Temple Boys Of Thailand

In the country-side of Thailand one will find many boys working in the temples as temple boys. These boys help monks in their alms collecting as they go from village to village. A temple has the responsibility of the monks alms bowl and food career. The temple boy accompanies the monk when they are their daily rounds of alms collection.

If a temple has many monks and novices, then the alms collection is normally divided into several routes. On certain routes only one temple boys assists the monks while on others there can be two or more. This usually depends on the quantity and amount of food offered by lay people.

On return to the temple, temple boys prepares food for the monks and novices. As a religious rule, monks are not allowed to eat food unless it is presented by a lay person. This excludes water and liquids. After the monks finish eating, temple boys will keep some food the monks for their second meal which must take place before midday. However, if some monks for the Buddhist precepts strictly, they will eat only one meal a day. The leftovers are eaten by the temple boys as it is considered a sin for lay people to eat before monks and novices. After midday, the only food consumed by monks and novices is liquid like water or pasteurized milk.

A temple boy undertakes work of a housemaid in a temple. The only difference is that the temple boy is not paid for the work. A temple boy gets free food, accommodation and merit in exchange for work. Mostly poor farmer families send their boys to the temple to live temple boys. It is their way of ensuring that their sons gets free food and accommodation. However, there have been cases when boys from affluent families live in temple compounds.

Life of temple boy in a village can be difficult when the farmers in the village are poor. As a result the food offered to monks would be extremely limited and it is quite common for little food to be left over for the temple boys after monks and novices finish eating.