*Note: I was traveling through Thailand in 2013-2014, this experience is from a number of years ago.
It’s hot. Unbearably so. The burning incense only adds to the heat. In the small room off the beaten path in Ayutthaya there is no breeze to speak of. But at this particular moment in time, the heat is the last thing I’m thinking about. Instead, I’m transfixed as I watch my friend get a Sak Yant tattoo. She sits, perfectly still as it gets hand tapped into her side with a long needle. Afterward the tattoo is blessed and she makes an offering to the Buddha statue in the room. The whole process takes around 20 minutes and It’s beautiful to witness. I wasn’t planning on getting a tattoo, but after watching this, I want one.
I quickly settle on a design that, according to the tattoo book, is supposed to draw good people to me — It’s not until later that I learn that Yant is derived from Yantra, which is a type of mystical design and believed to bestow mystical powers. I lay flat on my back waiting for the first poke of the needle, expecting it to hurt a bit more than a “traditional” tattoo. But the prick is surprisingly painless and the artist is truly a master. Foregoing the traditional stencil placement of the design, a few horizontal and vertical lines are placed as mere references to the alignment of the tattoo.
The tattooing is over before I realize it and I sit as the tattoo is blessed. While I give my offering to Buddha, I’m overcome with a sense of tranquility, it doesn’t last long but it is intense.