A large section of Thai society is lapping them up and actively engaging in the frenzied speculation in the charms which has sent the prices of Jatukam skyrocketing. In the meantime, no one is getting any wiser or having any better an understanding of the essence of the Buddha's teachings, which emphasise the search for a sense of detachment from worldly temptations.

Preecha Kantiya, director-general of the Religious Affairs Department, said his department could not stop temples from manufacturing and distributing Jatukam Ramathep amulets to the public. He was being as honest as he was realistic about the entire situation. It is beyond his power to ask the abbots of Buddhist temples throughout the country to give up this lucrative fund-raising gimmick, which has become a big business generating billions of baht every year.

What is happening now is that the fad for amulets bearing the images of Buddha, which used to make tonnes of money for Buddhist temples in this country, has given way to the newer, previously unheard of Hindu deity.

The Sangha Supreme Council, the governing body of Thai Buddhist monks, has clearly stated that Buddha amulets and all other talismans can be produced and distributed as mementoes or tokens of appreciation for merit-making or for cash donations to temples. The Sangha made it clear, however, that Buddhist monks are not supposed to be involved in the business of selling amulets or charms or to boast about the supernatural powers of those items to promote sales.

The Council warned that any Buddhist monk found to have engaged in the commercialisation of amulets or to have made false claims about their supernatural powers, will be subjected to the severest disciplinary action. Despite this, very few Buddhist monks practising black magic or making profits from the sale of amulets have ever been punished.

Even now many Buddhist temples continue to discreetly promote the idea that owning Jatukam amulets brings many benefits. The belief that the amulets have magical powers that protect their owners and bring them good luck is so widely held by so many people that it is no longer necessary for temples to spell it out to them.

The first batch of Jatukam amulets was introduced with little fanfare in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat some 20 years ago. The original creator of the amulets was a highly respected and honest police officer in Nakhon Si Thammarat who was reputed to possess occult knowledge.

With the Religious Affairs Department and the Sangha Supreme Council taking a half-hearted approach, not discouraging the trade but choosing to maintain the status quo, the trade in Jatukam amulets will probably continue unabated. Of course people will choose to believe what they want to believe, but Buddhist temples that are supposed to be devoted to the study of the Buddha's teachings and spreading that wisdom to as many people as possible, should refrain from preying on the impressionable masses.

Anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of the Buddha's teachings should realise that; we would have thought that learned abbots and Buddhist monks running temples or houses of dharma would know better than to turn them into little more than amulet trading houses.