Buddhism and the Rites of Passage in Thailand
Since Buddhism is such an integral part of Thai life, it is not surprising that it plays a particularly important role at those critical points that mark a person's passage-birth, ordination, marriage, house-warming, and death.

Birth. Upon the birth of a child, the parents often consult a monk when choosing a name, which has to be linguistically satisfying while conveying a good meaning. Depending on the region, other religious practices may follow a birth. In the central part of the country, for example, a baby will customarily have his head shaved when he is a month old. This essentially Brahminic rite, called the khwan ceremony, may be accompanied by a Buddhist ceremony in which monks recite passages from the sacred texts.

Ordination. The second rite in the life span of most Thai men is ordination into the monk hood. Traditionally, a young man is not socially accepted until he has become a monk, and many parents insist that after a son reaches the age of twenty he will be ordained before marriage or starting an official career. There are also many other reasons for entering the monk hood, such as to make merit for departed souls of relatives, or for one's parents when they are still living, or to repay a promise to the Buddha after asking him to solve personal or family problems.

Ordination takes place all through the month of July, before the three-month retreat during the rainy season. The man's head is shaved and he wears a white robe for a day before he is officially ordained; there is chanting and celebration and, in rural areas, the whole community joins in and thereby gains merit. On the day of the ceremony, the prospective monk is taken around the temple three times and then into its convention hall, where all the monks await him. Having been previously trained, he undergoes an enquiry by a senior monk in front of the Buddha image, and if he satisfies all the conditions for becoming a monk, the congregation accepts him. He is then instructed on his obligations, dons saffron robes, and is admitted as a monk. For the next three months of the rainy season he is expected to live at the wat, exemplifying the Buddhist ideal in life and undergoing rigorous training in body and mind control, after which he may, if he chooses, return to being a layman.

Marriage. Buddhism plays a part, too, in the marriage ceremony which unites two people in a sacred bond. In the old days, monks arrived at the home of the couple for evening chants the day before the wedding, and the couple also offered them food the following morning. Nowadays, however, the monks are invited on the day of the wedding for early-morning chants and food offering, after which the senior monk sprinkles holy water on the bride and groom and the whole gathering. Either directly after the service or in the late afternoon, the actual wedding takes place, with guests invited. Elders and other guests pour holy water from a conch shell onto the hands of the couple, which are held in an attitude of worship as they recline on a low bench, each wearing a wreath of many un spun threads symbolically joined together.

House-warming. Although the housewarming ceremony often accompanies marriage, it sometimes occurs separately at a later date. Here again, one has a choice between a two-day religious event, consisting of evening chanting and early-morning food offerings, or a single one of late-morning chanting and an offering of lunch. The invited monks sit on a raised platform or mats on the floor in order of seniority, all holding a sacred cord tied at one end to the Buddha image of the house-hold and then completely surrounding the house. They chant selections from the Buddhist scripture, thus blessing all within the area surrounded by the sacred string. As in other Buddhist ceremonies, the chanting is followed by the presentation of token gifts and the dedication of merit thus acquired to deceased members of the family.

Funeral Rites. These vary according to local customs, the type of death and whether the person was a layman or monk when alive. Near the moment of death, if possible, Buddhist chants are whispered into the ear of the dying person. When he has died, a bathing ceremony usually takes place on the first afternoon, at home if he dies there, at the temple where his body is taken from a hospital, or any other location. Priests, relatives, and friends pour scented water on the out-stretched right palm of the deceased, and a thread will be passed three times each around three different parts of the body, symbolizing the bonds of passion, anger, and ignorance. The thread will normally be removed at the time of the cremation. The body is then place in a coffin decorated with fresh flowers and that evening monks are invited to the deceased's home or to the pavilion in the temple grounds where the coffin is placed for evening prayers. Friends and relatives come to present wreaths or garlands of fresh flowers and listen to the prayers.
Although cremation may follow immediately, it is common for evening prayers to continue at least a week. Then the body will either be entombed in a cemetery or remain at home where monks are invited to pray at regular intervals until cremation. On the day before the funeral (which may be on any convenient day except Friday, which is reserved for happier occasions), the coffin is taken to a special pavilion family and friends pay their final respects. On the day of cremation, a last service is held, followed by a lunch offering and sermon.

Cremation may occur in any of a number of ways, from burning the wooden coffin on a pyre of wood to using a crematorium. The ashes of the deceased are then collected, some to be placed in urns to be kept in the temple grounds or at home near the family Buddha image while the rest are dispersed in the sea. Each year, on the anniversary of the death, relatives will again invite monks to say prayers and bless the ashes, an occasion on which they can offer food and presents for the dead person through the medium of the monks.