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December 31, 2011

What Happens The Day Before A Thai Wedding?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 2:42 pm

The day before a Western wedding is the ‘Stag Night’ and the ‘Hen Night’. In northern Thailand it is not quite the same. As soon as the groom-to-be can be off work, the full-on party starts. It is more sedate with the bride-to-be who spends more time with her family.

The son will often just spend most of his time with his mates, usually sleeping ‘under the table’, if you know what I mean. The day before the wedding is reserved for spending with parents for both parties.

The day before the eve of the wedding is also a special day as the parents of both parties set up their parties with the help of friends and family. This is an all-day affair and people drink, sing and even dance as they are making the preparations.

On the eve of the wedding, people, particularly women, will meet at the dwellings of the bride and groom in order to cook. If the wedding is a big one, this could begin at 4-5 AM, but it usually begins at 8 AM.

Guests are welcome at any time after this, but non-cooks or non-helpers will usually stay away until at least 9 AM. The laggards might not get there until midday.

The whole day is a party of cooking, eating, dancing and drinking, usually to the accompaniment of live music or a disk jockey. It is not at all strange to have skimpily-clad dancing girls putting on a performance as well.

The music will be loud enough to be heard a block or two away and no-one would venture to complain about the noise from such a happy event. However, not everybody is invited to most weddings as they are usually held in the backyard.

Bigger weddings might be held in the Temple. I have never been to a village in Thailand that does not have its own Temple. Some small villages of merely 500 inhabitants have two Temples. A Temple used to hold numerous monks, but these days 9-12 is normal.

It is reasonably cheap to hold a wedding or a wedding party in a Temple, but most households do not because Temples are ‘open ground’ and you may have more ‘guests’ than you bargained for. Gate-crashing is not unheard of.

As the evening develops, people will be required to sing a song and there will be dancing. This will go on until around midnight, which makes it a long day and the wedding day for real starts at about 7 AM the next day.

The parents of the groom are expected to help cook at the bride’s home the next morning. This involves meeting all the closest friends of the bride’s parents and is a good way of bonding. it normally results in both families and all their best friends becoming fairly close for many years to come.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on numerous topics, but is now concerned with Khao Phansa – The Candle Festival. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Package Holidays to Thailand.

December 30, 2011

The Build-Up To A Northern Thai Wedding

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 12:26 am

There are different traditions with regard to Thai weddings, as there are in the majority of countries. The two most predominant religions are Islam (in a couple of provinces near to Malaysia) and Buddhism in the overwhelming majority of Thailand.

However, in spite of the fact that the overwhelming majority of Thais are Buddhist, there are regional variations in the process of getting married. I live in northern Thailand in Uttaradit, about 25 km from the first Thai capital of Sri Satchenalai, which implies that the ceremonies from this region are the oldest in Thailand.

The process of getting wed in Thailand begins with a young man and a young woman. That seems obvious, but Thais do not usually undergo arranged marriages. Traditionally, if the couple move in together, they are betrothed, but this tradition is breaking down.

If the young couple are certain that they would like to get married, then they ask their parents to arrange the details. The first thing to arrange is the dowry. In Europe, the dowry was traditionally paid by the bride’s parents, but in Thailand, it is paid by the groom’s.

Until 1932, it was very common for men to have mistresses called ‘Little Wives’. The practice is officially discouraged, but it still goes on. After all, there is no social security and if a woman is left by her husband, voluntarily or through an early death, she has to find a way of taking care of herself and her children.

This is the origin of the reason why the groom pays the dowry. If the man fails to take care of his ‘First Wife’, she can leave him and she has her dowry to sell so that she and the kids are not destitute. It gives her a breathing space to find a job or a new husband.

Most women choose a dowry of pure gold. Thai women prefer less, but purer gold than the average European. Thai gold is usually 98%-100% pure and is normally 24 carat.

So, the parents of the loving couple meet and they discuss ‘a price’ – we prefer the term dowry. The dowry comes in two units: gold and cash. As in English we have a pound sterling and a pound avoir-du-pois, Thais have a Baht as their currency and a Baht as a weight (of gold).

One Baht of gold is 15.2 grammes. Internationally, a Troy ounce of gold is 31.10 grammes. So, one Baht of gold is merely less than half-an-ounce. The Thai Baht in currency varies as do all currencies, but is now , quite stable at 30 Baht = $1.

