A Thai male who has reached the age of twenty can become a monk. Although men can enter the monkhood at any time of the year, it is customary for them to be ordained some time before the Buddhist Lent and remain monks until the rain retreat has ended so that they may have enough time to study the religion and become fully spiritually developed.
A man who has decided to enter the monkhood must be granted permission from his parents. If he works for the government, a certificate of permission must be obtained. He then goes to his senior relatives and friends with flowers, incense sticks and candles to pay formal respect, to inform them of his decision and to ask for forgiveness for what he might have done wrong, either intentionally or unintentionally, toward them. Nowadays, a card specifying the date and place where the ceremony will be performed are sent to relatives and friends. Words asking for forgiveness are also stated in the card.
A month or so before the ordination, he has to go to the temple or even stay as a layman in the temple to train himself for the ordination because he has to speak the language of the scriptures during the ceremony.
The ritual starts when relatives and friends gather at the pointed time either at the temple or the home of the candidate for ordination and help cut his hair. Later, the candidate has his hair, eyebrows and moustache shaved and is dressed in white.
The ordination ceremony is performed in front of an assemble of at least ten senior monks in the main chapel or the Ubosot at an auspicious time. Before entering the main chapel, the candidate, with three lotuses between his palms, walks clockwise three time around the building. He is normally accompanied by his parents, relatives and friends. Then he worships a boundary stone in front of the building with the three lotuses. During this ritual, the candidate for ordination is advised to concentrate his mind on the Buddha and the benevolence of the Buddha’s teaching. Right before entering the main chapel, he throws gifts of coins to make merit. These coins used to be intended for the poor but nowadays people who attend the ceremony collect them as a souvenir. Upon entering the ordination hall, or the main chapel, the candidate is not allowed to walk, but is usually carried by two men, for fear that he might turn around and change his mind.
In the ordination hall, the candidate sits in front of an assemble of senior monks. A monk by whom he is to be ordained asks him questions in the Pali language, which is the language of the scriptures, to find out if he is qualified to enter the monkhood. Some of these questions are :
Are you a human being?
Are you in debt?
Do you have your parents’ consent to enter the monkhood?
Do you suffer from an incurable disease?
Do you have the necessary articles to live as a monk?
At this point of time, the candidate is still called a nag in Thai. The word nag comes from naga in Sanskrit meaning a mythological serpent. Legend has it that once a naga was so impressed with the Buddha’s teaching that, by magical power, he changed himself into a young man and become ordained as a Buddhist monk. One day while he was sleeping soundly, he automatically changed back into a naga. When the Buddha was informed about this, the serpent monk had to relinguish his monkhood because no other creatures except human beings could be ordained. From then on, one has to be asked if he is a human being during the ordination ceremony. In memory of the serpent monk, the word nag has since then been used for candidates for the monkhood.
If all answers are satisfactory, he is first accepted as a novice. Then he goes out to dress himself in the saffron robe, usually with the help of two monks, and come back to the assembly of monks. Ritually, he has to ask the senior monks if he can join their brotherhood. Questions concerning his status as a free and healthy human being are asked again. If the answer are satisfactory, he is then ordained as a monk.