Buddhism Abroad.

How Thais relate to their Buddhist religion once relocated to a Western country is of course totally up to the individual.

Some Thai Buddhists may wish to visit Temples in their new homeland on a regular basis and some may avoid them altogether. Some Thais may keep a lot of religious symbols in their home, or perhaps even a shrine, whereas others may keep none.

Although Thais, like all other people, vary in their degree of religious devotion it would, however, be very rare to find a Thai who is willing to mock his or her religion.

A major difference between the East and the West is the degree of respect for established institutions. In Thailand, Buddha and the King are highly revered figures and Thais are educated to behave accordingly.

Therefore, you will find that Thais who do not show many outward signs of religiousness may still object to the way some parts of Western society show a lack of respect for religion.

Such a person is my wife. She is not overtly religious, but it is definite that she holds clear Buddhist beliefs in private. She follows her religious practices discreetly without the need to visit temples or having any Buddha icons in our house.

We recently went to a shop in the UK that sold Buddhist icons. My wife was not happy to discover that Buddha statues had been put on display on the bottom shelf directly in contact with or at the same level as the feet of shoppers.

Most people know the Thai hierarchical ideas on the human body. The head is considered the highest and it can be very offensive to touch someone’s head. In strict social gatherings it is also customary for the person enjoying the highest status and respect to have his or her head at a higher level than others.

Similarly, feet are considered the lowest part of the human body and it is considered offensive to point your feet at anyone. It is considered highly offensive to sit with your feet pointing at a Buddha statue within a Thai temple.

My wife was unhappy to see that the small Buddha statues were at the same level as feet and could thus be seen to be shown no respect. I asked her if she wanted me to address the issue with the shop assistant and she agreed.

If my wife had been on her own she would probably have avoided any such possible avenue of confrontation – just like you see many Thais look reproachful towards ignorant Western tourists, who sit with their feet pointing towards the Buddha inside a temple, but do not act on their inner feelings.

I guess on this occasion my wife’s inner Thai feelings combined with my Farang inclination to correct any wrong and insistence on individual rights to speak out.

I went to the shopkeeper and explained how my wife felt and that this was a common notion among many Thai people some of whom could become her customers.

The shop assistant acknowledged our concern without showing any signs that she was going to take any action to rectify the offensive display. I did not think the occasion was right for us to become more demanding as we did not have the right to interfere with the management of a private shop. We did, however, have the right to tell the shop that they were being disrespectful of how many Thai people view their religion. Considering how other more militant religions are affronted by much more trivial matters I think our response was measured and right.

It was also something that assured my wife that I cared about her feelings in this matter. It is an unusual thing for her to insist on something that may result in a confrontation – that she did on this occasion only told me that she held strong beliefs on this matter.

As a Farang it is difficult to read Thai sensitivities on certain matters as their outward manners are so accommodating and non-confrontational. It is all part of the process of getting to know your partner better.

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