Ascetics in ancient India received alms in various ways: many used bare hands, others water jugs. Some went further receiving and eating alms from the ground. In extreme cases, they roamed naked using human skulls to house these essentials.
The ‘Enlightened One’ directed the Sangha to use bowls, and these bowls to be made of iron or clay. He specifically forbade glass, silver and gold. Buddhist monks were to receive alms in these bowls and nothing else. Thus the middle path becomes apparent in many practical and philosophical ways.
Two thousand five hundred years later, the middle way is still present in the alms bowl representing one of the most durable traditions known.
Baat (Batre) Phra
“A plain metal bowl with a rounded bottom, sometimes with simple gold-painted designs around the rim. The shape of the bowl is supposedly modeled after a simple clay bowl carried by the Lord Buddha.”
William Warren, Arts & Crafts Guru of Thailand
Making the Thai Baat
The current Baat making tradition extends from ancient Ayutthaya (Capital of Thailand, prior to Bangkok - Krueng-Thep) during its reign as the seat of Thai power. It is said that in this place and time, some five hundred years ago, that this distinctive Thai culture melded from the many surrounding elements. Cause enough in modern times, for the Ayutthaya ruins to be officially classified a ‘UN World Heritage Site’.
At present, there is only a fraction of these Baat Bowls being manufactured the traditional way. That’s not to say their use has subsided, quite the contrary, Thailand ’s increasingly large demand for these bowls has spawned the use of production-line/machine manufacturing.
Production, by hand, of these beautiful and practical bowls involves cutting pieces from large steel sheets and hammering them into a bowl form/shape. Copper filings and solder are added to the joints which are fused in open wood-fire pits. More hammering removes flaking crust and gets the Baat into its correct shape. Touching-up and sanding prepares the bowl for its finishing coats of lacquer and paint, followed by a good grilling over fiery clay pots. The process takes three whole days, involves at least three talented craftsmen and women, and the average production rate is one bowl per day.
Monk’s Bowl
My GallerAsia has been assured that nothing like it can be found elsewhere in the world. With each bowl produced, a background story will be provided, including both modern and historic contexts for this remarkable tradition. No special requests or design modifications have been made; these bowls represent, in exactness, what the monastic community requests and receives; they are the very same bowls.
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