A typical dowry may be two Baht in gold and 50,000 Baht in cash. The two Baht in gold goes to the bride as an advanced divorce payment and the 50,000 Baht goes to the mother-in-law. She can do what she wants with this money.

She would normally spend most of it on the wedding party and the remainder, she would normally give to the newly-weds. Honeymoons are not normal in the rural north, but as the economy is growing, young people do increasingly like to take a honeymoon.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on numerous subjects, but is now involved with Khao Phansa – The Candle Festival. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Package Holidays to Thailand.

December 19, 2011

Why I Moved To Thailand

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 12:53 am

After my first night out in Pattaya, Thailand, when I met a lady on a blind date organized by one of my best friends, I sat up in bed and I thought about the details of the night before. We had begun in The Pig and Whistle, where I was residing on Soi 7.

The Pig is a nice, peaceful, tranquil, air-conditioned oasis of serenity in a street, which is one of the most raucous, noisiest and busiest streets in Pattaya.

We ventured outside into the soi (lane) and into a torrent of people not dissimilar to that of a queue heading for a football match, except that all the women were dressed in skimpy clothes. We had called into one of those outdoor bars, where my friend had a surprise awaiting me.

His girlfriend of a time, whom I knew nothing of and a friend of hers who wished to meet up with me. The four of us had dallied there an hour before walking the thirty metres to Beach Road.

The traffic is one-way on Beach Road, so we took a Baht Taxi North (a pick-up truck) going with the flow and got off two or three kilometres further on just before Walking Street, which is the most famous street in Pattaya.

We had gone into a complex of bars and sat in one at random. It was only then that I realized that the bars were all set out surrounding a Muay Thai boxing ring, where the fighting was uninterrupted and free, although foreigners are expected to give a prize to the winner of each bout of 20-100 Baht ($1-$3).

We stayed there an hour and moved on to Walking Street to have something to eat. We ate at a seafood specialist restaurant which has a pier or jetty as its dining region. The food was fantastic and the mood was romantic with the moon reflecting on the sea and the atmospheric lighting.

I don’t believe that I had a opportunity in reality, I fell for my beautiful date that night and I saw her every day for the rest of my 30 days holiday. We had a magnificent time and when I had to go, I decided to find out if I could settle in Thailand.

I went home and calculated, that if I was careful and a few things fell in my favour, I would most likely have enough money to live there for ten years.

Six weeks later, I went back to Thailand and Joy was waiting for me at the airport. Nothing had altered between us and we took a bus to visit her family in northern Thailand.

We slept in a room that her brother had given up for us and everyone made me feel very comfortable. Joy’s family live in a traditional teak home built on stilts and everybody lived and slept in one room in the traditional manner, with the exception of Joy’s brother, who had built an extension, because he was eager to get married soon.

I really like that village and still live there now, seven years on. Joy and I are married and have our own home – a traditional, European, concrete-block bungalow not five metres from Joy’s mum, who is a fantastic mother-in-law.

Her family appear to appreciate what a big step it was for me to come here alone and are determined to be there for me, if I need help, like my own family in the UK would be. The job at hand is learning Thai as no one else in the village, except for my wife, speaks English.

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July 27, 2011

North Eastern Thailand

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 9:52 am

I met my wife while on vacation in Pattaya, which is about 45 minutes south of the new international airport by taxi and the airport is about halfway to Bangkok. I met her on the first day I arrived on a double date with a friend who was already there. Within a fortnight she took me back to meet her family in what I later found to be north-eastern Thailand.

Isaan is called north-eastern Thailand too, which is actually confusing because where we are is further north but not so far east. Anyway, most people who call Isaan the north east live in Bangkok and Pattaya, the two big hang-outs for foreigners (called farang or falang in Thai), and we are all north-east from there.

One look at the map and you will see what I mean. If you travel north out of Bangkok, in due course you will come to Phitchit, which is officially the beginning of the north and the northern race as they call themselves.

Then comes Phitsanulok, once a capital of Thailand. A further 40 kilometres north is Sukhotai and Sri Satchenali, Thailand’s first capital and the spiritual home of Thailand. The original city is still there, uninhabited and mostly restored.

