PHITSANULOK — For the New Year celebrations, a Buddhist temple offering religious rituals would be the last place many youngsters will go to spend their holiday time. But one has taken a bold new step to appeal to the young: cash and a brand new iPhone 6.
Wat Ratchaburana in tambon Nai Muang, a well-known monastry in Phitsanulok, organises a merit-making fair every New Year. This year, for the first time, it will give away 300,000 baht in cash and five iPhone 6 series mobiles.
“It [the iPhone 6 giveaway] is a temple stratagy to draw in youth to make merit, listen to sermons, listen to the Dhamma - allow the Dhamma to purify their minds,” abbot Phra Kru Sitthi Dhamma Wipas said.
Phra Kru Sitthi Dhamma Wipas: iPhone 6 lure for youth to listen to the Dhamma.
“The usual invitation for new generation kids [to go to the wat] may not be of interest to them anymore. So we think that offering the latest iPhone series will motivate them. We believe after young people hear about this campaign, many will show up,” he said.
Phra Kru Sitthi Dhamma said this year’s annual New Year temple fair will last nine nights from Dec 27 to Jan 4, and will feature merit-making activities and religious rituals. But the special highlight will be an ordination ceremony of the temple’s caretaker, Weerayuth Potassa, on Dec 9, when a giveaway of 300,000 baht in cash and the iPhone 6 models takes place.
Mr Weera’s family is sponsoring half of the cash and all the iPhone 6 devices. The temple will contribute the other half of the donation money.
During Mr Weera’s ordination, banknotes from 20 baht to 1,000 baht will be given to participants in the form of proy tarn, five of which contain tickets for iPhone prizes. The giveaways will be held twice: one in the morning session and the other in the afternoon.
Proy tarn is the term used for when the host of a Buddhist monk ordination throws money, mostly coins, in the air and allows guests to grab them. The practice is meant to be in the form of an offering.