The Foundation of a New Ubosot

A few days ago we were invited to attend the foundation of an ubosot at Wat Panarat, located just outside the boundary of Phana Municipality. The wat is quite a new one. It is almost opposite the secondary school, Phana Suksa, so it is supported by teachers and students at the school. Last year we were invited to a  ceremony  at which a very large number of monks were being feasted, and the money raised on that occasion went towards the building of a main gateway to the wat. Here are two workmen a few days after that ceremony:

... and here is the finished gateway, by most standards a modest but effective one, featuring the 'Wheel of the Law' representing the teaching of the Buddha:

The ceremony we attended recently was to insert the 'poles' of the new Ubosot building. Pensri was asked to insert one of them as representative, perhaps, of her deceased parents. As it turned out, the 'poles' were themselves symbolized by slivers of sacrilized wood which were placed in a large container of sand. But first the local spirits were invoked to bless and protect the site and the people taking part in the cereomony. Pensri joins the group in the picture below:

 Here the mor kwan (the spirt expert) is invoking the protecion of the spirits and deities:

Occasions such as this are also opportunities to renew old acquaintenceships, as Pensri is doing here:

The monks on the left are putting some finishing touches to the sand which was symbolizing the buidling site. Later, the symbolic poles were placed in here, and so were various bricks, amulets, and a mass of marigold petals.

There are several large marigold farms in Amnat Charoen Province, and the petals of marigold have become a standard feature of many religious ceremonial occasions. Money trees have been around a lot longer.

The senior monk, the Chao Kana Amphur, and other local dignitaries about to place items in the 'building site' watched by just a few of the shool students who attended:

And here are some more of us watching the proceedings:

Comments

[Mike]

Lawrence, does this process mark out the consecrated ground? With the poles later replaced by the Bai Sema/Luk Nimit?

Nice pics and clearly an enjoyable ceremony, spirits and all.

[Lawrence]

Mike, I don't think the ground is marked out by this. As with house-building, the columns supporting the roof are very important and each one has a name depending on its position and relation to the compass-points, I think. Perhaps the luk nimit that goes under the ubosot was involved, but I didn't see it.

Recently I met an abbot who told me that 'Lao' wats (like hi, in a village in Ubon Province)did not have luk nimit. At his wat there were not even any bai sema, he said they had been removed because they had got broken. It was a very old wat. The apparent 'fiction' that ALL ubosots have luk nimit seems to be another example of the Thai assumption that THEIR norms are applicable evrywhere in Thailand. Cultural hegemony.