited to see me, he looked sad. When I met him, he told me that his mother, my aunty had just passed away and the funeral was in two days as a Thai funeral would usually take place within three days.
When I reached the house, I saw a huge crowd of people in the house. There were lots of food around and some of them were playing games. I was introduced to most of them and I found out that although many of them were family members, there was quite a number of neighbors there.
The next day, an orchestra started playing and everyone started to get into the music in the hopes of momentarily forgetting about the sorrow of the funeral. Before the funeral precession began, a monk came up and started chanting. He was blessing the home and the deceased before it left the house. It is believed that the body should not leave the house in the usual route it does when the deceased was alive. Stairs are usually covered in banana leaves or through a hole in the wall to make the route different.
After the body was taken out through the hole in the wall, my cousin was at the front of the procession carrying a white banner. He was leading the procession to the crematorium. Behind him was a group of elderly men carrying flowers in silver bowls. In front of the coffin, was about ten monks with bhusa yong or broad ribbons in their hands which was connected to the coffin. The monks were chanting a mantra from the Abhidrama the whole way to the crematorium. Everyone else were walking around the funeral car where my aunty was in. the orchestra was on the back of trucks and play music on the way.
Once at the crematorium, the monks placed Pangsukula robes on the coffin and sat around it and started chanting. Once the chanting was done, the coffin was placed in a pyre made out of bricks. The crowd of loved ones and neighbors came up one by one and lighted candles, incense and fragrant wood and tossed them under the coffin. This was part of the cremation.
The next day, when the coffin was burnt, the ashes were collected and it was placed in an urn. It is supposed to be placed in either a relative’s house or in a columbarium. My cousin decided to keep it at his house to be reminded of her.
After the funeral was finished and we had some alone time to talk, my cousin said that his mother had left a note for me before she passed away and she wrote what she wanted to tell me just in case something were to happen to her. I started to get emotional and went to a quiet place to open the note and read it.
“Buddhist Funeral Rites in Thailand and South Asian Countries.” Buddhist Funeral Rites in Thailand and South Asian Countries. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.
