Alms bowls used by the Buddhist monk, which they carry around to collect offerings of food. Here one is in its simple form and the other is decorated in cloth with a basket attached to a strap to hold it, which the monks use to carry it around slung over their shoulder.

For over two hundred years, secluded in the historic Rattanakosin Island of Bangkok, lives a small community of Buddhist monk alms bowl makers.  They held on to the traditional art of hand making the bowls according to Buddhist disciplinary rules.  After the Ayutthaya Kingdom’s fall when the Burmese invaded it in the eighteenth century, Bangkok became the new capital. During development, many temples were built and monks migrated to the new city. King Rama 1 then allocated three areas solely for making the monk’s alms bowls, but today only one remains, which is the community know as Ban Bat (pronounced as Bart).

Every day monks, young and old, make their early morning alms collection, mostly of prepared food that they eat when returning to the temple. People look out for the monks from their homes, markets or certain places where they know monks usually pass to make their offerings. They put food in the bowls that the monks carry. The monks then chant a blessing before moving on. Giving plays an important part in developing spirituality among Buddhist people and the alms bowl is very symbolic of this.

Joy files a bowl to smoothen the surface before applying a lacquer finish. A robe protects her skin from the steel filings and is made of silk as the filings do not stick to it.

The Ban Bat-Family Community.

In the 1970s, the Religious Affairs department allowed monks to use factory-made bowls. It quickly dominated the market due to its cheaper cost and caused many Ban Bat community artisans to seek different jobs.  Only a few families had remained in the trade. One, in particular, is the family of Mayuree Serseeserm, more commonly known as Lady Gai (chicken). She is a fourth-generation alms bowl maker who started to work at age 12 and learned the craft from helping her parents.

Alms bowl maker named Lady Gai (chicken) applies oil to a finished bowl. Here you can see the melted copper along the joined areas.

A group or family usually makes the alms bowls. Everyone specialises in a particular part of the process and this increases production. So, for example, it will take one person two to three days to make one bowl. If eight people were involved in a task, eight bowls could be made in one day. This is the equivalent of one bowl a day per person versus two or three days.  Lady Gai’s core group is made up mostly of women. Included are her sister Noo (rat), her daughter Ann, Joy and a gentleman named Amon, who grew up with them in the community. Ann will do the cutting and shaping of the steel pieces, Lady Gai will make the ring for the top and join the pieces together, Amon does only the welding or tacking the steel pieces together, and Joy does the filing.  Sister Noo will spend most of her time carrying the incomplete bowls from one house to the other for different stages of the process. This is because the homes in Ban Bat are very tiny and there is not enough room for everyone to work in the same area. Everyone is involved in the hammering and shaping of the bowls, but some only perform this task.

The homes and passageways in Ban Bat are very tiny, with only enough room for a scooter to pass through. Shaped like a labyrinth, you can easily get lost if walking inside for the first time.

A map, drawn to scale showing the layout of the houses and passageways that make up Ban Bat.

The Alms Bowl Making Process

The bowls are made traditionally by hand in twenty-one steps using eight pieces of steel. Starting with the main ring and a cross shape made from one long and two short pieces. The cross is then bent and shaped to join the ring.  The pieces are joined together by interlocking serrations on the edges previously cut during preparation. The joined serrations are then hammered together for a tight hold.  A paste containing copper filings, ashes from paper and herbal water extract are mixed and applied to the joined areas. The bowls with the applied paste are then placed in a fire. This melts the copper, which seals the joined areas, making it watertight.

The bowl is then hammered into its final shape. There are four different styles, with the most popular among the monks being the hua sua or “tiger head”. It has a flat base, but their preference is influenced by its name and not so much by the style. On average, it takes about twenty thousand hammer blows to get the final shape of the bowl. Once this is completed, the bowl is then filed to smoothen the surface before applying a black lacquer finish. Bowls that are sold to tourist or collectors are not filed preserving the dimples made from hammering. Only a clear oil is used so that the craftsmanship can be admired.

The Alms Bowl Making Process. Slide #9

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The alms bowl is then hammered into its desired shape.

Khun Amon tack welding an alms bowl in the doorway of his home.

Ann, Lady Gai’s daughter, inside her home where she cuts and shapes the steel before sending it to her mother (Gai), who will then join them together.

Buddhist monk alms bowl makers of Ban Bat in Bangkok, Thailand.

Por Kru Bat

Located in the middle of the Ban Bat community, a shrine is devoted to the first person to design and make the alms bowl. No one really knows the history of who made the first alms bowl. The story told was that a long time ago, one of the alms bowl makers in Ban Bat had a vision in his dream. He saw a man whom he believed to be the first alms bowl maker. He was inspired to make a small statue symbolic of this person in his dream, which the community now refers to as “Por Kru Bat” (Father and teacher of bat making)

A shrine with Por Pu Kru’s statue that honours the designer and maker of the first alms bowl.

The future of handmade alms bowls.

Will the art of hand-making alms bowls survive? Most likely, it will. Many Thais order handmade bowls and donate them to their local temples. It is a way of making merit and is appreciated by the senior monks. Many monks strictly follow and practice traditional Buddhism and will only use the hand made ones.  A Large number of bowls also come in for repairs from both the factory and temples. Lastly, hand made alms bowls are a work of art and many tourists buy them as souvenirs serving multiple purposes in their homes, both functional and decorative.

A man washing factory-made alms bowls sent to them for repairs. Often the factories would have problems in the manufacturing process which cause dents or holes to form. Temples would also send their bowls for repairs from damages caused by years of use.

Getting to Ban Bat.

The easiest way of finding Ban Bat is first going to Wat Saket, more commonly known as the Golden Mount Temple. Taxis and tuk-tuks will know of this place as it is a popular tourist destination. They may not be familiar with the name Ban Bat if you asked them, so telling them to take you to the Golden Mount Temple would be your best option. Another way is by using the Klong Saen Saep canal boat service. It will take you to its final stop at Phanfa Leelard Pier, next to the Golden Mount Temple. From Phanfa Pier, it is a nine-minute walk past the Golden Mount temple to Ban Bat.