Thais and most Asian nations have a lot of superstitions… Thais came from a background of Animism before there was Buddhism at all. Hinduism and Buddhism, Animism, have all combined to create the religious atmosphere in Thailand. In the southernmost provinces, Islam can be added to this – so there is quite a diversity of beliefs in Thai culture. All Thai culture believe in good luck amulets of some sort.

There is a spirit world that can reach us and bring us both good luck and bad luck. Most Thais believe in karma as being the bringer of good luck. I would say that most Thais act on a day to day basis – hoping that their good deeds are registered and karma in the form of good luck later – occurs to bring them happiness.

Thais, in general, are afraid of ghosts to a very high degree. Most of the funny movies in Thailand – the comedies – have ghosts in them. The ghosts are something for Thais to laugh at in the movie, but in reality – they are scared to death of them. If you come to Thailand you will notice “Spirit Houses” in a corner of the yard of many homes. Thais understand that there are ghosts roaming the world and that they might just live on the piece of land that you bought for your house… Instead of them roaming around, Thais make a Spirit House to ward off bad luck, evil spirits, and primarily to give the spirits a place to stay, so they don’t choose living in the Thai person’s house.

There are many types of ghosts Thais are afraid of – child ghosts are perhaps the scariest. There are Kuman Thong amulets that are with a child and oil in it… the child needs to be taken care of like a real child, and it will bring good luck beyond measure. If the owner of the Kuman Thong amulet does not take care of it, feed it, help it to sleep, give it a nice place to rest… the baby can bring bad luck and destroy families and businesses.

Ring of copper colored demons around Phra Pidta

Buddha good luck amulets are one of the most used. Buddha signifies a release from the cares of this world… from the pain and suffering. Buddhas and Buddhists that meditate, monks, nuns, are not afraid of ghosts because they understand that they have power over them. You can see in many amulets – especially the Jatukam amulets – the ring of demons surrounding either Buddha or Jatukam Ramathep, and looking in at the figure (see photo)

While Buddha was sitting in meditation before his enlightenment, he was said to be tempted by demons. While monks sit and meditate, and anytime – they are constantly being tempted to do things that break the monastic rules that Theravada Buddhist monks must follow. At some temples you can see a ridiculous sight… a giant cobra in front of a meditating Buddha… and the cobra has nice breasts like a woman, and usually a bra or negligee on! I will try to find a photo of this – I have many.

So, Buddha is one that has transcended the fear of ghosts, the fear of the realm outside reality – that we all experience. Buddha good luck charms – amulets, are used by some Thais to help them stay safe and have good luck, and not bad.

On the reverse side of Jatukam Ramathep amulets is often a sacred geometrical pattern – a yant pattern that is comprised of sacred Pali, Sanskrit, and Thai characters. This is arranged in a way that a senior monk (or historical scripts) have shown to be the most powerful good luck arrangement for the wearer of the amulet.

Sacred geometrical yant pattern on back of Thai Buddha amulet from Nakhon si Thammarat.

The animals of the Chinese zodiac are also used often to show that all wearers are protected with luck, regardless of day of birth.

Sathorn Buddha amulets, Jinarat Buddha amulets, Somdej Buddhas, these are all said to bring the best of luck to wearers, and some people pay a million dollars for very powerful lucky Thai amulets. There are shops in Bangkok that I’ve seen where buyers hand over a couple hundred thousand baht for special amulets that have been certified as authentic originals. One hundred thousand Thai Baht today is about $3,000 USD.

Salika amulets – which are two birds together – bring good luck love relationships.

Solid copper Luang Phor Tuad amulet - good luck and protection.

Luang Phor Tuad, Luang Phor Klai, Ajahn Jumnien, Luang Phor Koon, Lersi, Chu Chok, and other monks across Thailand have all earned the title of luck bringing monks. Their amulets are highly sought out for their good luck properties and protection properties. Protection from harm, from spirits, from bad luck, from injury, illness, crime.

Some Thai people believe that Buddhist monks can give them lucky numbers for the lottery – and they do whatever they can do to get the monk to say a number – even if the monk doesn’t want to give one. Thais might count the number of chants a special monk does – and think that this is the number to play in the lottery for good luck. Some monks in the past have given numbers to people that hit for very large amounts of money in the lottery.

Buddha and other monks that have been in to the jhana realms have said that seeing the future with the divine eye – Abhinna – is possible. Monks are warned not to use their abilities to further harmful practices, and yet, some seem to thrive on the power and continue to use their special abilities to help some with extra luck, good for those that need it most.

