Thailand is an economically poor country especially in rural areas. In the northern part of the country, thousands of families live from growing rice: it represents their daily food and their income. Usually families have many children in different ages, around 14 are able to help with the crop, and at 9 can help with the babies, it’s a solution for the problem and a problem for the solution. As they earn only enough to eat and live, when the crops are damaged by the rain or in lower rice prices, the family has no money to support all children. Then the only option is to send them as novices to the local monastery. There, at least, they will be able to eat everyday and have some studies.
Life in the monastery is not easy, there are many restrictions for novices and monks as not eating after noon, something very difficult for growing young men. Although Buddhist, the novices generally don’t want to spend their lives for the Buddha as monks, they only stay in the temples fighting the strict precepts until they get some money to travel to Bangkok in search of any job. Usually they stay until 21 when should be ordained as monks but if the main monk is too hard, they leave earlier.
Just a few of those novices get interested in monastery life, and go on to become monks under more than 227 precepts, that include even how to go to the bathroom.
In a country where ordaining as a monk at least for the rainy season is a way to paying respect to the parents, there’s a media boom about the bad manners of monks in the country, but getting to know the stories and reasons for the high disrobing rate, made me realize how lucky Thais are, they have a far better option than children in my country at war.
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