TEMPLES AND DONATIONS

When living in Thailand it cannot be avoided visiting the many beautiful temples and also it is inescapable in the mornings to see the monks on the streets collection food from persons, who in return get blessed. Being married to a Thai the very pragmatic religion (pragmatism is the trademark of the Buddhism) slowly gets to you and at the same time, as you get familiar with the many rituals in the temples plus the numerous daily experiences with the many faces of the religion, one starts to ask a few questions, an important one being, what happens to all the donations the temples receive? How do the temples work and how are they administered? Nitta and I have seen many temples all over Thailand and they vary greatly in size, decorations and standard of maintenance.

Before trying to explain what I have learned and how I feel about it I want to emphasize that none of my remarks should be considered as critical to the Buddhism, a religion I greatly admire, but I have always been (and still am) keen on learning as much as possible in all respects about my new country. I should also be noted that in this beautiful country nobody and especially not a Farang (foreigner) are supposed to raise any critical voice against the Royal Family or the religion. However to me it has always been a rule of life to reserve my rights to be a bit skeptical and at least to have the right to ask questions, when in doubt. How else can one be taught and get wiser? But first let me give some more information about temples in Thailand.

There are more than 31,200 Buddhist temples spread around Thailand. In Thai we call them Wat. They are grouped into two main groups: temples which are permitted to carry out religious functions and those which are used only for living quarters for monks.
The vast majority of people in Thailand are Buddhists for whom the temple plays a significant role in the spiritual wellbeing of individuals and the society.

Temples are classified into two main categories: Royal Temples and Common Temples. The Royal Temples were either built by royalty or came under their sponsorship. In Thailand, there are about 200 Royal Temples though there are only six of the highest grades.

When visiting a temple it is polite to seek the permission of the Abbott before taking photographs or entering other than the main area. This can be done by approaching a monk or one of the many helpers found in the temple grounds. Normally permission is granted without seeing the Abbott, but your show of respect by asking, will be returned. If visiting popular temples, such as Wat Phra Kaeo in the Grand Palace grounds, there is no need to seek any permission, but you should look out for signs indicating where photography is forbidden.

In Thailand we have no special part of the country’s income tax being reserved for neither the construction of the many temples nor the maintenance. The temples are completely depending on donations from day one. So as major principle temple donations become a cornerstone in the Thai economy and interesting enough donations are deductible in the yearly submit of company Income Statements to the local tax authorities. This philanthropic system is well known from other religions as well of course, especially the Catholicism, which according to a close friend of mine is the most, corrupted religion in the world. I do not disagree after I studied (some years ago) the list of companies, in which the Vatican Bank holds shares. If you do the same you will get a nice surprise.

The donations to temples can be given in many ways. Nitta, her family and I are often visiting a well-known temple at the early Sunday morning hours. We will bring various gifts or donations like foodstuff and practical products, which are needed in the day-to-day operation of the temple, which actually serves as a social welfare center as well. After the morning prayers the monks will collect the many baskets, which they are given, and later they are sorted out. The monks will keep what they need and the remains are then given as hand-outs from the temple to poor people, and that is a nice system in this country that has no social security system whatsoever. Poor people can at all times go to a temple and can rest assured they will be taken care of. They may stay as long as they like and in return they are asked to lend a helping hand with the many tasks a Temple has.

When visiting the temple we will include a very important part, which is to see a monk and get his advice or special blessing. In return we leave behind the well know white envelope with cash.

In total the donations are coming from various ploys like special images, ceremonies, and magic or holy water sales and moving sermons. Monks must inaugurate a new house or office to bring good luck and to keep the evil spirits away and are consulted for almost everything from what would be the best and lucky color for your new car to how one should react to a boss, who does not understand you. The reasons or excuses for seeking advice are many and every time you pay a visit to your favorite monk, you leave behind an envelope with an amount, which normally reflects your status. You may also ask a monk advice on the next week’s lottery draw and what would be a lucky number. This has however caused problems and is no longer really permitted, but still a practice. The monk gets his envelope for this advice as well of course. Most families have one monk they consult and most likely he will remember you if you visit him often enough.

A Thai strongly believes that to give a donation will give merits and bring you good luck. And as long as the donations are being used for the purposes for which they are given, who will disagree to that? But in any society you have the sunny sides and the dark as well and the monks here are no exception to that rule.

Lately we had a large scandal involving a well known abbot, who was too eager to collect funds and consider them like “his own” property claiming that once given to the temple, he or the temple have no further responsibility, which is a nice and typical Thai way to express a viewpoint nobody understands, but never the less has to be accepted because the abbot said so. The amount of funds he collected for a new temple was extremely high and caused the Authorities to take a closer look. The matter raised great concern in Thailand and in connection with this case several similar were brought to the day of the light.

This case became known outside of Thailand and attracted a lot of attention that lead to a conference here organized by the National Institute of Development and Administration. A lot of facts were revealed. Totally there are more than 35.000 Temples in Thailand and in some regions the yearly total donation to local temples will exceed the public budget for the local region. It was also made public known that the totals of annual donations are more than 12 Billion THB, a substantial amount. Do not forget the fact that the temples do not pay income tax and that the purchasing power in Thailand is almost 10 times larger than in any European country.

