Chuck Bao
11/11/2008, 08:10 AM
I’m just as superstitious as the next guy, especially on game day. And, I have to admit that Cambodian black magic scares the hell out of me.
But, I wouldn’t expect the leader of a major political movement (yeah, the leader of the anti-government forces occupying government house for 3 months already) to go off and battle supernatural forces with used sanitary napkins.
These are the people who are saying that the poor provincial people aren’t ready for democracy and they want to select up to 70% of the legislature.
I really wonder about these Khmer (Cambodian) adepts mentioned. The PAD already almost stirred up a war over a 1,000-year old temple complex straddling the border and all the Cambodians were doing was to get it registered as a world heritage site. Since you can only visit it from Thailand, basically, it was a win-win thing for Thailand. No, instead, we had the people in green shooting at each other and that’s not good for tourism.
Back on point, we apparently have Cambodian adepts (is anyone familiar with this word?) running around and jinxing the country. Curses on them!
But, I like the idea of a national angel. That’s nice. Phra Sayam Thewathirat is what the article is calling her. I guess she is a she.
Maybe the US should get a national angel.
Or, President-elect Obama should appoint a Cambodian adept to advise on supernatural matters since Nancy Reagan has obviously retired. Can you imagine the scene with Air Force One helicopters dropping gallons of fresh Wisconsin milk on the phallic Washington monument as a fertility rite?
We probably should stay away from the use of used sanitary napkins because the feminists would be totally up in arms. But, for some reason I think that Abe Lincoln statue could be seen to smile.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/11/10/opinion/opinion_30087963.php
PAD saves the nation from supernatural attack
By Chang Noi
Published on November 10, 2008
ON OCTOBER 29, Sondhi Limthongkul gave a speech from the People's Alliance for Democracy stage, broadcast over ASTV, about a new front in his fight to "save the nation". He said:
"For many years in the past, the powers of many sacred things including the spirit of the City Pillar, the Equestrian Statue of King Rama V, Phra Sayam Thewathirat, and the Emerald Buddha, have been suppressed by evil people using magic. 'Suppress' does not mean destroy, because sacred objects cannot be destroyed, as they have too much power. But 'suppress' means not allowing them to emit their power, by encircling them. This is true. So we have just finished rectifying this in the last two to three weeks. Like at the statue of the Emerald Buddha.
"Behind it there is a stone. Evil-minded people had allied with some in the Royal Household Bureau to allow a Khmer adept to go behind the Emerald Buddha and take the stone away, because that stone is the important thing for emitting power."
The idea of protective forces is a major part of saiyasat or supernaturalism. It has nothing to do with Buddhism but reaches back to older folk beliefs. Most villages have a shrine for a protective spirit. Cities have a pillar. No new house is erected without a ceremony.
Sondhi has selected sites that are closely associated with the Chakri dynasty.
The Emerald Buddha is the Palladian statue of the dynasty. The City Pillar was erected by King Rama I to mark the founding of Bangkok. King Rama IV invented Phra Sayam Thewathirat because he felt Siam needed more protection in the colonial era. The Equestrian Statue of King Rama V has been converted into a guardian spirit by popular acclaim. Sondhi claims this complex of monuments that protects the nation and monarchy has come under sustained attack.
In old Siam, there were laws permitting the use of supernaturalism for defensive, protective purposes, but outlawed any usage with aggressive and malicious intent. Today there are no such laws but the same distinction remains in conventional practice. Wearing protective amulets is fine; cursing is questionable; rites to cause harm are unacceptable. This distinction is expressed by describing aggressive and malicious usage as "Khmer". In fact, there is no evidence that Cambodian supernaturalism is aggressive. Here "Khmer" is just a Thai word for "nasty". But of course this vocabulary reflects a bundle of narrow-minded, bad-neighbour prejudices.
Earlier Sondhi openly accused Thaksin of being behind the destruction of the Erawan Brahma statue in March 2006. Sondhi said Thaksin wished to thwart political forces rising up against him. Thaksin called the accusation "insane". Sondhi does not need to be so explicit this time but he seems to imply the same thing on a grander scale - a massive attempt to disrupt the spiritual forces protecting nation and monarchy.
Sondhi went on to describe his efforts in defence of the country. "The [base of the] Equestrian Statue is like this [draws hexagon with his hands] with the statue inside. Tacks had been inserted at the six corners so that the statue of the revered king could not emit its power. We drew out the tacks from all six places."
Presumably these tacks or nails are supernatural, imaginary articles anchoring an imaginary magical wall around the statue to pen in the spiritual forces. Presumably too, Sondhi's team used rituals to remove them rather than digging up the tarmac. He mentioned that "masters and adepts pulled out each of them". He went on to describe preventive measures for the future. Here the actions seem to have been real rather than imaginary.
