[AccusaJalsBub]

On my first visit to Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn, on the Chao Praya River). I stopped in the Bote (the main, small worship hall). The monk motioned for me to come close to him, and then he proceeded to flick water at me with some bundled sticks that apparently are used for that purpose, and he did some chanting. He then tied a white string onto one of my wrists.

Afterward, I was listening to a young monk at the temple who was explaining in English about Buddhism, and answering any questions being put forth by the tourists. I pointed to the string on my wrist, and asked him about its significance.

"Oh", he said, "that's superstitious nonsense which really has nothing at all to do with the teachings of the Buddha."

I smiled, and he returned my smile. Few other words would have convinced me to want to leave the string tied to my wrist. Not only did I laugh every time I looked at it after that, but I realized that it's up to me personally to define the significance of the string.