When a man becomes a monk he dissolves all secular relations, and cannot be called away to do corvée labour. A husband ceases to be the husband of his wives, and, by the act, his wives are absolved from all obligations towards their husband. Even a king on becoming a monk, if only for a few days, must abdicate the crown and throne during the time that he is in the monastery, and be recrowned and remarried on returning to secular life.
In Siam, the only way a prai-luang can escape the three months’ corvée labour exacted from him by his Government master is by persuading that master to allow him to become a monk. When a monk, his life is one of ease and often of indolence. Early in the morning, about daybreak, he is aroused from slumber by the beating of the great gong, drum, or bell attached to the monastery, and, after washing his face, puts on his yellow robes, suspends his iron begging-bowl over his shoulders, hanging under his left arm, and his fruit-bag on his right elbow, and leaves the monastery, by boat or by land, a little before sunrise.
As he passes along the river or streets, the charitably disposed stand opposite their houses with a basin of smoking rice, curry, pork, venison, eggs, fish, fruit, betel-nuts, seri-leaves, tobacco, and cheroots. When the monks approach, sometimes as many as 10 or 15 in a line, the donors salute them reverently. As the first monk approaches, he removes his upper yellow robe from the hidden begging-bowl, and, still keeping his eyes on the ground, takes off its conical cover, and holds it out to receive one or two half cocoa-nut shells full of rice. Then, after closing his bowl and flinging his robe round it, he extends his fruit-bag for the remaining donations. The donor then murmurs an inaudible blessing, and the monk moves on, giving place to his successor. Thus they proceed from house to house, never making a request, or giving thanks, or even uttering a word. It is considered a favour by the people to be allowed to accumulate merit by making these offerings to the monks. When the monks have collected sufficient for their day’s requirements, they return to the monastery, where they can regale themselves upon the food until noon, after which they must fast until sunrise the next morning. The abbot and other monks of more than ordinary rank do not beg, but have their daily wants supplied by the pious in their neighbourhood.
In case a monk requires anything else besides his daily food, he goes at a later period of the day, and silently stands for a few minutes near the house of the person he hopes to obtain it from. On seeing the monk, the person salutes him respectfully, and asks him what he needs. The monk replies, “My body has met with the necessity” of such a thing, which he names. If the person is unable or unwilling to present it to the monk, he bows low before him, at the same time clasping his hands in front of his face, and says, “Let it please thee, thou lord of favours, to proceed onward, and bestow thy compassion upon somebody else.” The compassion, of course, is the privilege of supplying the particular want of the monk. No monk may, by the rules of his order, ask for anything until he has been requested to name his requirement.
The inmates of the monasteries are divided into three classes—the monks, the nanes (or acolytes), and the pupils. The rules or commandments designed for the monks are 227 in number, and are given by Colquhoun in his interesting work ‘Amongst the Shans.’[[15]] The rules for the nanes are as follows: Take no animal life; do not steal; have no venereal intercourse; do not lie; drink no intoxicating liquor; eat no food after mid-day until daybreak the next morning; adorn not the body, even with flowers, nor make it pleasant by perfumery; be not a spectator at theatrical or musical performances; sleep not on a bed raised higher than one cubit (19½ inches); touch not silver or gold, or anything which passes for money.
Youths may be admitted as nanes at any time above seven years of age, but cannot become monks before being fully twenty years old. To become a monk a man must pass immediately from being a nane. If he has been a nane at some previous time, he must still become one again, and be reinstituted, before he can enter the ranks of the monks. Persons can be admitted as nanes or monks at any time in the year, except from the first evening of the eighth (Siamese) waning moon until the middle of the eleventh. The period which includes the rainy months of the year is termed Wasa, and is the great annual harvest-time for making merit. It is during this season that the monks may not absent themselves for a single night from their monastery. More people become monks in the first half of the eighth month than in any other month of the year.
Previous to being admitted as a monk, or even a nane, the candidate has the hair shaved from his head and eyebrows; and, if he has a beard, has it plucked out by the roots. This ceremony is repeated twice a month by the monks and nanes, on the day preceding the full and new moon of every month. The shaving day is called “Wan Kone.”
The pupils are taught by the monks either in the hall of the monastery, or in a building erected for the purpose in the temple grounds. The parents select the monk by whom they wish their son to be taught, and the monk takes his pupils under his special care; and they are fed and lodged in the monastery. When they have learned to read and write their native characters, they have to study the Cambodian character in Siam (the character in which the Siamese sacred books are written), and the Pali character in the Shan States.
Some of the lads, while in the monastery, learn the first rules of arithmetic, others medicine, some the sacred books, and all the rules of manners. In this latter respect our English board schools might well take a lesson from the rules of the Buddhist monasteries. The rules of etiquette are called Sekiya-wat, and include the adjustment of their robes; walking and sitting in a graceful and becoming manner; how to sit and rise up decently; the attitude of body and mind in which they are to partake their food; behaviour to their superiors and inferiors, and to the pagodas and images; how to behave themselves when begging, and when in the presence of the laity, especially in that of the fair sex.