"I must thank the women of the PAD because after [the tacks] were pulled out, to ensure they would not be replaced, they took sanitary napkins from menstruating women and placed them on the six points.
"Experts said the spirit adepts were furious because they could not send their spirits back; their magic was rendered ineffective."
Ideas about the fearful power of female sexuality are fundamental to a structure of male supremacy. In both Buddhism and supernaturalism, males are privileged in acquiring superior spiritual status. Only men can become Buddhist monks. Only men can draw yantra diagrams, activate amulets, utter incantations and use all the other techniques of saiyasat.
But female sexuality poses a terrifying threat to these powers. Thus monks have to remain celibate and avoid contact with women. Serious adherents of saiyasat also practice celibacy. Casual users remove their amulets before lovemaking to prevent their efficacy from getting annulled.
Menstrual blood is the most powerful symbol of this terrible, destructive power. There are rules and conventions about avoiding contact with this fearful force. In the past there were many restrictions involving women's underwear. But Sondhi is possibly breaking new ground by making active use of this substance as a weapon.
Since the clip of this speech made it to YouTube (search for "Sondhi"), contributors to several blogsites have concluded that Sondhi is "mad". Certainly he seems befuddled. Clearly he is espousing narrow-minded chauvinist prejudices about Thailand's neighbours and about women. Possibly his efforts to defend the capital's sacred sites are a form of desecration. The police, Fine Arts Department and Bangkok governor's office went to inspect the Equestrian Statue on the day after Sondhi's revelation, but no proceedings have been launched.
Sondhi concluded this part of his speech by asking: "We're talking about saving the nation. Is this part of saving the nation?"
How do his PAD colleagues and supporters feel about this new front in the fight to "save the nation" and about Sondhi's weapons of choice?
Somsak Kosaisuk, Somkiat Pongpaibun, and Pibhop Dhongchai seem to be hard-headed rationalists. Chamlong Srimuang's Santi Asoke Buddhism sect belongs to a purist tradition, which is highly antagonistic to saiyasat, though Chamlong might share some of Sondhi's male chauvinism.
How far can someone go as a self-appointed defender of religion and nation? When does the weaponry exceed some frontier of acceptability - slingshots, used golf clubs, guns, menses? What comes next?
But, I wouldn’t expect the leader of a major political movement (yeah, the leader of the anti-government forces occupying government house for 3 months already) to go off and battle supernatural forces with used sanitary napkins.
These are the people who are saying that the poor provincial people aren’t ready for democracy and they want to select up to 70% of the legislature.
I really wonder about these Khmer (Cambodian) adepts mentioned. The PAD already almost stirred up a war over a 1,000-year old temple complex straddling the border and all the Cambodians were doing was to get it registered as a world heritage site. Since you can only visit it from Thailand, basically, it was a win-win thing for Thailand. No, instead, we had the people in green shooting at each other and that’s not good for tourism.
Back on point, we apparently have Cambodian adepts (is anyone familiar with this word?) running around and jinxing the country. Curses on them!
But, I like the idea of a national angel. That’s nice. Phra Sayam Thewathirat is what the article is calling her. I guess she is a she.
Maybe the US should get a national angel.
Or, President-elect Obama should appoint a Cambodian adept to advise on supernatural matters since Nancy Reagan has obviously retired. Can you imagine the scene with Air Force One helicopters dropping gallons of fresh Wisconsin milk on the phallic Washington monument as a fertility rite?
We probably should stay away from the use of used sanitary napkins because the feminists would be totally up in arms. But, for some reason I think that Abe Lincoln statue could be seen to smile.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/11/10/opinion/opinion_30087963.php
PAD saves the nation from supernatural attack
By Chang Noi
Published on November 10, 2008
ON OCTOBER 29, Sondhi Limthongkul gave a speech from the People's Alliance for Democracy stage, broadcast over ASTV, about a new front in his fight to "save the nation". He said:
"For many years in the past, the powers of many sacred things including the spirit of the City Pillar, the Equestrian Statue of King Rama V, Phra Sayam Thewathirat, and the Emerald Buddha, have been suppressed by evil people using magic. 'Suppress' does not mean destroy, because sacred objects cannot be destroyed, as they have too much power. But 'suppress' means not allowing them to emit their power, by encircling them. This is true. So we have just finished rectifying this in the last two to three weeks. Like at the statue of the Emerald Buddha.
