A Buddhist temple in Thailand is offering the ultimate in soul cleansing rituals–rebirth.

Customers lay in a coffin while a Buddhist monk recites a dirge. The monks then tell the visitors to emerge from the coffin, having supposedly cleansed them of past sins. The visitors are then metaphorically reborn and ready to start fresh, in just a minute and a half.

All of this comes at a price of course; 180 baht, equal to about $5. Entrepreneurial monks are complaining about the state of the economy, which is the reason behind their charging money for the ceremonies.

Temples are starting to sell goods along with services, amulets and good luck charms run customers from 50 baht upward. Sometimes, monks auction off “limited edition” amulets to customers visiting the temple.

Doesn’t all this take away from the degree of spirituality in the temple?

I know they need money to keep the place running and all that, that’s fine. But paying for a ceremony that supposedly cleanses your soul probably shouldn’t have a price tag attached to it.

Paying for the amulets is fine, they are charms, people expect to pay for those, I’d pay for an amulet from a Buddhist temple in Thailand in a second.

It just seems like paying for the ritual would take some of the authenticity out of it. I know it doesn’t technically, but if it were me having my soul cleansed, I’d feel like it was a service more than a religious ceremony.

About The Author

Sachin Seth is the Blast Magazine world news reporter. He writes the Terra blog. You can visit his website at http://sachinseth.com or follow him on twitter @sachinseth

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