Buddhist tattoos gaining popularity in Singapore

[Richard Barrow]

Buddhist tattoos gaining popularity in Singapore
Updated at: 0850 PST, Sunday, February 14, 2010
www.thenews.com.pk

Instead, the 35-year-old company executive asked a professional tattooist to ink on his back a "sak yant" religious symbol which he hoped would bring him wealth and happiness.

"I'm a Buddhist, and the scriptures that are being tattooed on my back will give me some protection," he said as he prepared to go under a needle wielded by a visiting Thai expert.

The sak yant form of tattooing originated in Thailand and is gaining popularity in Singapore, a predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state with a strong Buddhist and Taoist tradition.

Sak yant tattoos, mainly inscriptions of religious texts and animals as well as deity figures, are believed by Buddhists to bring good fortune, courage and self-confidence.

It is Loke's second sak yant tattoo and sits beneath a dragon surrounded by lines of Buddhist text.

Tattoos have come a long way in Singapore. Once associated with gangsters, they are now widely used as expressions of individuality, fashion statements or invitations to divine assistance.

Willie Heng, sales executive of Fo Guang Hang, a company specialising in sak yant tattooing, welcomed the growing acceptance of the practice.

"Sak yant is now widely embraced by the general population because of people's need for a form of spiritual support, aided by the social acceptance of tattoos," he told media at a recent tattoo convention in Singapore.

[leslien303]

the tatts are symbols giving meaning to people

[yy]

I once accompanied my then-boyfriend to Wat Bang Phra to get his invisible (and also visible) tattoo scriptures done there... Pretty creative of the temple to think of invisible tattoos for the convenience of those who for some reasons cannot have their tattoo scriptures too obvious on the skin.

Mmm, come to think of it, wondering what sort of ink they used for the invisible tattoos, or is is even ink at all...

[GVMA]

It is made from a few different things, but mainly coconut oil. Supposedly more effective than the ink sakyant...

[Jasonkoh82]

Hmm..I was wondering if the tattoos are invisible, how would a person be able to know where is the area of the tattoos being done? And also coconut oil in which area being more effective than ink sakyant?

[yy]

It is made from a few different things, but mainly coconut oil. Supposedly more effective than the ink sakyant...

Thanks, that answers my puzzle for so long It sounds like pretty natural ingredients, wonderful...

[luangtom]

The web-site - www.sak-yant.com - will give indepth explanations for all of this.

[yy]

Thanks, the link is very helpful - I just had a glance and will read through it thoroughly tonight when home Cheerios

[Jasonkoh82]

Yeap agreeable and nowadays tattoos are not like the olden days which crave on right side for green dragon and left side for white tiger...