"Behind it there is a stone. Evil-minded people had allied with some in the Royal Household Bureau to allow a Khmer adept to go behind the Emerald Buddha and take the stone away, because that stone is the important thing for emitting power."
The idea of protective forces is a major part of saiyasat or supernaturalism. It has nothing to do with Buddhism but reaches back to older folk beliefs. Most villages have a shrine for a protective spirit. Cities have a pillar. No new house is erected without a ceremony.
Sondhi has selected sites that are closely associated with the Chakri dynasty.
The Emerald Buddha is the Palladian statue of the dynasty. The City Pillar was erected by King Rama I to mark the founding of Bangkok. King Rama IV invented Phra Sayam Thewathirat because he felt Siam needed more protection in the colonial era. The Equestrian Statue of King Rama V has been converted into a guardian spirit by popular acclaim. Sondhi claims this complex of monuments that protects the nation and monarchy has come under sustained attack.
In old Siam, there were laws permitting the use of supernaturalism for defensive, protective purposes, but outlawed any usage with aggressive and malicious intent. Today there are no such laws but the same distinction remains in conventional practice. Wearing protective amulets is fine; cursing is questionable; rites to cause harm are unacceptable. This distinction is expressed by describing aggressive and malicious usage as "Khmer". In fact, there is no evidence that Cambodian supernaturalism is aggressive. Here "Khmer" is just a Thai word for "nasty". But of course this vocabulary reflects a bundle of narrow-minded, bad-neighbour prejudices.
Earlier Sondhi openly accused Thaksin of being behind the destruction of the Erawan Brahma statue in March 2006. Sondhi said Thaksin wished to thwart political forces rising up against him. Thaksin called the accusation "insane". Sondhi does not need to be so explicit this time but he seems to imply the same thing on a grander scale - a massive attempt to disrupt the spiritual forces protecting nation and monarchy.
Sondhi went on to describe his efforts in defence of the country. "The [base of the] Equestrian Statue is like this [draws hexagon with his hands] with the statue inside. Tacks had been inserted at the six corners so that the statue of the revered king could not emit its power. We drew out the tacks from all six places."
Presumably these tacks or nails are supernatural, imaginary articles anchoring an imaginary magical wall around the statue to pen in the spiritual forces. Presumably too, Sondhi's team used rituals to remove them rather than digging up the tarmac. He mentioned that "masters and adepts pulled out each of them". He went on to describe preventive measures for the future. Here the actions seem to have been real rather than imaginary.
"I must thank the women of the PAD because after [the tacks] were pulled out, to ensure they would not be replaced, they took sanitary napkins from menstruating women and placed them on the six points.
"Experts said the spirit adepts were furious because they could not send their spirits back; their magic was rendered ineffective."
Ideas about the fearful power of female sexuality are fundamental to a structure of male supremacy. In both Buddhism and supernaturalism, males are privileged in acquiring superior spiritual status. Only men can become Buddhist monks. Only men can draw yantra diagrams, activate amulets, utter incantations and use all the other techniques of saiyasat.
But female sexuality poses a terrifying threat to these powers. Thus monks have to remain celibate and avoid contact with women. Serious adherents of saiyasat also practice celibacy. Casual users remove their amulets before lovemaking to prevent their efficacy from getting annulled.
Menstrual blood is the most powerful symbol of this terrible, destructive power. There are rules and conventions about avoiding contact with this fearful force. In the past there were many restrictions involving women's underwear. But Sondhi is possibly breaking new ground by making active use of this substance as a weapon.
Since the clip of this speech made it to YouTube (search for "Sondhi"), contributors to several blogsites have concluded that Sondhi is "mad". Certainly he seems befuddled. Clearly he is espousing narrow-minded chauvinist prejudices about Thailand's neighbours and about women. Possibly his efforts to defend the capital's sacred sites are a form of desecration. The police, Fine Arts Department and Bangkok governor's office went to inspect the Equestrian Statue on the day after Sondhi's revelation, but no proceedings have been launched.
Sondhi concluded this part of his speech by asking: "We're talking about saving the nation. Is this part of saving the nation?"
How do his PAD colleagues and supporters feel about this new front in the fight to "save the nation" and about Sondhi's weapons of choice?
Somsak Kosaisuk, Somkiat Pongpaibun, and Pibhop Dhongchai seem to be hard-headed rationalists. Chamlong Srimuang's Santi Asoke Buddhism sect belongs to a purist tradition, which is highly antagonistic to saiyasat, though Chamlong might share some of Sondhi's male chauvinism.
How far can someone go as a self-appointed defender of religion and nation? When does the weaponry exceed some frontier of acceptability - slingshots, used golf clubs, guns, menses? What comes next?