Abstract
This chapter investigates the moral aspect of local healing to show the process that morality can contribute to the effectiveness of healing. I present the story of two folk healers and analyze how the healer associated his sensibility with the moral values in the local world and led to a starting point of a healing process, how sympathy and other related moral dispositions are called up in the process, and how the healer, through a healing process, becomes able to reify local moral values into practical humanized healing. The chapter then explores the outcome of the healing process—power of virtue, and merit—that can strengthen the effectiveness of healing.
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Notes
- 1.
Mor is used to call persons who have special skill in their careers such as doctor (mor rak sa rok), fortune teller (mor du), and lawyer (mor khwam). In this context mor is a title given to a person who is respected as a doctor or healer in the community.
- 2.
All cases are presented with fictitious names.
- 3.
Noi is a title given to a person who has ever been a Buddhist novice in Northern Thailand. It is used to express the respectable status of persons who have devoted themselves to learn Dharma and are expected to succeed the Buddhist tradition in their mundane life.
- 4.
From now on, I will use mor (doctor) Som instead of Noi Som since he became acting as a healer.
- 5.
Thai belief about rebirth is based on the belief of Buddhism and Brahmin. Every being is traveling in the continuous flow of life, samsara—the cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth, or reincarnation. From this point of view, life is not considered to start with birth and end in death, but as a continuous lifetime from past to present and extending beyond.
- 6.
Tan Khao Mai Day is, according to the lunar calendar, the full moon day of the fourth month when the in-season rice is already harvested. Northerners celebrate this traditional event by donating cooked rice and other food on behalf of the deceased ancestors who once possessed the rice fields and by feeding the monks as well.
- 7.
In Buddhist teaching this set of mind qualities is named Itthibat Si or the Four Paths of Accomplishment.
- 8.
I translate khun as power of virtue or power of moral goodness. This translation differs from the one given by Mulder (1979) since he separates power (decha) from moral goodness (khuna). In the context of healing, khun or khuna expresses their effects in the form of power. Therefore, when villagers mention khun of something, they intend to mean simultaneously both power and moral goodness.
- 9.
Mantra is a word or phrase repeated by a priest, a healer, or a person who performs a ritual and other religious practices. Each mantra is considered competent in producing change for specific purpose. Buddhist mantras are formulated by compilation of the words that is viewed as the heart of Buddhist teachings. It is therefore a way to remind person who recites the mantra of the Buddhist teachings.
- 10.
The precepts in Buddhist tradition are commitments to abstain from doing things that are considered as the obstacle of the progress toward spiritual development. The basic precepts for all Buddhists are the five precepts which consist of abstaining from harming living beings, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxication.
- 11.
Bun is a thing that when it happens in any person can lead to good qualities of mind. The mind of person who has bun is clear, unfettered, calm, and pure, as well as an absence of defilement, namely, greed, anger, covetousness, prejudice, confusion, jealousy, and conceit.
- 12.
Khruba Siwichai was a Buddhist monk who lived from 1878 until 1938. His moral teachings were based on the Northern traditional style of Buddhism which was appreciated by most Northern people in the revolutionary period of the inclusion of the North into the Kingdom of Siam.
- 13.
Karma literally means action or doing. Any kind of intentional action whether physical, verbal, or mental is regarded as karma. In its ultimate sense, karma means all moral and immoral volition. Involuntary, unintentional, or unconscious actions do not constitute karma. In its popular sense, karma is the result of our own past actions and our own present deeds.
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Professor Annemiek Richters, Dr. Han ten Brummelhuis, and Dr. Komatra Chuengsatiansup for important comments and feedback offered during the writing and editing of this article.
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Tantipidoke, Y. (2014). Moral Aspect and the Effectiveness of Local Healing in Northern Thailand. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Contemporary Socio-Cultural and Political Perspectives in Thailand. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7244-1_30
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