spirit houses

[joelle]

hello,could someone please enlighten me as to the meaning of two spirit houses, I know the general meaning of one spirit house, but why 2 ???

[PeteC]

I've heard a few different accounts but it usually evolves around a new owner of the property and they simply wanted to put up a new one of their own....but not good to take down an old one.

Another is that someone dies in the house and they put up a separate house for them, to avoid conflicts with the old, existing spirits.

Third is that it's simply decoration for many these days and they use them to accent their landscaping. Pete

[VincentD]

The first is the Sarn Prap-hum(ศาลพระภูมิ), the main spirit house. It is meant for the higher spirits (think angels, heavenly beings, etc..) It will be the higher of the two, mounted on a single central pillar.

The second is the Sala Jao Tee(ศาลเจ้าที่), the place for the resident spirit. The Thais believe that each property has a resident spirit; they need a place to reside, if not they will roam all over the house. The resident spirit(เจ้าที่) could be likened to an 'earth' spirit and needs to be housed seperately from the first. This spirit house will typically be on a lower level, has four to six pillars along the sides, and will have a ladder leading up from the ground.

There may also be another platform (or two) in front of these spirit houses; these are so that joss sticks, candles and offerings can be placed here for the spirits.

Pete
certainly not for landscaping! You need a Brahmin priest to come and install the spirit houses; likewise to uninstall the old ones. (Picking them up and disposing of them without a ceremony is seen as inviting bad karma...)

[Big Boy]

Well done VincentD - that describes exactly the setup my next door neighbour has. I thought she was simply showing off her wealth with the extra bits.

[PeteC]

That's good, I didn't know all of that. By the heaps of broken ones piled by the sides of many roads I guess some Thais just toss them for one reason or another. They're not there as a memorial to some big accident, just dumped, and the piles grow as time goes by. A Thai friend of mine sent me a real nice wooden one for my house in Hawaii. It's still there, installed in a garden under a tree where I put it. Maybe best I moved as all spirit hell may be breaking loose there if I put it in the wrong place. The wife doesn't want one here and strangely enough there are none in the entire development which is 80% Thai owned.

I told a story on here years ago that bones were found in a section of the development belonging to Vietnamese who passed away when this place was a refugee camp after the mass arrival of planes from Vietnam to U-Tapao in 1975. I think there is some fear that there are spirits all over this place and people don't really want to house them. Pete

[VincentD]

Pete,
the ones you see by the side of the road have typically been 'uninstalled' by a Brahmin priest. I understand that they do have places to deposit these, typically temple grounds, but I suspect if enough people 'start' a depository somewhere convenient, it tends to grow. The custom is to also leave some coins with the old spirit houses for 'rent'.

The wooden ones are nice, typically teak. If you haven't had it installed by a Brahmin priest(as in your case), then it's for decoration. No problem with that. It is only when someone has had it installed (and consecrated) for that specific purpose that it becomes significant. Obviously the person commissioning the installation will also be responsible for it's upkeep.

As you live on a development, there will be one spirit house typically located at the entrance of the main gate. This is where the 80% of the Thai residents go to make their offerings. It may be of a different design, as the open-sided (all four corners) style is called Sarn Pra Brahm, and will house a likeness of the Lord Brahma with four faces. This is typically the type you will see outside places of business. The Erawan Shrine in the center of Bangkok is in this style.

[Spitfire]

I also hear that you need to have a spirit house that's 'on par' or the equivalent to the type of building on the land, so that's why big hotels/estates have really nice ones and not small spirit houses as it means the spirits will be happy in them and not move into your building.......and must be properly maintained or that also can invite bad karma if the spirits aren't 'sweet' in them.

Interestingly, spirit houses are really from the Hinduism influence in Buddhism.

I have also heard that these impromptu depositories on the sides of the roads can be the sites of many accidents.

[joelle]

great explanation thank you very much VincentD :-)

[TingTongJohn]

Is it not also true that if you build an addition to your home your supposed to buy a bigger spirit house and the old house has to go and be placed bya certain type of tree?

[VincentD]

Is it not also true that if you build an addition to your home your supposed to buy a bigger spirit house

No.

and the old house has to go and be placed bya certain type of tree?

See other post about moving the spirit house.