The number nine (9) is very significant for good luck in Thailand. Thais buy custom license plates with 9′s on them. Buddhist amulets that are special editions and that are numbers 9, 99, 999, or 9999 are bought for thousands of THB over what the regular amulets in the series without those numbers, sell for. One of the amulets we have – probably our most powerful good luck amulet – has been named the “9″ series Buddha amulet and is said to be the most powerful amulet we have in stock.

Solid Copper "9" series Buddha amulet - our most powerful.

The chedi at our local temple is going to be 99 meters high. There are 9 levels of the chedi. The number 9 can be found throughout Thai culture and society – as it is widely respected as the most important number.

Ganesh - god of obstacles

Other Thai good luck symbols are really more of a Hindu origin, and come in the form of Ganesh and Kwan Yin. Ganesh is the elephant symbol that is on many of Thailand’s goodluck pendants and charms. Ganesh is the god of obstacles. Specifically he can remove and set obstacles in the path of people on earth. So, an obstacle removed could result in overwhelming luck in some cases. An obstacle placed, could cause the person to grow spiritually, or intellectually… gain compassion, or some other virtue… and be good too. In our housing complex we have a very large gold Ganesh shrine that Thais are constantly bringing offerings to.

Kwan Yin is another good luck symbol. She is the goddess of compassion. Of course many Thais are hurting inside and need better luck in areas of health, getting over loss, and love… Kwan Yin is another of the major lucky figures Thais adore.

Nong Kwak is a woman with her hand extended. She is most commonly found in businesses that want to increase their goodluck in business and have customers and money coming in. She is unrivaled for this purpose, and especially Chinese Thais will have a statue or ten of Nong Kwak in their store to bring luck.

Sacred scrolls, or Takrud, are made into amulets for luck in Thailand. These are rolled metal scrolls – or other items that are put in small glass or plastic tubes, and that function as lucky amulets for those that wear them. Many Thais believe in the power of the rolled scrolls with inscribed prayers written in them by Theravada Buddhist monks here in Thailand – and many people buy these amulets to become as lucky as possible.

Multiple amulet necklaces which hold 3 or 5, even 7 or 9 amulets can be found. Cab drivers, tuk-tuk drivers, song-thaew drivers seem to wear these multiple good luck amulet necklaces to increase their luck exponentially.

If you are driving a vehicle in Thailand, you might notice people standing around in hats, long sleeves and long pants at the red lights. They are selling flower bracelets that can be put on your rearview mirror to bring safety and luck to those in the vehicle. Each flower wreath is 20 THB on average (about 66 cents) and some drivers replace them every chance they get – to ensure good health, and luck on Thailand’s rather dangerous roads.

Most people in Thailand wear good luck amulets or other symbols of luck – or have them in a purse, in their car, or somewhere else for luck. If you are looking for lucky amulets – have a look at our Thai Amulet Sales site.

We have been having a lot of trouble finding the same amulets over and over to sell to buyers. The problem is that the temple doesn’t make the same ones repeatedly. Not more than a few times usually. That means we have them, we make pages for them on the site – and then the amulets are no longer available.

In this case we ask you to be flexible and order some other amulet, necklace, blessed bracelet, yant cloth, shirt, or other item. We’ll send you an email when this happens and you always have the option to request a refund of your order.

If there is any particular amulet you want, you can always try to email us and request it. We are limited in what we get to the particular amulets we find at the temples near us – but, there are quite a few unique amulets we don’t buy, but that are popular with Thais. Again, if we cannot buy many of them at the same time – we usually don’t buy them.

Recently we have seen some other major amulet websites start selling amulets similar to ours. We know they are not genuine because the price is about 1/4 what we charge. We buy the amulets direct from the temple – and we mark them up gently – and fairly. If you see amulets cheaper than ours – but similar in appearance, there is no question that the amulets must not be genuine from a temple. Or, the seller is selling at a loss, and you wouldn’t see many amulets like that – only one by a seller at a time. Almost always the amulets are from jewelers and amulet warehouses – in which they have thousands made and can sell them for about $1. These are not Buddhist amulets in any sense of the word, nor are they blessed. You can typically find these junk amulets on Ebay, Ebay stores, and other websites for around $8-15 for most of them. We well the same items for $25 to 40 usually – and if we marked it down any more – we wouldn’t make a profit from the amulets.