Before the conference was held a survey was conducted and it showed that temples consider donations as a personal purse and a complete list of reasons for donating was published as well. Kindly remember that the Thais consider a donation as a way to get them higher merits in life, so who can blame them for this attitude? When I discussed this issue with Nitta she says that persons, who are cheating with monies, will get punished in the next life, so there are limited reasons to take any action against monks/abbots cheating the temples, in this life.

The temples have a “system” for collections starting when the temple is being built. When finished collections boxes are set up all over the ground having different texts on the outside, like “ contribution “ to our electricity bill, our maintenance, our new crematorium, the list is long and the donations just flow in. The collections are extremely high in connection with the SongKran, New Year, and Big Buddha Day etc. One of the largest and well-known temples, which a Thai must see, has 68 different collection boxes.

On top come sales of statues of Buddha or other figurines (there are many different images) holy water, written advices on how to live, prayers to be used in the homes, flowers, joss sticks and candles plus of course the orange/brown textiles, in which the big Buddha are dressed.

On good days the income exceeds 1 million Baht and as an average for most temples the total monthly amounts is 500.000 THB or around 11.500 USD. Not bad considering you have actually no expenses, so in some temples you will find a very large Mercedes or a new Land Cruiser being used by the Head of the temple (an abbot), who also lives in a very large house, but since it all come from donations, who will comment on that? In many cases luxury cars are given by rich persons in return for good josh (luck) in the same manner the same person will donate his child’s school expecting a fine score card for his kid. Most likely many Thais will claim that these two scenarios cannot be compared.

One temple selling “holy powder” has a yearly income of more than 100 million THB or 20 million Danish Kroner, not bad indeed. Similar amounts are cashed in by temples offering “special attractions” like “very unique holy water”, displays of bodies of famous monks etc. The list is long and the donations flow in.

If cash gets short the temple will lease out land, which has normally been given to them free of financial burdens, to be used for parking, living quarters etc. On top they earn tax-free income on bank deposits, ordinations and funerals. The list is long and the donations keep coming. One big drawback for all, who want to find the facts, is that temples do not need to submit any financial statement or reveal the amount of all bank deposits. It makes it almost impossible to find out, what is really going on.

The temples have however a kind of controlling system starting with the abbot, who can have a financial committee which again can consist of local well known persons, but on top all things they are still supervised by a small group of High Ranking Abbots (The Religious Affairs Department of Thailand) and they have recently been forced to take severe actions against temples and abbots, who seem to have misunderstood the true meaning of donations. One abbot got into trouble because he had used a major part of the funds to build up a nice collection of classic cars, even if he stated, the collection belongs to the temple. Another faced severe problems because his financial advisor was the contractor, who was building the temple and that was not smart. A third one had taken 50% of the income considering it “personal”.

All this said about the dark side of the coin, it has a good one as well of course. There are many temples using the cash flow from donations to build and operate hospitals, support public schools, operate schools for monks only and provide financial support for projects for the poor. Among these are many rural projects and some also supported by His Majesty the King, who holds the highest religious title and power in our Kingdom.

In the last two years the new generation of Thais has started to ask constructive questions about their society and the young ones are not anymore just accepting explanations, as the previous generations, they want to know why their country is functioning in old manners and expect solid answers. They are also putting up some good questions about the financial happy go-go attitude that has characterized the temples and the donations. The main problem is that each temple, under the law of The Buddhist Monk Administration Law, is considered a juristic person and the abbots have absolute legal and administrative rights. It makes “corrections” difficult to implement.

In the same years campaigns have started to fight corruption on all levels and people are not afraid to come forward and point out how government officials take it for granted that most services they provide are subject to an additional “ tea money “ contribution, often near 15-16% of the transactions involved. There have been a lot of corruption scandals in temples as well and in general all are welcoming the more open policy and the responses.

When writing these short remarks on a rather very large issue I have to remember to tell you that the Thais are extremely superstitious even when, what we would call very well educated. They do strongly believe in everything, which a monk is saying or they turn it in to be so. When something happens to a Thai, he or she will always say, this is what my monk told me would happen. This strong belief in the Buddhism is a keystone to the fact that in Thailand we have no severe problems, because the Thais accept all happenings with the pragmatic attitude and the remark, that this is what the Buddha has decided. The strong belief in reincarnation makes it easier to accept bad happenings and the problems in Thailand never cause Thais to be violent or to start fighting back as we see it in Muslim neighboring countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Thais are also being the opinion that it is smarter “to bend with the strong wind” instead of fighting it or they are “like water, which will take shape of the container, into which the water is filled”. This attitude is another major contribution to accept the happenings around them even if these have a severe impact on their life.

So donations are still needed from people who have faith in the Buddhism for the day-to-day operation of the temples and for the Buddhism itself. When a Thai has been talking to his monk, he or she feels comforted and much better and this fact alone ought to stay by itself and not be questioned. In many parts of the Western world we pay for expensive visits to a physiatrist and “donate” him.

The Buddhism wants its believers to follow the Middle Way. This is the credo of this religion and to follow this advice is now what is happening in the total of the Thai society, including the visits and donations to temples.

Nitta, her family and I will of course will continue to give our donations believing and hoping they will bring us good luck and serve the purpose for which they are given. At the point of time when this is being written Nitta and her mother are in a temple to perform “tamboon” the Thai word for the ceremony where you pay respect to the Buddhism and pray for good luck. To underline the respect the monks will be given some food and practical stuff they hopefully will find useful. If they are really happy about this and find peace, I am happy too.

Hua Hin

24th June 2001

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