Posted by Ben The Man
The Bangnamphung Floating Market started with an old lady paddling her boat along the sleepy khlong selling Thai desserts. Somebody asked how much money she was making every day. She replied: “Sometimes I make money, sometimes I don’t make any money. But money is not important. I am happy paddling along and going from place to place selling desserts. I want the Thai people to taste my desserts. “I don’t want to sell to the falangs ” – foreigners. That was the old lady’s innocent reply. But local authorities encouraged more boats on the same khlong over the weekend so that Bangnamphung could create a floating market. You can enjoy good central Thai food there and buy local gifts at half the price as in Bangkok centre. You can sit and talk to the local people and they will tell you wonderful stories about their lives. In Bangkok downtown they are more under pressure to make money. Which brings us to the question of the purpose of our life, or of our community. Should we live for happiness or should we live to make money?
Photo of an old lady taken at the Bangnamphung Floating Market. She was selling such sweet coconut Thai dessert. This alone made the trip worthwhile. It was interesting to see and buy some local products. All in all, it was a great morning and a great taste of Thai life that most tourist probably won’t experience.
At Bangnamphung the people appear to set their aims at happiness first and money second. Well this is my general point of view. His Majesty the King Bhumibol has been telling Thai people to live a sufficient life and be happy. If you know how to live sufficiently, you will demand less. And if you avoid vices and craving for world’s pleasures (sil), you will have concentration (smathi). If we have concentration, we will have wisdom (panya). This is a great philosophy of life, a living principle of Buddhism. We all have a different role to play in society. But at a certain point in life, we should learn to know when enough is enough, and to live a sufficient life. Once back to Bangkok, you immediately plunge back into the mode of making money, without knowing when enough is enough. Global capitalism is falling apart because of greed. Most financial funds and banks are losing money because they expect unrealistic returns, accompanied by great risk. If nations are to adopt sufficiency economic theory by putting happiness derived from sil, smathi and panya first before sheer greed, we will have a chance of creating a more peaceful world. This is the Thai way of life that has been forgotten and that should be revived. Perhaps this should be the way of the world too?
Tags: