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Tort, Custom, and Karma

Stanford University Press

Contents

Illustrations......................................................ixAcknowledgments....................................................xiNote on Romanization of Thai Words and Phrases.....................xvIntroduction.......................................................11 Buajan's Injury Narrative........................................212 Chiangmai: A History of Globalizations...........................333 State Law and the Law of Sacred Centers..........................474 Injury Practices in a Transformed Society........................775 Litigation.......................................................956 Justice..........................................................1237 Ming's Injury Narrative..........................................140Conclusion.........................................................153Notes..............................................................165Glossary of Thai Words and Phrases.................................173Names of Injury Victims Referenced in Text.........................175Bibliography.......................................................177Index..............................................................185

Chapter One

A BIRD CHITTERS IN THE TREE at the end of the lane. It is late afternoon, and mosquitoes begin to venture out of the shrubs. Buajan's yard abuts a tall fence with a locked gate. Just beyond the gate we can see the wooded area of a park, formerly the graveyard of a now non-existent temple. Spirits from the graveyard may be listening and could be offended by the things we say, but Buajan must speak honestly with us about her beliefs and experiences: "I wouldn't dare to lie about these things. I'm afraid. I fear sacred things the most."

Buajan was born in a farming village in the neighboring province of Lamphun. She attended primary school in her village and completed the fifth grade before moving to the city of Chiangmai. There she continued her studies through the tenth grade, and there she remained to work as a sales clerk, a cleaner, a launderer, and a cook. She married a native of Chiangmai who is a handyman at a university, and they have two children. Thirty-nine years old at the time of our interview in 1999 and employed on the kitchen staff at a hotel, Buajan struggles to survive Thailand's economic crisis. She earns only 3,000 baht per month, which was about $75 at the time of our interview. Buajan describes a recent past filled with setbacks and crises. Of these, the most vivid is the accident that broke her leg and almost took her life.

The Accident

I had just taken my children to school. I drove past Wat Lampoeng, where there's a roadside stand that sells pork. I decided to stop and buy some pork. After I paid for it ... I was just waiting.... This old man, this "Uncle", had ... parked his car right there, and he began to back up, back, back, back. When he got to the end of the path, he didn't go straight ahead. Instead, he lurched toward me. There was a small child [in a stroller] in his way, and the car was backing into the child, and I went to save him ... Just then the father pulled the boy away by his arm, but I couldn't get out of the way in time. It was a really big car. I was right here. The car ran into the stroller and went on to smash into a longan tree just behind me and then it bounced off it again. He ran into me. One of my legs was bent and the other was sticking out like this. The car ran right over me and came to a stop, and then it ran over me again.

The roof of the pork stand was collapsing. It was made of corrugated zinc. It would have crushed my neck, but luckily I was wearing a crash helmet so I could push it away. I was conscious. I was able to push it off, but I was really shocked. It was a good thing there was no blood at all, even though my leg was so badly hurt. You can imagine what it was like before the surgery. The driver was shocked, too. If he had seen blood, the guy who hit me, he probably would have died. After they brought me to the hospital, he had to be admitted himself at another hospital. He was an old man, you know? I felt sorry for him....

He said he had no feeling, it was as if someone [Buajan is referring to a ghost] was pushing his car. That's what he told me. At the corner of that shop, there had been fatal accidents. Three or four children had been killed.... The pork shop is near a mango tree, which is where I was standing. And near the mango tree, a lot of people had died [indicating the presence of a ghost].

After he hit me he just sat in his car in a state of shock. The villagers took me to the hospital.... They put on a splint for support, because the bones were broken, both of them.... Later the old man came to see me one time. He came and said something like, "You don't have to report this, right? I'll take care of things. I'll pay all your expenses." ... Then he just disappeared. His son came to visit me when I had my surgery. He came, but he didn't say much. He just visited and brought me a gift. He came to see me while I was hurting, and then he disappeared.

Buajan's conversation constantly turns to religious interpretations of everyday experiences and to her own daily efforts to give expression to her beliefs. She articulates her spirituality in several different vocabularies. At times she speaks explicitly of Buddhist-related practices, commenting, for example, that she prays to a Buddha image every day. Buajan's conversation is also dominated by references to spirits and ghosts. It is no exaggeration to say that her everyday perceptions and actions revolve around the spirit world. Whenever she visits her family's home in Lamphun, Buajan propitiates the household spirits and the village guardian spirits. These ceremonies are obligatory on special occasions, such as her wedding, the birth of her children, and when members of her family become ill.

Like many interviewees, she says her beliefs in the supernatural are "fifty-fifty." She still believes in traditional practices related to the spirits of northern Thailand, such as healing rituals-although she acknowledges that there have been important new technological developments, especially in medicine, that can benefit her family. Like her parents' generation, Buajan believes that the ghosts around us may attempt to communicate with us. We cannot see them, but they see us. Contact with ghosts can cause people, especially children, to become startled or ill. When this happens, their khwan, or spiritual essence, may be injured or fly out of the body, causing a fever for which the cause cannot be determined (the khwan and its rituals are discussed in Chapter 3). In such cases, it is necessary to make a promise, lighting incense and telling the ghost that if it is the cause of the child's illness the parents will offer it chicken or sweets when it allows the child to recover.

Injuries, therefore, may originate in efforts by ghosts to communicate with humans, and one appropriate response is to perform rituals to propitiate the khwan. The most dangerous contacts involve ghosts of persons who died abnormal or violent deaths....