The quality of amulets you get from us versus those found on Ebay is quite different. As I said, the amulets we’ve seen on Ebay are $1-2 USD. The amulets we buy from the temple are $10 – 25 usually, but they also have a selection of expensive amulets over $30 that we usually don’t buy. On occasion, we buy them – and we have those priced at over $50 at ThaiAmuletSales.com and AllBuddhas.com.

For the future we are considering focusing the site on high quality amulets having a solid metal. For instance, solid silver amulets, solid brass, solid bronze, solid copper. We also love jade – and will be purchasing more solid jade amulets – both white jade and green and black jade, in the not too distant future.

If you are considering buying an amulet from Thailand – we hope you choose to buy one that will last forever, and one that you can pass on to your children when you pass on. This is the Thai way, we have a number of amulets from relatives that have passed on and left them to us.

In general, you will pay $90 to 140 for amulets that will last forever. The solid silver amulets we have, solid brass, bronze, copper, and stainless steel – will last forever. We hope you see the value in purchasing amulets of this caliber. If you want to order more than one at this price range – let us know and we will see what discount we can give you.

I was looking around the temple at some of the amulet stands I don’t usually go to. There were a number of new counters that opened up recently, and I figured they were for donations and to get the blessed bracelets put on by the magee (Buddhist nuns) that reside at the temple.

I puchased a couple of bells at one location, and then saw a counter that was out of the way, and I thought just for donations.

There was a display of amulets and other things. I went over to look and they had some unique and really lovely Buddhist jewelry and Buddha amulets, Nawagote amulets, Shiva amulets, Ganesha amulets… all sorts of things – and none of these amulets or necklaces was ever seen at the temple before. It was great!

Usually the good things – the ones that mean something, are under some of the other amulets and you have to really strain to find them. This was the case yesterday as I looked under the first layer of amulets at the next shelf that was hidden by all that was on top of the first shelf.

There, staring up at me was a tri-color Ajarn Jumnien, 1st Edition Blessed Good Luck amulet that I haven’t seen at the temple for nearly two years now because they sold everything they had in that series already!

I asked the magee to show it to me and she looked at me like – “Do you know what this is?”

I knew.

If I could rewind life a couple years, I’d be right back there at the temple and buying every single one of the Ajarn Jumnien Good Luck amulets in this series – they were amazing. There were great stories told at the temple by monks, magee, and those that bought the amulets.

I was stunned when she told me the price of the amulet – and when you buy sacred amulets at the Buddhist temples – you shouldn’t argue about price. The amulet is worth everything they say it is. This isn’t a market in Bangkok, it’s the Buddhist temple… nobody is trying to take advantage of you or give you less than what you’re paying.

I wanted the amulet really bad, and didn’t have enough cash for it. I gave her 1,000 THB and asked her to hold it for me until I returned from the ATM machine with the rest of the money.

She did – and when I returned, I bought the best amulet I’ve had in years. This is a one of a kind – there are none left – literally. The Aj. Jumnien Good Luck collection sold out very fast. It was created for Ajarn Jumnien’s 70th birthday year – and there were about 500 made in various designs – primarily 2. In each amulet run there are made the affordable amulets – and those amulets that are beyond almost all Thai people’s reach – and are hundreds of dollars USD.

This is the last amulet of this quality at the temple!

The magee kept telling me over and over – with very solemn face – number 1 power… this one, number one power… in Thai, of course, she spoke no English.

This amulet is brilliant 18K gold with copper and silver for the other colors. The tri-color amulets are paying respect to the Buddhist trinity – that of Dhamma, Buddha, and Sangha.

It has been wrapped in protective clear plastic – as Thais often do with their best amulets, to preserve everything about it – as if brand new.

I love finding hidden treasures at the temples – and this has been the most amazing find, and totally unexpected. I have looked over and over – dozens of times for some more of these style amulets. I have never seen the first editions of this style – except the first day they had the ceremony to bless them on the full moon day – at the auspicious hour. Maybe my karma has come around and is giving me a great find!??

I’ll take some photos and put this on it’s own page at ThaiAmuletSales.com – under the Specials. It is special, not for the price – which will be fair, but not discounted – but for the rarity of this lovely tricolor Buddhist monk amulet.

We have many different pages of Buddha amulets, and sometimes it is hard to figure out if you’ve seen them all or not. If you follow this page and open all these links – you’ll see all the Buddhas we have on the site.

Keep in mind, these amulets are original, new (in nearly all cases), and 100% authentic – purchased straight from local Theravada Buddhist temples in Thailand.

