Phra Farang [Import] [Paperback]

Phra Peter Pannapadipo (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: ARROW (RAND); New Ed edition (2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0099484471
• ISBN-13: 978-0099484479
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 0.8 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,166,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, but not much about Buddhism, September 2, 2002

By 

Ixus "radion" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phra Farang: An English Monk in Thailand (Paperback)

I didn't actually buy this book since I'm a Buddhist (born as a Buddhist). A friend of mine had purchased this book when she was in Thailand and I had the chance to read the book. This book is more of an experience of an English Businessman who had taken a spiritual path in Buddhism. Mostly the experiences were culture shock and the mentality difference. This is a great book though. The author has a great sense of humor. If you had ever been to Thailand, you would understand most of the conflicts and the irony of the events - I just had to laugh with the authors comments. This book also gives westerners a blend of western ideas vs Buddhism. If you are expecting to learn some spiritual ideas or teachings of Buddhism, this is not quite the book. This is a book to let others who had never understood what Buddhism actually is, to get a feel of it. I gave this 5 stars since I am looking this from an outsider and I find this to be a soft and humourous method to let people understand Buddhism. There are some good insights and allows you to understand what monks do, what meditation is like, etc. The laughs were already worth buying it!!
Just to let you know, the profit of the book goes to a fund for children who have what it takes to get higher education, but are not financially supported. Since the author lives in a remote village in Thailand, Phra Peter is mostly involved with helping these children to have a brighter future. So, just consider that you are also making a donation when you buy the book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A True Gem in the Rough: To be or Not to be a Monk, October 25, 2002

By 

Edwin Ollikkala (Singapore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Phra Farang: An English Monk in Thailand (Paperback)

Phra Peter has taken the time and effort to enlighten us about the inside world of Buddhist monks as they practice in Thailand and England. He shares the outer and some of the inner details of his passage from public personality to respected (and oft times ridiculed) White Foreigner in Orange Robes that keep falling down.

Phra Pannapadipo's exploits, as he makes his way in and out of various circles of influence are both comical and dead serious as fate has presented him with numerous exciting and totally unexpected twists at every corner.

This is also an excellent guide to many aspects of Thai culture as well as thorough documentation of religious practices and theology today in one of Southeast Asia's most exotic countries.

A rare find, any of the author's books is a true gem in the rough to be treasured by seekers of any orientation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great little book about religious life in Thailand, November 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Phra Farang: An English Monk in Thailand (Paperback)

Peter is the middle-aged, successful businessman from England who gives up his accustomed life to dress in a robe, live off alms, and make do without any material comforts as a Buddhist monk in Thailand. And not just for a few weeks, tourist-style, but for life.

Unexpected problems arise. While in a Bangkok temple, Peter feels isolated as the other monks get jealous. A white man in an orange robe being a novelty to abbots and lay people alike, Peter gets invited to ceremonies and blessings an masse. When he learns the other monks, who refuse to speak to him, have nicknamed him "the star monk", he decides to leave.

In a smaller, upcountry temple he finds peace. Monk Peter deepens his studies of Buddhism and his meditation, gradually gaining calm and insight. Self-control, the goal of a purified mind, seems within reach. Then suddenly, when seeing another monk harassing a dog, Peter loses all restraint and physically attacks the other monk - an act of uncontrolled rage he has not experienced since childhood.

Peter also begins having reservations about the way Buddhism is practised - blessing motorbikes and chasing evil spirits away isn't in line with the teachings. And then there is the money-side of things. The reality of the often corrupt, double-faced Thailand, where things are never quite what they seem, is building.

The monks form a strictly regulated hierarchy. If someone de-robes, if only for a few days, he will lose his accumulated seniority. Peter competes in meditation, chanting, and text studies, both with other monks and himself. The respect and gratitude lay people show a monk is addictive. Monk Peter glows in his new, elevated role, but then gets a sense of deja vue. Vanity, he realises, did not stop at the gates of the temple.