Thailand’s hottest “spiritual” phenomena over the past months, or basically of the year 2023, is not led by a Buddhist monk, but an eight-year-old boy known as “Nong Nice” (Little Brother Nice).
Adults, men and women, flock to offer him money, have him blessed. They also seek to have their inner psychic channel activated and supposedly made directly accessible via live streaming into their heads. Buddhist teachings via Nong Nice, wherein their new spiritual leader, does not have to utter a single word.
Believers and Little Brother Nice say that is how the historical Buddha preached to thousands of disciples at a time without the aid of a hi-fidelity loudspeaker.
To see is to believe. But to this writer, to watch these video clips is to feel sorry for not just these adults, the boy himself, but the Thai educational system. Why bother learning anything about basic science at school when you have Nong Nice to believe in?
Because some of us find life banal, they have to seek something to believe in that is beyond reasoning, that is supernatural – the basic teaching of Buddhism as a philosophy would not do. I would not totally blame them as many Thai Buddhists still believe the historical Buddha, Guatama, once emerging from the womb of his mother, was able to walk seven steps and declared: “I am the chief of the world. Eldest in the world. This is the last birth.”
Good luck if you believe in such an embellished tale that is two thousand and a half millennia old. Well, if you believe in that tale, why not believe in Little Brother Nice who is eight years old? So while I find Nong Nice (and the tale about the Buddha’s birth) not convincing, on the other hand, we want Thailand to be a free society where people have the right to believe and be superstitious for that matter.
So it is a little disturbing this week to see the authorities telling Nong Nice and his parents that his teaching deviates from Buddhism. One of the tales about Nong Nice, a claim made by Nong Nice himself, is that he is an avatar of a great naga (itself a mythical serpent who became a key disciple of the Lord Buddha) and is back here on earth to preach and spread Buddhism not to just Thais but Russians, including war-mongering Russian President Vladimir Putin!
BTW, officials from the National Office of Buddhism also reminded Nong Nice and his parents earlier this week it is not the naga’s job to teach and spread Buddhism. For the meantime, the authorities are keeping an eye on donations made to Nong Nice but are not accusing him and her parents of running a scam yet.
Equally disturbing as seeing worshippers placing belief before logic is the Thai government trying to tell us what to believe and what not to. Also, child rights activists might want to check if Nong Nice qualified as a child labourer, exploited by no less than her parents who furbished all these tales about the boy being different from other kids even when he was in the womb.
For Christ’s or Buddha’s sake, he is just an eight year old boy and deserves a normal childhood and proper horrible Thai education, not delusion.
As much as you cannot stop some Thais to believe some monks, even animals and trees are capable of giving you the latest lucky lottery numbers, Nong Nice phenomena would not be the last superstitious phenomena. One might ask why?
Is it because some of us humans are so weak, life so unpredictable, cruel, and meaningless that we want to believe in something higher, something supernatural and better than us, a miracle beyond our ability to reason?
I have no easy answer, but all I can say is educators should be more concerned about teaching Thai students basic logic and science and less worried that most are not performing well when it comes to English-language proficiency when compared to students from other nations.
But again, this is a society where criticising the monarchy could lead to a heavy prison term of 15 years. Apparently logic has its limits in Thailand.