I live in the next province to the east called Uttaradit, which borders on Laos to the east and the old mountain kingdom of Nan to the north. About 10% of the population of Nan are of the various Hill Tribes. One of these, the Mlabri, are nomadic hunter gatherers who live in temporary shelters fashioned from branches and leaves. Until very recently, they were living a stone-age life and their language had never been heard by Westerners before 1978 as far as we know.

This is 250 km north-east from where I live. Sukhotai is around 30 km east. So much difference within 300 km. This region was part of the old kingdom of Lanna, which means ‘ a million rice fields’ or even ‘millions of rice fields’. Phichai or Fort Phichai, 12 km away, used to be the capital of Uttaradit province. Phraya Phichai Dap Hak (Phichai of the two-handed swords) fought here in the late 18th Century. He is Thailand’s most esteemed and famous warrior.

In any case, I live in amongst all this lot. Unfortunately, I do not speak Thai well enough for anyone to give details of it to me and nobody that I know speaks English well enough to do it either. Even my wife. I wish I knew more about this fascinating place where very very few foreigners ever come.

There are five of us here at the moment in a 20 km radius. An English teacher, a Canadian teacher, a retired Dutchman and a retired Englishman and me. Usually there is an Irishman and another Canadian, but they have gone home for a while. I usually do not see a foreigner or hold a full conversation for weeks on end. And I love it here.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several subjects, but is now involved with Khao Phansa – The Candle Festival. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Package Holidays to Thailand.

July 18, 2011

Why Move To Thailand?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 2:33 pm

After my first night out in Pattaya, Thailand, when I met a lady on a blind date organized by one of my best friends, I sat up in bed and I recalled the details of the evening before. We had started in The Pig and Whistle, where I was staying on Soi 7. The Pig is a nice, quiet, serene, air-conditioned oasis of tranquility in a street, which is one of the liveliest, noisiest and busiest streets in Pattaya.

We went outside into the soi and into a torrent of people not unlike that of a queue heading for a football game, except that all the females were dressed in bikinis. We had called into one of those outdoor bars, where my friend had a surprise waiting for me. His girlfriend of a while, whom I knew nothing about and a friend of hers who wanted to meet me. The four of us had stayed there an hour before walking the thirty metres to Beach Road. The traffic is one-way on Beach Road, so we took a Baht Taxi North going with the flow and got off two or three kilometres further on just before Walking Street, which is the most notorious street in Pattaya.

We had entered a complex of bars and sat at one at random. It was only then that I realized that the bars were all set out around a Muay Thai boxing ring, where the fighting was uninterrupted and free, although foreigners are expected to donate a prize to the winner of each bout; 20-100 Baht suffices.

We stayed there an hour and moved on to Walking Street to have a meal. We dined at a seafood specialist restaurant which has a pier or jetty as its dining area. The food was fantastic and the ambiance was romantic with the moon reflecting on the sea and the atmospheric lighting.

I don’t believe I had had a chance really, I fell for my gorgeous date that night and I saw her every day for the rest of my 30 days holiday. We had a wonderful time and when I had to go, I resolved to find out if I could live in Thailand. I went home and worked out, that if I was careful and a few things fell in my favour, I would most likely have enough money to live there for ten years.

Six weeks later, I returned to Thailand and Joy was waiting for me at the airport. Nothing had changed between us and we took a bus to go to see her family in northern Thailand. We slept in a room that her brother had given up for us and everyone made me feel very welcome. Joy’s family live in a traditional teak house built on stilts and everybody lived and slept in one room in the traditional way, with the exception of Joy’s brother, who had built an extension, because he was eager to get married soon.

I love that village and still live there now, five years later. Joy and I are married and have our own home – a traditional, European, concrete-block bungalow not five metres from Joy’s mum, who is a brilliant mother-in-law. Her family seem to realize what a big step it was for me to come here alone and are determined to be there for me, should I need help, like my own family in Britain would be. The job at hand is learning Thai as no one else in the village, besides my wife, speaks English.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a lot of topics, but is now involved with Khao Phansa – The Candle Festival. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Package Holidays to Thailand.

June 25, 2011

Scuba Diving, Snorkeling And Swimming On Holiday

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 4:39 pm

Numerous people who enjoy scuba diving and snorkeling decide on their vacation destinations with their leisure pursuit in mind. Some of the top vacation destinations for scuba diving and snorkeling are the Caribbean, Mexico, the Mediterranean and Thailand. Most people like to go to observe the aquatic wildlife, which means that the water has to be relatively clean.

