(no subject)
Sorry for the lapse in posting, dear reader, but your author was in Kampot lounging near the river, sipping Laotian coffee with sweet milk watching the river flow this way and that with the ebb and flow of the Gulf of Thailand reading about Shan (Burmese and Northwestern Thailand) tattoos.
These tattoos are quite similar to Khmer tattoos but also quite different. Much of the underlying beliefs are similar but from what information I have it seems that the Shan have some different designs. They seem to, according to the article, write their Pali in Burmese script, like the Khmer do with their script. However, Theravada Buddhists in Thailand close to Cambodia use Khmer script for their tattoos.
The Shan article draws an interesting line of logic, namely, the tattoos are magical because the mantras were written in Pali, the language of the Buddha, by the Buddha and therefore are in fact relics of the Buddha, the same as anyone would find in stupas around Southeast Asia.
Next weekend I am going to go to Sihanoukville and talk to a guy who does "traditional" style tattoos but he does it for money. I am going to interview him if he'll take me about some of the religion and ritual behind what is done when the practice is legitimate.
I also talked with a friend here who is going with me to Banteay Meanchay to meet an old monk, but when i talked to him last, through a bad connection, I understood that he was dead. I will check up on this.
OVER
These tattoos are quite similar to Khmer tattoos but also quite different. Much of the underlying beliefs are similar but from what information I have it seems that the Shan have some different designs. They seem to, according to the article, write their Pali in Burmese script, like the Khmer do with their script. However, Theravada Buddhists in Thailand close to Cambodia use Khmer script for their tattoos.
The Shan article draws an interesting line of logic, namely, the tattoos are magical because the mantras were written in Pali, the language of the Buddha, by the Buddha and therefore are in fact relics of the Buddha, the same as anyone would find in stupas around Southeast Asia.
Next weekend I am going to go to Sihanoukville and talk to a guy who does "traditional" style tattoos but he does it for money. I am going to interview him if he'll take me about some of the religion and ritual behind what is done when the practice is legitimate.
I also talked with a friend here who is going with me to Banteay Meanchay to meet an old monk, but when i talked to him last, through a bad connection, I understood that he was dead. I will check up on this.
OVER