Tham bun

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Tham Bun ( Thai :ทำบุญ ) is a traditional concept for the acquisition of religious merit in Thai and Laotian Theravada Buddhism, which is based on the Buddhist karma teaching.

Word explanation

The term bun (Thai บุญ , usually translated as “merit” in English) is the Thai translation of puñña , a term from the Pali language (corresponding to Sanskrit puṇya ). In the Buddhist dictionary of the German monk Nyanatiloka , puñña stands for 'meritorious'. The Thai word tham ( ทำ ) means “to do” or “to make”, bun is the Thai pronunciation of puñña . Tham bun means 'to do merit' (corresponding to Pali puñña-kiriya-vatthu , kiriya to do, vatthu object).

Merits

There are many different ways to acquire these religious merits. In Buddhism explained, Bhikkhu Khantipalo describes ten doctrines that are also taught in schools in Thailand:

Tham bun: food donation to novices in Uttaradit

Also in the Anguttara-Nikaya , both in the “Book of Four” (Catukka-Nipata) and in the “Book of Eight” (Atthaka-Nipata), several ways of acquiring “streams of merit” are described: for example, donating clothing to the monks to provide them with food every day, to provide them with a roof over their heads or to provide them with medication.

In Thailand tham bun is inextricably linked with daily life, be it the daily donation of food to the monks before sunrise, listening to the recitation of the sutras by monks or donations to temples. For family events, such as births, weddings or deaths, the families go to the nearby temple to celebrate or mourn together, the monks also come to house celebrations and pray together with the believers, receive food and gifts and bless those present and that Family home. The Thai Buddhist earns most merit through ordination as a monk. That is why almost every Thai goes to a Buddhist monastery at least once in their life for at least a week - but usually longer. Traditionally, the merits accumulated in this way are dedicated to the female members of the own family, mother or grandmother, as women in Thailand are not allowed to become nuns.

The deeper meaning behind tham bun is to overcome one's own ego, avarice, arrogance, self-centeredness through righteous actions. In Thailand there is the term in the bun ( อิ่ม บุญ ), where im means “full” or “full”. The term in the bun says to be full of happiness and joy after a tham bun . This expresses the richness of a Buddhist culture that can encourage people from all walks of life to overcome their own selfishness.

statistics

According to a study by the Kasikorn Research Center ( ศูนย์วิจัย กสิกร ไทย ), a division of Kasikorn Bank , in 2005, Thai people spent 3.3 trillion baht per year on donations and the purchase of donations in kind to monks. While in the Bangkok metropolitan area around 1512 baht per person are spent per year, the average Thai from the northeast of the country ( Isan ) "only" donates around 460 baht per year.

The research center also notes that Thais donate mainly on the important Buddhist holidays , at family celebrations (anniversaries, cremations, ...) but also at other festivities. In the research, young people said they only donate on Buddhist holidays. In addition to monetary donations, prayers, meditation and listening to monks ' sermons ( fang thet , ฟัง เทศน์ ) are preferred as religious activities; it is hoped that they will gain inner calm in order to be able to cope better with daily stress.

See also

literature

  • Nyānatiloka : Buddhist Dictionary . Verlag Beyerlein & Steinschulte 1999, ISBN 3-931095-09-6
  • Bhikkhu Khantipalo: Buddhism Explained . Thai Watana Panich Press, Bangkok 2513/1970 (without ISBN)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Puñña , The Pali Text Society's Pali-English dictionary
  2. ↑ 22 February 2005 - Thai Merit-Making: Bt3.3 Billion Cashflow for Merchants ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kasikornresearch.com