Sak Yant Questions and Experiences - Thai Tattoo and Meaning

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

I thought I'd start a thread here about sak yant. I've had three significant sak yant sessions, and I consider sak yant a spiritual path for me. As such I do get lots of questions online, so maybe it would be good to have an evolving conversation. So here are a few videos and links. Hopefully others can add their experiences or questions here too.

An note about "meanings". A lot of the sak yant meanings are fairly similar, bestowing luck, strength, fortune, though yants are sometimes gendered, and by custom are found among certain kinds walks of life. For instance I've heard that my two backward facing Tigers are favored among members of the police or military. I am by NO means an expert in this, but in many ways looking for the "meaning" is the wrong kind of question. Yants are more like devices, spiritual devices, and the better question may be "What do they do?" 

Firstly: These are all of my blog posts on Sak Yant

My First Sak Yant - Elbow (June, 2013)

and the blog post on the experience.

 

My Second Sak Yant Sangwan Rahu (April, 2014)

and the blog post on the experience

 

My Third Sak Yant Session: Backwards Facing Tigers and Takroh (April, 2015)

and the blog post on the experience

 

This post isn't about me and my sak yants though, but an invitation to discussion and building awareness. As I've stated before, sak yant are not "Muay Thai tattoos", but rather part of a much, much wider Thai Buddhist spiritual syncretic practice of which we as westerners don't really get much more than a glimpse, and don't have easy references to make sense of them. If you'd like to read up on what is unique about modern Thai Buddhism this book is really good: The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk - it isn't focused on sak yant in particular, but explains the nature of Thai Buddhism that brings together Buddhism, Brahmanism, and animism and allows these grounded, real world focus practices to flourish. 

Arjan Pi Bangkating is someone I do consider my spiritual teacher. All my sak yant are from him. He tattoos in Chiang Mai, Rangsit (outside of Bangkok) and Taiwan, and sometimes Singapore. But I did attend also my friend Robyn getting her sak yant in Bangkok from the reputable Arjanneng OnNut, so I have a little cross-reference to other practices, but not much.

[Giulia Caruso]

I've just discovered that Arjan Pi is coming to a tattoo convention in italy in april 2016!

I was thinking about getting a sak yant from him, maybe something for my legs (between knees and veins they're a mess and would really need some support and protection).

 

Thank you for sharing his work and vision, it's very inspiring and I love the "not a pretty thing" approach of sak yants.

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

I've just discovered that Arjan Pi is coming to a tattoo convention in italy in april 2016!

I was thinking about getting a sak yant from him, maybe something for my legs (between knees and veins they're a mess and would really need some support and protection).

 

Thank you for sharing his work and vision, it's very inspiring and I love the "not a pretty thing" approach of sak yants.

Awesome! I hope you get to go meet him and get a Yant. Keep in mind that not all Yant can go below the waist - so you couldn't get a deity, for example, but most animal Yant can go on your legs. He's got lots of photos online and I recall seeing a lot of photos of women getting their thighs tattooed - really beautiful stuff.

[Giulia Caruso]

My first concern is not to offend him in any way, thai culture and italian culture are so different and tattoo conventions are such a chaotic space... I'll try to do my best and follow the advice you gave in the past.

 

As for the Yant subject, I'm not really worried, it could also be only words/symbols, I'll let him decide, I really want to do it for the function not the looks ;)

 

The idea of a tattoos as a living element is something I always looked for in my others, and even if I'm always worried of unconscious cultural appropriation, sak yant seem to really have what I am looking for in this situation.

And it's thanks to you that I was able to discover that, your words are really making a difference.

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

My first concern is not to offend him in any way, thai culture and italian culture are so different and tattoo conventions are such a chaotic space... I'll try to do my best and follow the advice you gave in the past.

 

As for the Yant subject, I'm not really worried, it could also be only words/symbols, I'll let him decide, I really want to do it for the function not the looks ;)

 

The idea of a tattoos as a living element is something I always looked for in my others, and even if I'm always worried of unconscious cultural appropriation, sak yant seem to really have what I am looking for in this situation.

And it's thanks to you that I was able to discover that, your words are really making a difference.

 

MB, I just saw this. On his English language page Arjan Pi posted that if you intend to have a Yant done in Bologna, you should book and appointment before it fills up. The Facebook post has a link. Take a look. I don't think you have anything at all to worry about in terms of appropriateness. An attitude of respect is all that is needed. Everything else will be explained or works itself out.