BHANTE HUAT

BhanteHuat 1.0 WHY HE BECAME A BUDDHIST MONK Bhante Huat became a monk before he became a Buddhist. He followed his uncle to a Buddhist temple on his first trip to Kelantan. While waiting for his uncle who had gone into the temple building for blessings, a lady asked Bhante what he was doing there. Bhante said he was waiting for his uncle. The lady asked further as to where his parents were and Bhante told her that they had passed away. The lady told Bhante that he should become a monk for at least three months so that Bhante would have enough merits to transfer to his parents. Bhante thought that by becoming a monk for three months he would have enough merits, then by becoming a monk for a year, he would have even more merits for his parents. Prior to this, Bhante had not been involved in any Budddhist organizations or groups. Bhante was just like any other Chinese man who smoked and bet on lottery numbers and prayed to Taoist gods. Bhante thought that by being a monk, lay devotees would pay respect to him and give him red packets. So Bhante entered monkhood without knowing about the 227 precepts or the other practices of monks. So, in this way Bhante became a monk first before he became a Buddhist. 2.0 BHANTE’S TRAINING UNDER AJAHN SUK Despite Bhante’s naivety about monkhood, however, under Ajahn Suk’s guidance Bhante got a real taste of the Dhamma. Having faith in and respect for Ajahn Suk, Bhante stayed on for four years under the tutelage of Ajahn Suk. During these four years Bhante practised intense meditation maintaining mindfulness in all the four postures of sitting, standing walking and lying down with two to four hours of sleep daily. Bhante said that Ajahn Suk was a thorough and meticulous teacher; his daily interviews with him used to last from two to three hours. Bhante had to kneel in front of Ajahn Suk with palms folded together (in Anjali) during the interview. Bhante recalled that although his legs were numbed and in great pain, he did not dare to change his posture out of respect for his teacher. He had to bear the pain until the end of the interview and was relieved when Ajahn Suk said, ‘Alright, you may go.’ Nevertheless, Bhante said he learned a lot during those interviews and has retained and used what Ajahn Suk had taught him until today. Bhante said it was not easy staying at the cemetery in Kampong Pong. However, Bhante stayed on as Bhante felt that Ajahn Suk was a good teacher who could resolve any problems he encountered in his meditation. Besides, Kampong Pong is a good place for meditation . 3.0 BHANTE AND THE KARENS Bhante’s first temple in Thailand is called Wat Siri Hui Manam Thai Malaysia. Bhante was invited by the Buddhist community in the village to set up a Buddhist temple there. Around Hui Manam there are more than 10 Karen villages and currently only five or six villages still have Buddhist families, the rest have been fully converted into Christians. Even among these 5 or 6 villages, the majority of them are already Christians. In Mae Hug, for example, there are more than a hundred families but now only 18 families are Buddhists; there were only 12 Buddhist families before Bhante set up his temple there. The Karens are very poor people, they live mainly on plain rice with hardly any other food to supplement their diet. Due to poverty, it was easy for the Christian missionaries to convert them. Any Karen who converts to Christianity is given an incentive of 4000 bahts, which is a lot of money to the poor Karens. If the whole village converts to Christianity, the missionaries will provide the village a 4-wheel drive. The financial assistance is good for the Karens as it helps to elevate their well-being but it was at the expense of their religious belief. So the remaining Karens, possibly because of their parami and Bhante’s parami as well, decided to set up Buddhist temples in the villages where Buddhist families still exist and Bhante has been drawn in to help. Besides the temples, Bhante has also set up schools to provide some basic education which incorporates the Dhamma to the Karen children. The small Buddhist community has given their wholehearted support to Bhante in his work to help the Karens as well as to bring Buddhism back to the villages. As they were poor, they could not provide any financial assistance to Bhante but they volunteered to build Bhante’s temple and school; Bhante only need to provide them food. In order to get the necessary money for the construction of the temple and school, Bhante travelled back to Malaysia and collected donations from Malaysian Buddhist devotees. Thus Bhante named his temple with the Thai Malaysia words meaning Malaysian money, Thai workmen. Recently a couple of Malaysians have gone to help in the construction work, one of them is Eddy. Bhante describes the Karens as very warm and friendly people who show genuine concern and care towards him and others, in Bhante’s words, “Their metta is very good.” They show great respect towards Bhante and regard Bhante as a community leader who helps them to solve their problems such as family disputes and sicknesses. Bhante has a first aid kit and some medicine for common ailments. Bhante has held two novitiate programmes for the Karens, the first with about 100 novices and the second with about 60 (the smaller number for the second novitiate program was due to another novitiate program organised by another monk). This year (2013) Bhante is organising a third novitiate programme in the first week of April for the Karens and he targets about a 100 participants. This year the novitiate programme will be held at the temple in Mae Hug. I respect and salute Bhante for his practice and his work.