I'm looking of help with words associated with Buddhism. First, I'm Buddhist. I have been for about 30 years. One of my first "shocks" in Thailand was my concept of Thai Theravada Buddhism that I had in my own mind -- in retrospect, it was a preconceived notion without much understanding of culture and history.
OK, I'm a wiser man today, but still deal with the cultural difficulties of dealing with the Thai monastic cultural institutions, especially when they come from a cultural misunderstanding that "Farang" are "Christian" and are somehow unable to fathom "Thai Buddhism", or it's just too difficult to communicate with us to even try.
There are many very good Wats which strive to work with farangs, although only on the short term. "Come to Wat "XYZ" and go through our 28 day meditation program."
But then what happens after that 10, or 15, or 21, 28 days? "Well, thank you very much for come. GOOD LUCK FOR YOU." and goodbye. Ahhhhhh, but wait a minute -- I live here. I want to be a part of the Thai Buddhist community. "OK, you go to Wat Pah Nanachat. Many farang monk there. GOOD LUCK FOR YOU." Once your retreat is over -- you are out! Bye bye Farang.
Well first, I Iive in Lamphun province (although I keep a small apartment in a Thai community in Chiang Mai.
OK, now that I've been kicked out the door of the retreat community, where is my connection to Sangha? The Triple Gem is: Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. As we are ushered out the door of the Wat after our retreat, we are left with Buddha, Dharma, (a meditation technique), and GOOD LUCK FOR YOU. What's missing here? Sangha....just maybe?
There is a huge gap between Farang and Thai Buddhists. For myself, not being fluent in Thai is a huge part of the problem. And it's one I'm working on every so slowly. But their is also a prejudice (as in pre-judging) that Farang simply aren't or don't understand the Buddhism as practiced in most Thai Wats. Humm. There is some truth to that statement. For me, it's not so much the 'I don't understand' as it is that what I see being practiced is not necessarily a true form of Theravada Buddhism. I kind-heartedly refer to Thai Buddhism to my closer friends and "Buddhist flavored Animism" which I don't believe to be too far off the mark. In my simple practice, I try to work with Sila, Samadhi, Pana. It would be easy to write pages and pages about the differences we farang and Thai encounter, but I need to work toward the middle. Basic concepts. So with that introduction, I like to ask a question and also see if anyone is open to a continuing dialog on how we foreigners can attempt to make inroad into the religion we practice, here in Thailand, with the Thai people. So pretty long intro there from this short question.
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In Buddhism there is the concept of The Five Hindrances. They are:
1. Wanting, desire, greed
2. Aversion, hatred, or anger
3. Laziness, sloth-torpor, boredom
4. Restlessness, worry, agitation
5. Doubt
Now I could look these up in my Thai2English translator, but like so many words that have so many meaning based on context, I've never sure. So, I'd like to ask for help.
How are these concepts written in Thai. Specifically in Thai Theravada Buddhism.
Thanks to anyone who is willing to help!
for the Thai language