After announcing our engagement, my fiancee and I wanted to "make merit". Merit-making is the Buddhist act of accumulating good karma, or merit, through donations, deeds, and spiritual practice.
We visited Wat Rakhang, the Temple of the Bell, which is one of the most famous second-class royal-grade temples in Thailand.
Wat Rakhang is located on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, directly across the water from the Grand Palace. The temple is most famous for its holy royal bell, and for its history as the temple of famous monk Luang Pohr Toh. Father Toh is one of the preeminent monks of late 18th and early 19th century Siam, who wrote many famous works of Thai Theravada Buddhism. He is most reknowned, however, as the monk who exorcised the famous Thai ghost Mae Nak.
Today, a huge bronze statue of Father Toh sits looking serenely out over the slow-moving waters of the Chaophraya River.
The temple is also home to the famous Wat Rakhang Girl's School, a very prestigious and well-reknowned private school which local Bangkokians have affectionately nicknanmed "Jingle Bell Convent".
We spent the morning exploring the temple grounds.
Due to the quarantine, I haven't been to a Buddhist temple in months.
After a certain time, many foreign expats living in Thailand report becomming "templed out". That is, getting sick and tired of visiting temples.
For me, I've never experienced that.
Even though I've been here for 7 years, I have yet to get tired of visiting a Thai temple. Whether it's a grand royal-grade temple or a tiny local temple, I still feel excited and adventurous every time I step foot on the grounds of a Thai wat.
It was a bright, sunny, and tropically hot Thai morning, and my fiancee and I paid a visit to a local vendor who had set up shop just outside of temple grounds. This vendor ran one of the many local merit shops that you'll see outside of most of the famous Thai temples. Within, she sold statues, packages of donations that you can give to a monk, incense, prayers candles, and more.
Most notably, this woman sold fish, currently swimming around in large plastic buckets, which one could purchase in order to release in the river for the purpose of accumulating good karma.
Pinky looked over a slip of paper the vendor handed her, which detailed the species of fish available and their meaning. All of the fish thrive in the Chaophraya River, so releasing them back into the water, essentially saving a life, is an act of powerful merit-making to accumulate good karma.
The "karma recipt" (for lack of a better word), listed each of the fish that we paid for, and also included a prayer to say before releasing them back into the water.
We headed down a set of slippery steps at Wat Rakhang. Luckily, the river was still quite empty due to the ongoing lockdown, and there was very little traffic. Occasionally, a boat would zip past, making the muddy water splash up roughly against our ankles.
Good luck, little guys! I hope you all live long, happy fish lives!
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