Merged with tattoo thread. We're keeping all sak yan-related posts in the one thread.

I heard from a few sources that it is in bad taste to get a buddha tattooed below the waist, its the same as keeping your mala beads above your waist

Do anyone here know the address of Ajarn keaw
in bangkok ?

Who can help to recognize these symbols?
Thanks beforehand!

It's a figure of the meditating Buddha with the phrase 'Don't be selfish' (yaa hen kae tua) in Thai, a motif made popular by the late Aj Buddhadasa.

Sawadii Khrap, someone could tell me the signification of this Sak Yant?



thanks

See:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/findpost-p25...ml&hl=peaks

thx very much...
and what about the 2 bottom line, the zig on the 2 side and the triangle on the middle?

up up...

Nobody can try to translate the 2 bottom line on the triangle tattoo?

You'd have to find someone who can read the Khom alphabet.

I got my first sak yant four years ago at Wat Bang Phra, with a bamboo needle. It was a gao yord, and they did not ask me what I wanted. I felt it appropriate to let the monk decide, and I was happy with the choice. A year later I went to the amulet market on Th. Mahathat and asked around for another place to get more sak yant. I found someone who spoke enough English to call a friend and pack me into a car for a 30 minute drive. I was taken to Ajarn Ti at Thamnak Thangawgay in Phuttamonthon. I have also received sak yant from Ajarn Peechaa at the same place. They are not monks, but white-clothed ajarns.

I got another sak yant, and have since returned for more work by myself. They don't speak much English, but with hand gestures and smiles I have had no problem getting what I wanted. They have books of designs to choose from, and once I even brought a design I took a photo of on another man. This caused a bit of a stir, but since I didn't speak Thai and they didn't speak English, somehow it worked out and I got the symbols that they had not used before. Since then I have learned that it was a breach of protocol to bring one ajarn's design to another for a sak yant, but fortunately it worked out. When I go for more work now, they are friendly and welcome me. I try to speak as much Thai as I can, even if it is wrong, and they are pleased at my efforts. They have encouraged me to send other farang there for sak yant. They have suggested donations in the book, between 70 - 200 baht for each design, but I donate 500 - 1000 baht each time, because I have the money and these tattoos mean a lot to me. I try to hide the money under the pile of 20 baht bills on the offering plate, but once they saw me put a 1,000 baht bill there and made me write my name on a chart of donors to be put on the wall. I didn't like that, but I went along with it.

I went to see Ajarn Noo a year ago, but was turned off by the rudeness of the people there, very unexpected in Thailand. The building was filled with advertising posters and standups for the movie with Ajarn Noo's sak yant in it. They said they wouldn't touch me for less than 30,000 baht, and criticized my existing work in a less than nice manner. I bowed politely and left, glad not to take part in their money making enterprise, and glad not to have that energy inflicted on my body. I see Thai people with the five fingers from Ajarn Noo, but I think now it has become a symbol of wealth, of the ability of the person to afford the high prices he charges, rather than the animist religious symbol it started as.

Others have said that the roots of sak yant are in animism rather than Buddhism, and I agree. Thailand is a very nice mix of animism, Buddhism and Brahmanism/Hindu. I met with the head of the Buddhist school at Wat Mahathat, and asked about sak yant and the Buddhist precepts. He dismissed sak yant as old superstition, but said that the precepts are meant to show respect and honor, rather than to be interpreted literally. Whether I walked under a clothesline or not was not as important as if I showed my body respect and honored the symbols placed upon it. I found this to be a clear and refreshing interpretation of the true spirit of the precepts, rather than a list of arbitrary rules to be followed or I would be damned, or risk retribution.

I have seen sak yant on men's legs. I have heard that it is inappropriate to put an image of the Buddha below the waist, but other symbols may be allowed.

I am attaching a photo of my most recent work.

Hello everybody,
I find this topic very interesting and many of the posts very helpful. I am living at the moment in Koh Tao and I am very interested in sak yan tattoos so I would like to ask if anyone knows where I can go and have one around here ( by that I am referring to all the nearby provinces Chumphon, Surat thani..). Any information will be appreciated.

Great Post , Ajarn Noo has lost all credibility amongst even the Thai people for his greed.

Many now just refer to him as Ajarn Micky Mouse.

Does anyone know about the safety of the sak yant? More specifically, is it a sterilized process? And am I at risk of any diseases eg hepatitis B if I get a traditional sak yant tattoo?

^, all tattoo's carry a risk of infection, read the following.

http://www.everytattoo.com/healthrisks.shtml

Thanks. I understand these risks. But how do you ensure the needles they are using are sterile?

It's not a Buddhist interpretation, though, and the precepts aren't arbitrary and aren't rules. The idea of the precepts is to aid mental cultivation - in other words, to become a better person (in this life). Honoring one's body sounds more like a traditional notion. For example, the meditation master Ajahn Chah had most of his teeth (including many good ones) removed simply because having them fixed all the time was a distraction. He felt no attachment to them at all. He also didn't bother with medication for malaria and other fevers - he "took care" of them with his mind. He didn't honor his body in any way because he wasn't attached to it.

I've heard many of the monks and ajahns in Thailand say their tattoos won't work (i.e. offer protection etc) unless you keep the precepts. Since no one ever keeps the precepts perfectly, it provides the perfect excuse as to why the tattoos fail to provide the wearer protection later on. You could say that tattoos - like amulets - are a "skillful means" used by some monks to get people to keep the precepts.

If you are living in SE Asia, it's a good idea to get vaccinated against Hep B anyway, although you can't do much about Hep C or HIV.

HI,everybody
I am living in Koh Tao for now. Do you know where is the closest wat that I can go and have a sak-yan tattoo? I want to have one with a scheme I have of phra mae torani. Do you think that is possible? Thnx