Most divers like to look for marine animals and scenery, whilst others like to look for wrecks. As it happens fish and plants like to inhabit wrecks as well because they provide protection from predators.

So diving wrecks offers excitement and the opportunity to observe wildlife. However, there is the added anticipation of treasure hunting.

If you like the concept of diving wrecks and looking for artefacts and treasure, you have to know that wrecks are perilous, because you can get caught on railings, trapped in rooms or even get your oxygen line cut by some sharp edge, causing you to surface too quickly, which could give you the bends.

Not only that, but it is often illegal to go treasure hunting on wrecks that are not in international water (that is, more than fifteen miles off shore) and that usually means deep water where there is little opportunity of you being rescued if you become a cropper. Diving wrecks without a guide is a very perilous venture indeed.

However, most countries where scuba diving and snorkeling are well-liked vacation pastimes also have diving clubs, schools and instructors on the beaches or associated with the better hotels.

For example, in Thailand, there are literally hundreds of diving schools for tourists in Pattaya, Phuket, Hua Hin, Ko Samui and Pi-Pi. You can either approach one of these schools yourself or ask your hotel to recommend one.

Most of the diving clubs in these popular seaside resorts in Thailand are run from bars by ex-pats, but this does not mean that they are not completely professional. Individuals like to dive in the warm sea in the morning and early afternoon and then retire to the bar to eat something and plan the next day’s journey. Most of these bar-diving clubs either have their own boats or go halves with a boat with friends.

Membership is normally free or it may be a nominal amount in order to comply with local regulations, but it is unlikely to be over $10 for a fortnight. If you do not have your diving gear with you, you can normally rent it or if you have never been diving before, you can earn your fundamental diver’s certificate during your vacation.

Numerous divers use the diving trail to see southern Thailand. The destinations that I mentioned above are not very far apart. You could drive it in a hire car, travel in a bus during the night from one to the other or fly from one resort to the next in 30-40 minutes. Car hire, VIP bus travel and internal flights are fairly cheap in Thailand.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a lot of topics, but is now engaged with BodyGlove swimwear. If you would like to know more about Body Glove Wetsuit Sales, just go over to our website for some impressive bargains.

April 11, 2011

Thai Visa Runs: Vientiane, Laos.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 8:09 pm

In order to qualify for a year’s visa in Thailand, you have to have a precise amount of money in the bank: 400,000 Baht if you are married to a Thai and 800,000 if you are not married. (I have heard many times that two can live as cheaply as one, but never for half the price). Another condition is that that money has to be in a Thai bank three months before you need the visa.

This time my bank in Britain was slow sending my money to Thailand so I lost my year’s visa. There are a couple of alternatives open in this case but all need travel. My wife and I decided to go to the nearby Laotian capital of Vientiane, which is about 500 miles (800 kilometres) from where we live in northern Thailand, because neither of us had been there before.

The bus goes from Phitsanulok, which is about 75 kilometres in precisely the opposite direction from Laos, that is south-east. Since the bus was departing at 22:00 there was no suitable bus to take us there and we had to book a taxi.

The journey to Phitsanulok took us four hours, because the taxi driver wanted to stop off and check that his mother was all right. He was not a real taxi driver, just a farmer with a car. There are no real taxis where I live and his mother was not sick, he merely wanted to take advantage of the fact that he was going to be passing nearby her village to check that she was all right.

None of that is out of the ordinary here, you take it in your stride as part of travelling through ‘the country’. The bus was clean and comfortable and on time, which, to be fair, they frequently are. When it came to saying good-bye, why wife’s daughter did not want to be left behind. Luckily, there was a chair left on the bus, so we took her along as well.

The journey to Udon Thani was pleasant but long; seven hours of winding through the mountains of north-eastern Thailand, but in the dark so you could not distinguish anything. Udon was cold – the first time I have ever been cold in Thailand in six years.

Although it was probably around ten degrees Celsius, I have become acclimatised to a minimum of 20c and an average of 30c. We had no warm clothes and the daughter did not have a change of clothing at all. Nor a passport. And she had left at home her ID, which has to be carried at all times.

