Every year in December, Pattaya City sponsors a merit making
ceremony early a Saturday morning. Last year, 2,600 monks were bused in.
At his
speech, and I am paraphrasing, the mayor of Pattaya said the ceremony was
partly intended to show that Pattaya is not only a city of sin. However, I am pretty sure that this ceremony – starting at sunrise – escapes the attention of nearly all tourists and of the Thais engaged in the many shades of sinful activity that goes on all around Pattaya.
After the speeches, the monks circulated to allow worshipers to pay their respects and get their prayers answered. Considering that the Lord Buddha taught that the way to
salvation is to free oneself from temptations and unholy matters such as money,
it was an interesting aspect of the ceremony that 60% of the MC’s calls for
prayer were for riches.
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