Following the first Sermon: Asalha Puja during the epidemic

During this Asalha Puja, one monk takes off his saffron and wears a PPE suit in search of Covid-19 patients in blocks and corners of the capital of Bangkok to deliver help at his best following the first Sermon delivered thousands of years by the Lord Buddha. As he said, Dharma is not just in words, but in action

In normal times, Phramaha Phromphong Kainno, an assistant abbot of Wat Sutthi Wararam in Sathorn district, would prepare himself to attend one of the most important Buddhist Days, Asalha Puja, as it is the day on which Lord Buddha delivered his first Sermon or Dhammachakkappavattanasutr which revealed the four noble truths of life leading to the Nirvana, the Tri Gem, and the birth of the first disciple. Rituals and sermons would be performed under candlelights lit around the temple from dusk till late of the night to commemorate the day, but this year is very different.

Instead of chanting the sermons back and forth at the temple, the senior monk just equipped himself with a PPE suit_and alcohol, venturing out into communities nearby to try to locate Covid-19 patients, hopefully, to deliver initial assistance to those patients and their families, and if possible, to get them to a community isolation centre set up inside the temple.

Phramaha Phromphong said it’s the duty of the Lord Buddha’s disciples to help get people out of suffering, bringing the four noble truths to real lives.

“In normal times, we would perform Buddhist rituals and chant sermons to lead people the way, but during this suffering time, we can do this by action too,” said the assistant abbot.

Bangkok has been the epicentre of the epidemic since the third wave of the outbreak that began in late March. The situation is dampened by the Delta variant, which has triggered a widespread outbreak in the city and nationwide due to its fast-spreading nature. So far, over 110,000 patients alone are in Bangkok_many of them are left strained in their communities due to their poor social settings and environment.

Phramaha Phromphong recalled how suffering one Covid-19 infected family had endured. Despite being sick, their landlord tried to chase them out of the tenured land and residence because of fear of Covid-19 infection. As a monk in the community, the assistant abbot got in between to help settle the dispute. While he managed to help settle this case, the monk said there were a lot more that he couldn’t.

“As human beings, we must share the suffering and take care of one another to help one another get through a hard time. If I can’t do anything better for them, what I usually do at least is finding and delivering them food and other necessities. At least they can feel they have someone to count on. In Buddhism, this is called compassion that would help soothe human’s souls and get on with the truth of life,” said the monk.

During this merit-making period of time, Phramaha Phromphong often wears the PPE instead of saffron and leads his assistants as well as community rescue teams to venture into communities to try to reach Covid-19 patients and their families to help them at their best before the state’s help arrives.

Instructed by his abbot, Phra Sutheerattanabundit, the monk has also turned a Buddhism learning building in the temple into a community isolation centre to receive those who cannot isolate or quarantine themselves at home due to their social settings and environment. Having received support from the Thai Red Cross Society and nearby Charoenkrung Pracharak Hospital. the building can provide over 100 beds for them. The monk calls the temple’s initiative; “Phra Mai Ting Yom” (Monks won’t leave you (in suffering)).

So far, concerned authorities have been in contact with community leaders like temples to try to get their support for the state’s programs to fight with Covid-19. Several more temples have agreed to provide similar facilities to the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to support the state’s community isolation program too.

According to the BMA, it will try to set up one community isolation centre per district in the capital by the end of this month or early August, and several of them would be in temples in communities. These could help double the number of current beds in such centres, which are around 3,400_hopefully, to help ease the pain and suffering of many residents of Bangkok, who are left strained and waiting for someone to guide the way in some blocks and corners of this capital during this epidemic of Covid-19.

The community isolation centre is set up in a Buddhism learning building in Wat Sutthi Wararam to provide care for “Green” Covid-19 patients, who cannot isolate or quarantine themselves at home due to their strained settings and environment. Each floor will be separated to help take them until full.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

The monks and followers of the temple help set up the centre in the building under the supervision of public health officials. Plastic sheets are used to help separate the zones and keep them free from the virus.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Medical workers from the Thai Red Cross Society and Charoenkrung Pracharak Hospital are deployed to give advice to new patients. Several of these patients are the elderly who have to learn how to use various devices to take care of themselves while being sick such as a blood pressure monitor device, a temperature checker, and so on. There is only advice instructed to them through the plastic sheet.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Phramaha Phromphong Kainno, Wat Sutthi Wararam’s assistant abbot, wears a PPE suit sophisticatedly before he ventures into communities nearby, where some residents are infected with Covid-19 and need help.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

The volunteers at the temple venture along with the monk to help conduct rapid testing on residents in the communities and provide them with initial assistance as needed.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

One family in the community near the temple with members being infected with the virus. They try to isolate and quarantine themselves at home using a plastic sheet separating them from people outside. Uninfected family members are the ones who take care of them while being sick. Home isolation would be realistic for those who can afford it, but not for this family.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

A resident in the community where the team pays a visit dresses in a thin plastic raincoat and sprays it with alcohol as a means to protect himself from the disease, regardless of how haphazard it is.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Sometimes, Phramaha Phromphong undertakes initial heath checks for residents by himself to help screen patients out of their family members, while providing them with initial assistance as needed.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Several patients in the communities are left strained due to their poor social settings and environment. In a picture is a senior resident who can hardly help himself and has to rely on an oxygen cylinder to breathe. Beside him is his nephew, who kills time on a mobile phone as she cannot maintain a distance from her grandpa.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

In a cramped community, residents walk past one another narrowly without knowing who would already have been infected with the virus. Phramaha Phromphong and the temple’s volunteers try to reach as many residents as possible to help screen them.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Months before, tents set up outside could be for Covid-19 patients, but now things turn the other way around. Many uninfected family members have to leave their homes and stay outside in tents instead to keep themselves safe as their Covid-19 infected family members conduct self-isolation at home.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

The volunteers venture into the communities with Phramaha Phromphong. Some of them have not been inoculated with Covid-19 vaccines yet despite regular contact with Covid-19 patients. They said they have not got a queue for the inoculation.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

These are rented apartments occupied by migrant workers in the deep sois of the communities, and they are relatively unhygienic and cramped. The renters of the rooms cannot access the state’s medical services as they are undocumented.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

A migrant worker who has been infected with Covid-19 isolates and quarantines himself in his cramped room and he cannot reach the state’s help.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Several rented apartments in the capital’s blocks and corners or deep sois somewhere are for rent for migrant workers. Many of them are undocumented and wait for the state’s help during this widespread infection.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

A grocery shop owner in the community near the temple tries to protect himself and family members at best by sealing the shop with a plastic sheet and posting a hand-writing sign in front of his shop urging customers to wear a mask when coming to his shop.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

A PPE suit should not be worn overtime and this is an instruction that medical workers must comply with. However, the staff at Wat Sutthi Wararam, often wear PPE suits overtime due to workloads in communities.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Phramaha Phromphong checks the location of family members who have phoned him for help, despite it’s already dusk.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Phramaha Phromphong replies to every missed call, over 20, left on his phone while being on the way to the destination. He says he tries to answer all of them so that they will not feel abandoned, although some cases may be beyond his ability to help.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

On the night of Asalha Puja, Phramaha Phromphong has got back from his venture in communities nearby, clean himself, take some rest, and pray quietly in the temple, the last mission before ending his Asalha Puja Day during Covid-19.
Photo: Sayan Chuenudomsavad

Sayan Chuenudomsavad

A documentary photographer residing in Bangkok, Thailand. Immersive and vibrant, his images capture and tell stories of everyday people living alongside the challenges of development, environment, and social changes in the Mekong region.