My wife rang a friend in Udon and she arranged a taxi to Vientiane, which is 22 kilometres over the border from Nong Khai, which is 50 kilometres north of Udon – a total of 72 kilometres. This time it was a shop-keeper with a car who wished to go to Laos to buy some duty-free cigarettes.

Once across ‘The Friendship Bridge’, we parted company for a time as I had to use a different route through passport control. My wife and her daughter were waiting at the other end for me, but the taxi had deserted us and gone home. I have no idea how the daughter got through without an ID, but I know money changed hands. Procuring a taxi, a real one, from there to Vientiane was easy.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with Vientiane visa run. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Package Holidays to Thailand.

February 13, 2011

Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand As A Holiday Destination

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 4:00 pm

Pattaya is a city built for fun on the northeastern coast of the Gulf of Thailand. It is situated in Chonburi Province around 150 kilometres south of Bangkok. In the Sixties, Pattaya was hardly known, but the American soldiers fighting in Vietnam started using it for R&R and it started to boom. Pattaya is most famous for its entertainment and its nightlife, yet in fact it has a lot more than that to give.

As far as only sport goes, Pattaya offers horse riding, swimming, diving, wind surfing, golfing, tennis and jet skiing among others. However, not like most sporting towns or cities, it does not begin to go to sleep when the sun goes down.

The bars, restaurants, discos and strip bars begin to open in profusion at around four o’clock. The bars are of each persuasion to suit each niche market.

There are Welsh bars, American bars, Irish bars, Lady Boy bars and each other sort of bar you can think of. Similarly with the restaurants, there are specialized restaurants for each country. There are bush game restaurants, Chinese, Japanese, American, French, German and fish restaurants. In fact there are thousands of restaurants and bars all attempting to be unique.

I am certain that you could remain in Pattaya for months without going the same bar or eating the same type of food twice. This is just as well because there are representatives from every country in the world there too. You will hear English, Russian and every European and Asian language spoken in Pattaya on a regular basis.

Pattaya receives over one million visitors a year. Most of these visitors are men, and the local government is trying to do more to attract women and families by relocating the girlie bars back away from the beach.

Despite it being quite big, you can stay in your favourite part of Pattaya yet find nearly everything you desire near-by. However, if you do want to travel around, nothing could be easier. Most people just hop on a ‘Baht Bus’. These small open-backed pick-ups can be seen going about the city by quite predictable routes when you understand the layout of the city.

The ‘fixed fare’ is ten Baht for as far as you would like to go on the route, although some drivers will attempt to get more out of you if you go a long distance. Thais pay five Baht. If you do not feel confident enough to predict where the bus is going, you could hire on one of the thousands of motorcycle taxis.

They are dearer at about forty to sixty Baht, yet they will go anywhere you like. Ask for a quote before you set off to avoid disappointment on both sides. If you do not want to rent a car, there are other choices. You could rent a motorcycle or motorbike. A motorcycle costs around 100 Baht a day at the cheapest, but beware the traffic in Pattaya it can get pretty chaotic.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now involved with Songkran – the old Thai New Year. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Package Holidays to Thailand.

January 4, 2011

A Brief History Of Buddhism

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 4:40 pm

Buddhism was started by the adherents of Siddhartha Gautama (circa 563-483 BC). He was born into a Hindu family of the kshatriya caste in what is now called Nepal. At the age of 29, he left his wife and infant son and went in search of enlightenment.

He achieved enlightenment some time later while sitting under a bodhi tree near Patna. After 49 days of rapture and resisting temptations (Mara), He, now known as Buddha, formed an order of monks and went forth to teach the word. After 45 years of teaching their philosophy of enlightenment Buddha died and reached Nirvana, the state in which ‘ideas and consciousness cease to exist’.

One of the most central concepts to Buddhists is the Tipitaka (the ‘Three Baskets’), which is a record of the Buddha’s doctrines as set down by His early followers after his death. The writings in these ‘three baskets’ tell the story of Buddha’s life (Buddha); record his laws (Dharma); and his guidelines for establishing and running a monastic order (Sangha).

Buddhists believe in reincarnation and the wheel of life in a comparable way to Hindus. They also believe that this cycle of life, death and rebirth can be broken by achieving enlightenment. Enlightenment can be gained by devotion to the Four Noble Truths.

Life is impermanent despite the cycle of life, death and rebirth and can only create suffering (dukka) because of the pursuit of mortal desires. Suffering and desire can just be conquered by achieving Nirvana, which can be achieved by following the Eightfold Path, otherwise known as the ‘Middle Way’.

