Buddhist Bling

Thai people like amulets. They like them a lot. They wear them for (I know you know already) good-luck-and-protection. Men wear them. Women wear them. School children wear them. Even babies wear them (as well as bells on their ankles, but that's another story). My husband wears one. I even have one. I don't wear mine much. It means a lot to me, because it was given to me by Pichest, my massage teacher; but (shhhh... don't tell anyone) I don't believe that it actually protects me. This is where my Thai friends and I part company.


Lately I've noticed a new trend in the wearing of amulets, which I would characterize as Buddhist bling. Usually, a serviceable amulet is about the size of a good ole American quarter. Ladies often have more delicate dime-sized ones. And, Pichest advised me to keep my amulet inside my shirt. It's not fashion, after all, it's protection, damn it. But, Buddhist bling is big. Really big. And, it's always outside the shirt. And this is why....

The King has one. We didn't know this until recently, but apparently (and how we know this I cannot imagine) his amulet is very powerful. You see, he was in a hospital and a nurse tried to administer an injection. The needle would not enter his skin. (Serious protection.) She asked him to remove his amulet (affording her a view of it), and was then able to finish her work.

Word got out. It's a good one. It comes from a particular temple, made by the monks there and prayed over to imbue it with special power. Everyone wants one just like it. Thai people are running, not walking, to the amulet vendors in such numbers that several elderly people have died in the crush and the price of these amulets has jumped from 10 baht to 2,000.

So, today my friend Jo comes to visit, and he's all aflutter because HE'S GOT ONE. And, he bought it from a monk, no less. A monk who (bought low) and verifies that additional prayer has fortified it's power.


Imagine this encased in glass in a stainless steel locket and hanging around your neck on an amulet chain. It's about the size of your stomach (the organ, that is) before lunch. And, when one of these comes walking at you up the street, you just can't miss it. AND, you know the guy (usually) who's wearing it survived the stampede to lay down his 2,000 baht (significantly more than half of my mother-in-law's monthly wage). Bling.

How do I know all this, you ask? Why, Jo told me. Jo who speaks about as much English as I speak Thai, but we muddle through. I missed some of the finer points, but I get the message. Buy one of these and you get RICH. Jo's friend has one, and he found 5,000 baht laying on the street at the local market. Since Jo has had his, his little massage shop has generated revenue every day.

Curious. A Buddhist amulet made by monks at a very important temple in the Kingdom, and it brings you... money? Not enlightenment. Not freedom from suffering. Not good health. Not even love. It brings cold, hard cash. And, who are those people stampeding to get one? The hopeful poor.