Giving Merit

One of the things I admire about Thailand is the practice of Buddhism and how well it seems to influence the country for the better.  It seems that this philosophy has a lot to do with the fact that people seem genuinely happy, content, generous of disposition and well disposed towards one another even though their country has all the plagues and problems of people in general.  

Today in Bangkok, we were to go with our host couple to "give merit" and visit the Buddhist center in the middle of Bangkok.  Here is what Wikipedia says about the concept of merit making.

Merit (Sanskrit: puṇya, Pali: puñña) is a concept considered fundamental to Buddhist ethics. It is a beneficial and protective force which accumulates as a result of good deeds, acts, or thoughts. Merit-making is important to Buddhist practice: merit brings good and agreeable results, determines the quality of the next life and contributes to a person's growth towards enlightenment. In addition, merit is also shared with a deceased loved one, in order to help the deceased in their new existence. Despite modernization, merit-making remains essential in traditional Buddhist countries and has had a significant impact on the rural economies in these countries.

In our case the "merit making" was in memory of a deceased mother and our merit was to release two big fish bought at the outdoor market that day into the large pond in which the Buddhist center is located.  The prayer we recited was this Animal Freeing Prayer:

"We free these animals, saving them from slaughter, wishing them be safe and live the rest of their lives well-fed. May the merits we make save us from sorrow, disease and dangers. May we be healthy and strong.  May our bodies be ready to do more good deeds until the end.  May we be led to Nirvana.  
May we be blessed from making this merit and the ones made before.  May we be forgiven the bad Karma we have committed in our present and past lives.   We share the blessings with all beings in the world: the humans,  the animals, the living and dead, the demons and angels, ones we have encountered and ones we have forgotten.  May those suffering be free from pain.  May the joyous be more merry.  May the ones who are stuck go across. We wish all to have parts in this merit, we wish them to rejoice and we ask for their forgiveness. "

Fish to be released for merit

Merit given in memory of Grandmother.

A large monitor lizard living in the Buddha center pond, Bangkok

Art statue which reflects in the water as "We" 

Buddha Center outlook in Bangkok

After the prayer and release of the fish we visited the Buddha center and Goi explained the art to be found there and how it depicted the philosophy of Buddhism. 

 I was interested to find that there is no "God" in Buddhism.    We had an interesting discussion about what substitutes for praying to God found in religions...as Buddhism is not considered a "religion".

    I find it interesting that The Buddha did not espouse the collection of material wealth but all of the old temples are made of gold, red and glittering decorations and images.   The Buddha center, however was free of such ornamentation. 

 I seems that it must be human nature to worship something or somebody with praise and opulence.    And Buddhism, it appears... although not a religion often substitutes for one in the hearts of many of it's adherents.