The Middle Way consists of: correct belief, thought, speech, action, livelihood, work, mindfulness and concentration. These form the nucleus of Buddhist ethics.

A hallmark of Buddhism is the monastic order. Men can become monks for a couple of years or for life. There is also a female monastic order. In some sects, boys go into the monastery for a period of between a few weeks and a couple of months as part of their passage into adulthood. Boys in Thailand are expected to become monks for a number of weeks before they eventually get married.

Monks live an austere life in monasteries or temples. Each village has a temple in much the same manner as western villages have a church, but each temple tries to uphold a population of at least nine monks, which is thought to be the perfect number for some of their duties like blessing a house or carrying out a wedding ceremony.

Buddhist monks live on alms given by the local villagers. In Thailand the young monks walk the streets in the early morning collecting donations of food, which has to be consumed before midday, after which they may not eat. Monks are not permitted any contact with women at all. They may not even sit next to them on a bus or give the fare to a female bus conductress.

Buddhist temples are principally for personal contemplation and meditation. They are open to anyone twenty-four hours a day and people use them to gain respite from the hustle and bustle of every day life. Group prayer meetings are far less common a characteristic of Buddhism than they are in Judaism, Christianity, Islam or even Hinduism.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on many topics but is currently concerned with Easter.If you would like to read more, please go over to our web site entitled Celebrating Easter

January 3, 2011

Buddhism And The Three Chief Buddhist Sects

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Owen Jones @ 4:45 pm

After Buddha’s death in 483 BC, his closest adherents (his disciple monks) took time off their preaching to write down his sermons (sutras) and his regulations (vinayas). In the old convention of Buddha, monks originally walked the countryside preaching and teaching for nine months of the year and went to sit out the monsoon period in a retreat for three months.

These retreats became monasteries and temples. This retreat into monasteries was instrumental in the development of different interpretations of Buddha’s teachings and ultimately led to the formation of different sects which acquired popularity in different regions of Asia.

There are three main Buddhist sects: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana or Tantric Buddism.

Theravada Buddhism is the predominant sect in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand and is the sect that remains most faithful to Buddha’s original teachings. Theravada Buddhism teaches that the road to the attainment of personal Nirvana is the aim of life. It is a very personal religion in that everybody is alone on their own path to enlightenment.

Mahayana Buddism became the largest sect and spread along the Silk Road from India through China to east Asia beginning in about 200 BC. Mahayana Buddhists worship Buddha and the Buddhist saints (bodhisattvas – literally ‘wisdom beings’).

Bodhisattvas are beings that restrain themselves from attaining Nirvana (and therefore leaving the wheel of life or cycle of birth, death and reincarnation) so that they may help others achieve Nirvana, which is a major difference between it and Theravada Buddhism.

Mahayana Buddhism is more readily absorbed by different cultures than the other forms which accounts for it having spread so far. The Buddhist emperor Ashoka (272-232 BC) gave Mahayana a huge boost in popularity by despatching missionaries to Sri Lanka, south-east Asia and China from where it was taken to Korea and Japan in the Sixth Century anno domini.

Zen Buddhism grew in popularity in Japan and China in the Seventh Century. Zen Buddhism is a variant of Mahayana Buddhism and teaches that Nirvana can be attained through mental conditioning and meditation.

Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism arose in the Seventh Century as well and is most common in Tibet and Mongolia. Vajrayana Buddhism tries to identify the initiate with a visualized deity. Tantric cannon includes esoteric writings, teaching that meditation can engage the mind by the use of mantras (chants), mudras (hand gestures) and mandalas (visible icons). The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and temporal head of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhists.

Buddhism reached its height of popularity in China during the T’ang dynasty in the Ninth Century, when it was partially suppressed by royal command. Likewise Zen attained its height of popularity in the Nineteen Century when the Japanese royal family switched to Shintoism taking many of the royal hangers-on with it. Buddhism declined in India as well in the Eighth Century because lots of its concepts were absorbed into Hinduism. Buddism was to all intents and purposes extinct in India by the Thirteenth Century.

Owen Jones, the author of this article writes on many topics but is at present concerned with Easter.If you would like to read more, please go over to our website entitled Celebrating Easter

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