While my understanding of Buddhism was just developing, it was firmly embedded in my mind that touching monks was bad.
Females just didn’t make contact with monks!
Males pass anything over to a monk. When no males are around, females have to place objects for the monk on a silver tray, which sits on the floor. The monk then picks up the object. As a female, you just don’t’ touch the monks.
If you are moving house, only males carry the Buddha Statues to the removalist truck. Females don't even touch the statues.
You can understand then, that I was stunned when a Thai man approached me with a most unusual question.
“Do you kiss the monk?”
My mind spun... my eyes goggled and I was left choking on an answer. “No! I don’t kiss the monks.” After much confused conversation, we finally understood each other. My reputation remained unsoiled as recognition washed over me. “Yes, I am a Christian.”
In Thai, Christianity is shortened to “Chrissed”. The man had asked me whether I was a Christian. Even though I was developing an understanding of the language, many things still got lost in the translation.
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