Buddha 

New Thai Buddhas

120 Buddha Amulets

Buddha Birthday Thai Amulets

Newest Thai Buddha Amulets

Unique Buddha Amulets

Waterproof Buddha Amulets

More Buddhist Amulets

Jade Buddhas

Petrified Wood Buddha

Thai Gold Buddha Amulets

Rare Buddhas

After studying Buddhist amulets for a few months we decided that the best way we could begin an amulet business was by offering amulets straight from the Buddhist temples close to us – on the internet where people across the world could buy them.

The Thai amulets we sell are available at temples in southern and northeastern Thailand. We don’t have a monopoly on them. We don’t make them. We don’t have any special deals on them when we purchase them from the temple – even if we purchase in bulk. We accept whatever price they say – and purchase them to sell to you wherever in the world you are.

If you are coming to Thailand – don’t buy amulets from us online. Just buy them at the temples. Same, 100% authentic amulets.

Are all Buddhist temples selling authentic amulets?

Yes, and no.

Some Thai Buddhist temples don’t sell Thai amulets at all. Wat Suan Mokkh in Chaiya, north of Surat Thani – don’t sell any amulets whatsoever. The founder, Buddhadasa Bhikku, didn’t believe in them. He has since passed on, but the belief remains – and nobody is to sell amulets at that temple. There are t-shirts in the library, and some postcards and books, some videotapes and audio CD’s, but no amulets, Thai bracelets, necklaces, or anything like that.

Most temples do sell amulets. If there are monks or majee (nuns) working at the amulet stand, you can assume it is an official collection of amulets for the temple you are at. If it is a kind man or woman, then most likely this amulet stand is NOT full of genuine articles. The amulets at such a stand are probably blessed by the monks and or abbot of the temple you are at, but, there are probably some that are official from the temple – and some that are not. Which are which? Anyone’s guess.

Buy only from the Thai amulet stands that are operated by monks or majee. This way you cannot go wrong.

From across the globe you can buy Thai amulets at our amulet shop where we now have over 400 amulets for sale. We give you a free necklace with every amulet, two free blessed Buddhist bracelets from the temple, and free shipping.

Buying direct from the temple, or buying from us – buying direct from the temple – you are guaranteed to be receiving official, 100% authentic Thai Buddhist (Theravada Buddhist) amulets. You are sure to have a good experience.

Here’s a preview of ours. Click the link below the image to see the full page with over 100 amulet photos in great color:

A preview of the hundreds of Thai amulets we have posted at ThaiBuddhaAmulets.blogger.com.

CLICK THIS BELOW to GO:
http://thaibuddhaamulets.blogspot.com/view/snapshot

If you are in the market for a new Thai amulet – check out our channel, or, page 7 of the Buddha amulets that we just added. There is a link for amulet videos there below each amulet we have video for.

Metta and best of karma to you!

Ganesh amulets ->

Or, just order the one you see below by clicking the “Add to Cart” button. You can pay through Paypal or credit card – up to you.

(Click Ganesh amulet to enlarge)

3D Silver Ganesha Waterproof Amulet

1 1/4″ x 1″

(3.5 x 2.5cm)

Item – DSC382

$9.95+ Free Necklace!

+ Free worldwide shipping

How are Thai Amulets Worn?

Thai amulets are usually worn around the neck by Thais in Thailand. Some Thais wear one amulet, and some wear as many as 7 – one hanging down in the middle of the necklace, and 3 on each side. We rarely see any more than 7 amulets on one necklace, but we’re sure they are out there. Thais, as all Asians can be, are quite superstitious. Amulets arose out of this superstition. As such, there are amulets that came out of Animism – Thailand’s early religous roots, as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, and black magic type beliefs.

Some Thais hang their amulets from the mirror in their car. Some have shrines setup in their homes where they have dozens or hundreds of Thai amulets from every temple they’ve visited, and every Thai holiday they’ve ever witnessed at these shrines.

Thais believe that all amulets should be worn at head/chest level, and not kept in the pocket. Amulets should never be worn around the waist, legs, or feet – as this shows disrespect to the religion and the followers. In a similar way, images of the King of Thailand should never be worn near the feet.

What Historical Figures Are the Subject of Thai Amulets?

Typical Thailand Buddhist amulets have figures such as: Buddha, Kwan Yin, and some famous monks like Luang Phor Tuad, Luang Phor Klai, Phra Bit Tar (Biddar) and others. Sometimes the Kings of Thailand (Rama 1-9) are featured. We even sell an amulet that has portraits of all 9 Thai kings on it. Thais do love their kings, and many amulets feature King Rama V, and IX – Thailand’s current king, King Bhumibol.

The Hindu influence on Buddhist amulets can be seen with Ganesh (Ganesha) – the elephant amulets, Shiva, and other gods and goddesses.

There are such colorful characters as Lersi, Tigers, Demons, Guman Thong, and others that give a wide-breadth of figures. There is an amulet for everyone, from child to an elderly Thai on his deathbed.

By far Buddha amulets are the most popular and the most worn amulet Thais purchase. I would say then, Luang Phor Tuad, Thailand’s most famous monk – has the 2nd most wearers in the country.

Where Do Thai Amulets Come From?

Keep in mind that Buddhist amulets found in Thailand are two things… one, a religious symbol to those that believe in Buddhism, and two, a money-making scheme for dishonest companies to take advantage of good Buddhist followers.

Amulets are sometimes given directly from monks. We have some amulets that were given to us over the years from monks (Phra) at our local Buddhist temples. These are not to be sold, and most Thais hold them in special esteem. If you visit Thailand and see a bit of the country, not just one area – you will find that some monks are into amulets as lucky, bringing health, fortune, or love, and some are not at all. In fact, western monks like those found at Wat Pah Nanachat in Warin Chamrap, Thailand – Ubon province, do not have amulets at all. There are no amulets sold there at the temple, and they do not talk about special powers of amulets – choosing instead to focus on what Buddha said and did – as the way to reaching nibbana (nirvana).

Wat Suan Mokkh in Chaiya, Surat Thani province is another temple that does not even sell 1 amulet for visitors. Buddhadasa Bhikku, the first monk and founder of Wat Tum Sua didn’t believe in amulets as having any power at all, and frequently called them a product of superstitious minds. Buddha himself was not known to wear amulets.

Other monks are well-versed in the powers of amulets, and when they bless an amulet – it gains even greater power. Wat Tum Sua’s Ajarn Jumnien (Teacher Jumnien) is one such monk of Chinese lineage that is now often known as Thailand’s good luck monk. Aj. Jumnien wears dozens of amulets at a time, and is sought after for his blessing and amulets – which are known to be exceptionally powerful. Chinese people mostly, from China, Malaysia, and Singapore come from far away to see Abbot Jumnien and donate money for his temple in Krabi, Thailand.

Wat Tum Sua is our home temple, and where we get the majority of our amulets from. The temple is beautiful and well worth a stop if you happen to be in southern Thailand.

What Are Amulets Made Of?

Thailand amulets are typically made of hard materials like: iron, tin, brass, copper, bronze, silver, pewter, marble, jade, crystal (rarely), granite, petrified wood (very rarely), glass, wood, ceramic, clay, and other materials.

Fake versus Real Amulets

Amulets from Thailand are easy to replicate as fakes, and this is a giant business, not only in Thailand, but, across the globe as companies are formed to take advantage of well-meaning Buddhists that want to protect their families’ health, or ensure good karma. It is not difficult to manufacture fake amulets, because the expensive amulets – the genuine amulets from many years ago, were made with simple technology and there are no real secrets any longer about which is a real or fake amulet. The experts cannot tell fake amulets from real in many cases. In fact, recently some very expensive and rare amulets were judged to be fake at a conference of “experts” and later proven to be genuine amulets with great power. A collector bought them before the discovery – for very little money, and was rewarded with millions of Thai baht as a result.

We spent 2-hours yesterday looking at amulets that were being sold on eBay and we were appalled. Amulets that are found for $3 are selling for $150. Amulets that are no more than $10 to buy in Thailand in rip-off amulet stores – are selling on eBay for $250 and we even saw one for more than $400.

The state of the amulet industry is rather sad. How can someone from Canada, Australia, Tahiti, Spain, UK, or Czechoslovakia buy genuine amulets from real Buddhist temples?

Here at www.ThaiAmuletSales.com we wanted to come up with a way for Buddhists across the world to buy genuine Thai amulets from Thailand, without any chance of forgery or ill-intent. We came upon a simple solution.

We offer Thai Buddhist amulets only bought at the Buddhist temples in Thailand.

That’s it. We don’t buy from non-Buddhist sources.

You can be absolutely sure that the amulets you’re buying are genuine articles, crafted from Buddhist hands.